There are no failures 

I have tried sailing the Gull with the mast forward and the jib up in the past. As you would expect it isn’t that successful and the steering is very odd / dangerous 

The Gull rudder is raked back with lots of area well behind the stock.

I have long had the itch to try a rudder with more forward area and see if this would allow mast forward jib up sailing. 

So out of Wickes ply I made a balanced rudder bringing the overall area forward.

With the weekend offering no wind Saturday and full gale Sunday it had to be Friday. 

This was less than ideal, closehauled was directly into the path of the ferrys and with just a reefed main it was sheet eased sitting out to no wind in the lee of these moving tower blocks. 

In hindsight I don’t think it was a fair test but she did not sail well. At times I couldn’t get close to wind and the steering was mushy. Risking a capsize and / or a broken rudder in the path of the ferry prudently I returned to shore. 

I will probably test in better conditions but don’t think this is a viable option