I asked my workmate about the aka/ama.
He said the tendency was for it to fold back but as he was holding it and pushing it forward wave action caused it to fold too far forward at times.
The greatest risk of breaking a brace bolt is when sailing with others. All three of my breaks have been in collisions with other AI's.
I'm a big fan of the tramps which would have prevented this collapse. At the time I only had one set of AI tramps and they were on my TI.
It is very difficult to roll an AI/TI. I know others have reported capsizes but in 4 years of AI sailing often in 25+knot winds on open water I have yet to flip one.
Just two weekends ago we were out in 20+knots with a decent swell. Jason my mate with cerebral palsy (
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=11745 ) was solo in my AI and having a great time under full sail. He wouldn't get on a boat that could capsize easily. Admittedly I didn't have the tramps on his AI but if I had all he would have had to do to remain stable was furl the sail a bit. The beauty of the tramps is that they can be rolled up or hiked out on if stability becomes an issue.
I posted this clip to:
1)-demonstrate that breaking an aka brace bolt does not mean you will end up capsizing. Hobie have produced one of the most stable and versatile of sailing craft that will continue to perform well even with an aka collapse.
2)-Investigate the possibility of raking the aka's to lessen nose diving. My initial thoughts were to push them forward to improve flotation through a wave but after reading of the effect of the rearward aka's on the "Batboat" maybe pushing them back and shifting the weight rearwards might lift the nose? Just got to find the time to begin the trials!
PS
Fly4v,
I intend bolting the brace balls through the hull using shaped backing washers or even a short half pipe.
Slaughter,
About that ama-less match race. Let's make it a time trial.
You go first!