Kelp protection for rudders?

Excuse my ignorance (I'm from Durbs) but can any Cape locals tell me if kelp is really something to be worried about come Cape Point Challenge? Do rudder protection devices work well? Does anyone have photos of theirs? Please feel free to share troubleshooting tips for when I get stuck...
Thanks

I wouldn't worry about it.

I've paddled through heavy kelp and haven't even been snagged. It's quite a thick, rubbery, er, plant.

It's more likely that you'll get stuck when the water surges away and the kelp monster rises out of the water to gobble you up. Just wait for the next wave to lift you free.

I had a piece of weed on my rudder recently in a race in Hout Bay. It was a real drag (arf, arf!).

A lot of the guys here use small triangular pieces of plastic or fibre glass glued to the ski just in front of the rudder. However I find this quite vulnerable when you go through kelp & have lost a number of them so I made a weed deflector from a piece of 20mm diameter (or thereabouts) plastic pipe. I cut it at an angle and glued the offcut to the ski. I'll take a photo of it tonight & post it. Much tougher than a sliver of plastic.

Re weed deflectors I paddle at Windsor in Sydney and we get a lot of weed, solution small peice of perspex or acrylate cut into a triangle in front of the rudder and attached with Sikaflex ( not araldite ), this compound is very flexible very ruberry and will flex enough so that the deflector will not come off yet stop weed.

A few guys with skis have opted for the smaller rudders 4 inch rather than the standard 9 inch this helps alot

A few guys with skis have opted for the smaller rudders 4 inch rather than the standard 9 inch this helps alot

Don't try going downwind with a 4 inch rudder though!

I had a piece of weed on my rudder recently in a race in Hout Bay. It was a real drag (arf, arf!).
... I'll take a photo of it tonight & post it. Much tougher than a sliver of plastic.

Hi Rob,

Is the pic ready?

Here's a pic of my weed deflector cut from a piece of plastic piping and glued to the ski. It was greeted with derision by some of my paddling buddies who said that it would cause turbulence & drag...

But it's smaller than the cockpit drain covers and I figure the minute amount of turbulence it might cause is more than compensated for by its toughness & weed deflecting capabilities!