For those that know me, I am a long time TI owner and have been working very hard the last couple years trying to develop the Tri-power capabilities of my Tandem Island.
By utilizing the human powered pedal system, the wind and sails, and an auxiliary power system (either hybrid gas or solar electric) all at the same time the AI/TI becomes one of the fastest and most versatile boats available anywhere. Basically I can go out and have a great time sailing the whole day for about a buck in fuel, it makes no difference if there is any wind or not, and the actual wind direction is insignificant (even sailing directly up wind is easy)
When utilizing the tri-power capabilities there is no time that you need to stay home because there is no wind or very light winds.
I live in south Florida and 10 months out of the year the typical winds around here are typically 4-6mph. I take my TI out every weekend all year round and pedal my TI an average of 15-25 miles per week (this is my exercise program) so I'm pretty used to pedaling.
I'm sure all island owners have been out in very low winds and have discovered that the TI in 5-6mph winds will only go as fast as you want to pedal, typically 3-4 mph. The stock TI sails at around .6 of available wind speed on average so in low winds this is not very fast and can become quite boring. I suspect most TI owners prefer to just stay home when there is little to no wind, but you don't have to, I actually have even more fun in low winds now because I don't have to deal with all the big waves and chop, and the boat literally flies......
There is a thread about the ultimate Tandem Island and all it's history here (
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=33720&start=285)
It would take someone days of reading to go thru all the history and modifications on that thread so I thought I would make a documentary video showing some of the history and the reasons for what is going on with the boat and why (saves reading through all that history).
This video which is about 15 minutes long has at the end a video I made showing off the capabilities of the boat, (after posting that video on the Ultimate TI thread I realized that without knowing the history or the thinking behind what makes this boat so special, people just wouldn't understand.
The movie explains all the development (about 2 yrs) and the reasons for everything. The last 5 minutes are best viewed on a big screen in high def with the stereo cranked up (LOL).
Hope you enjoy it.
Bob
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dgLYAfCuEw&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]