Mirage Drive Stroke Counter

The Adventure Island is a special boat, and part of what makes it special is the Mirage Drive. What an amazing invention! I still can't believe the paddle is obsolete, but it is.

I'd like to get together some AI's for class racing, and the obvious first thing to do is remove the Mirage Drives for a sailing race, but that takes away a big part of what is special about the AI. On the other hand, I don't want to get out there and pedal my butt off against some maniac who doesn't realize this is a sailing race.

It would be fun to put a stroke counter on the Mirage Drives and allow only a certain small number of strokes per mile of race course. Enough to be useful, not enough to dominate the race by sheer pedal power. Strokes beyond that number could carry a heavy time penalty. It would still be a sailing race, but you could power through a tack or dash ahead of a boat on starboard tack if you had the strokes to spare. How and when to use your MD strokes would be an important part of racing strategy.

Thoughts from the peanut gallery?

I also think so... A pedal count bonus for less and penalty for using to many.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

OK, when is Hobie coming out with a stroke counter for the Mirage Drive, Matt?

I wonder how that could work? In shallow water, you can keep the MD fins up close to the hull and still take little strokes and scuttle along with pretty good speed. If that also defeated the stroke counter, those without a sufficient appreciation for the noble spirit of sailing competition might be inclined to cheat.

I guess you could mount a hall effect sensor near a crank arm, with a magnet on the crank arm.... Much like the little speedo's for bikes.

In fact, you might be able to use a bike speedo since they do distance also. I'm not sure about calibration. It's too late in the day to think about that.

Maybe something like this: http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/411

How about rules on inserting/removing the MD?

If it is legal, people are going to pull them out for downwind runs, then have to reinsert them to go back upwind.

When you pull the drive and put in the plug, you get a lap full of water if you're going with any speed. Winter is coming, and when the water temps fall below 80, I undergo a miraculous transformation, becoming the superhero "Dry Guy".

I don't want a lap full of water. I'll stay home, or just go for a pleasure sail instead of racing. How about a rule saying MD's must stay installed throughout the race? Or maybe a rule saying you get to insert the MD once during a race, but you can't remove it?

Hi Tom,

Chief peanut reporting for duty

You inspired me to buy a low cost bicycle speedo and make a rough prototype

It still needs a bit of thought to make it seaworthy but here is a link to some photos I took http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=23842 (I haven't as yet worked out how to post photos here but didn't think you'd mind visiting this Aussie kayakfishing site as I noticed you had posted about it a while back).

My thoughts on usage will probably develop once (if) I can get the counter to work "on the water" but, at this stage, I like the suggested idea of a certain number of "allowable strokes" per race after which penalties apply

I also reckon that the sailor should have to decide at the start whether to sail "with MD fitted" or "without MD fitted" which would be a major pre-race tactical decision

Cheers,

Ross

How about specifying that standard fins must be used. Anyone who can win a race just by using those suckers deserves the prize

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G'day Chris,

Are you suggesting that I might tack a tad faster if I upgraded my fins ?

Actually, I've recently purchased a set of ST fins but haven't installed them as yet

My Oath!

I got a set of ST fins, because I didn't want to wait for the Turbos to arrive. I love them

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Back on topic - a pedometer strapped to the thigh would probably be the simplest way to count strokes.

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How do those function, anyway? I have never seen one.

A pedometer usually has a small pendulum inside. As you walk, each swing of the hips causes the pendulum to swing and either mechanically or electronically cause a counter to activate. On most pedometers, you
can set the stride length.
So if you set your pedometer to 1 ft (1 meter) strides...each stroke of
the Mirage pedal would count another foot (one stroke).

I took my pedometer and clipped it to my ankle...went out to the AI and
began to engage the Mirage Drive. It accurately counted each stroke.

I was at WalMart yesterday, and happened to look in their Sporting section...a simple 'waterproof' electronic pedometer was $5.

Not sure that a pedometer would work for this. Even if I'm not peddling, I do tend to move my legs when I'm in the AI. That, plus the natural motion of the boat on the waves, might be recorded on the pedometer.

The bike speedo solution sounds doable though. I'm not sure of the brand (my bike is in storage for the winter), but the fork sensor for the speedometer/computer on my bike is wireless. It's supposed to be for mountain bikes, so I imagine it is somewhat waterproof. It was about $50 at the shop when I bought my bike. Cool idea!

- Jim L

Cool! Cheap, easy, and removable. I agree with JimL that there may be false counts from moving about. For racing purposes, we could just call that tough luck! Try not to move unless you need to move!

I suspect if it was attached above the knee, there would be fewer false positive strokes.

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