Those who are enamoured of practice without science, are like the pilot who embarks in a ship without rudder or compass and who is never certain where he is going.
Leonardo da Vinci
Of course Leonardo da Vinci was a pretty smart guy, but in this case his metaphor was quite wrong on both counts. For starters, the entire Pacific Ocean was settled centuries ago by some very competent navigators with not a compass in sight. And more importantly for this article - not a rudder to be seen either!
Background
A sailboat should be in perfect balance. Above the surface there is the wind pushing on the sails, and below the surface there is water pushing on the hull and foils. When this balance is disturbed, the boat will turn, or turn over!
Most sailboats steer by turning a rudder blade. This produces a turning force at the back of the boat, but this is not the only way to do it. Skilled sailors can navigate a dinghy around a course using just boat heel, sail trim and centreboard adjustments.
There are many other common approaches to rudderless sailing:
- Windsurfers and kiteboards don't have a rudder, and use these principles of moving where the sail forces are acting to change direction.
- Most of the Polynesian (and many other indiginous) boats are steered using some kind of paddle or oar held over the side. Also popular on modern canoes.
- A development of this approach is the steering board over the side, seen on for example viking longboats and the Jukung from Indonesia.
- A sweep (or oar over the stern) was often used on whaleboats, and can still be seen on surf lifesaving boats.
- Large sailing ships of bygone ages often had to adjust the sail plan to balance out the undersized rudder.
But what's really interesting to me is boats that have evolved to have no steering aids whatsoever, relying only on adjustments to the balance of forces to go where they need to go.
St. Lawrence River Skiff
The first such craft I came across was the St. Lawrence River Skiff, a beautiful American double-ended lapstrake guideboat.
(From the Mystic Seaport Museum collection, found here).
Course changes are done through shifting the sailors weight around in the boat. More forward for upwind, and right in the stern for downwind. Along with this, adjustments are made to the neat folding fan-shaped centreboard, which can be raised and lowered to change the balance. Tacking is done in a similar fashion by moving right the base of the mast causing the boat to quickly round up into the wind.
These boats were previously raced, but I don't think there are any actively sailed anymore. There is a great youtube video by the Antique Boat Museum demonstrating the handling techniques.
Proa
Unlike the highly localised skiff above, the proa is more of a "boat type". It covers a large family of traditional boats spread across a massive part of the globe, as well as many modern interpretations. The proa has been an obsession of mine for many years, see these extensive links, as well as my outrigger canoe build!
The proa is an outrigger canoe which always keeps it's outrigger to windward. This means that instead of tacking and gybing, you essentially turn onto a reach and then flip the rig over, turning the back into the front. This of course makes integrating a rudder challenging! Many of the traditional proa types actually use a steering oar or paddle on at least some headings (especially downwind). But some modern "copies" take it a step further and completely remove that pesky design problem of how to manage the rudder on a reversible boat.
Janusz Ostrowski has written a detailed guide (Basics of sailing Micronesian way) on how to sail his version of such a strange craft. The oceanic lateen, or “crab claw” sail is interesting in that it is less sensititive to stalling when over-sheeted. This allows sail trim to be used more to help with balance. For example, sheeting out to head up and sheeting in to head downwind. This is used in combination with weight shifting and adjusting the mast angle. Also the main hull is often asymmetric, which can help create a tendency to bear away, which is then counterbalanced by sheeting in or out.
I could go on and on about proas, but maybe it's more fun to travel back in time to the Cheap Pages instead!
Sailing Skate
This interesting boat from the Catalan region in Spain breaks almost every boat convention (Wikipedia). It's a narrow catamaran where the two hulls are connected by a series of planks, rather than the typical cross beams and trampoline. The hulls are narrow and flat bottomed, with a very gradually upsweeping bow shape and a very square deep stern. There is no rudder, of course, but also no centreboards of any kind. The rig is also pretty unusual: a boomless bermudan.
It's known as the patin Catelan, patin de vela as well as many other variations.
Photo of a display at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona.
Moving back in the boat sinks the sterns deeper, making the boat turn downwind. Sitting a bit more forward allows upwind sailing, and by running right up to the mast and backing the sail a bit the boat is made to tack. Pretty similar to how a windsurfer does it. To complete a gybe there is a bit of foot dragging involved.
And the best part? This class is still thriving, so there are hours of footage on Youtube of these amazing boats in action! There is also a smaller junior version, which is handled very competently by what would otherwise be "opti kids".
Did I miss any rudderless sailboats? Let me know!
-- Written 21 January 2026