Have you hugged your buoy today... :)

Well, I sheepishly admit I have joined the "sheared aka pin" club this morning...

Got out on the lake, perfect wind speed - 10-12 MPH - and not a soul on the water except me. I was making a straight line across the south end of the lake, about 6-7 MPH, just cruising... And zoned out, daydreaming about something else...

Distracted sailing?

First I saw it, there's the buoy just to my left, right at the bow of the boat! Of course no time to do anything about it - watched as I *perfectly* snagged that thing between the main hull and the downwind ama! Two miles of lake and I couldn't have centered that thing any better... It was like watching a train wreck - and my mind was in slo-mo. Took me a while to register - "release the main, furl the sail, dummy!"

Fortunately the "keep-out line" and my haka kept the ama from folding in fully, and it was a buoy instead of a piling so it just laid over and passed under the akas.

Furled the sail, pulled out the repair kit - and gave a word of thanks for that little plastic keeper line attaching the aka brace to the aka since the brace disconnected itself from the ball on the hull and was hanging in the water!

Popped in a new bolt, continued on my way... Paying just a wee bit more attention to where I was going than I had before!


I'm not sure what these buoys are for anyway. There's one red triangular one (used to be a big red ball) that seems to be indicating the channel (such as it is) toward the main sailboat harbor, and a really tall skinny white one that is out front of the sailing club's harbor, but the one I hit and two others don't seem to really line up with much of anything.

My nemesis this morning:

I read somewhere they design long bridges to have a slight curve so that a driver must keep adjusting the wheel so that they have to pay attention and not "zone" out and drive off the bridge... maybe they put that buoy out there to keep you focused!

Kudos for being prepared with an emergency kit and having the security line on the aka though!

Great story RJ.
That running change that Hobie made by adding the plastic tether to the brace was a welcome upgrade. Many of us lost the entire brace overboard after a collision in the early days. Kayaking Bob came up with a simple tether that worked well.

Breaking a brace bolt does not mean you will instantly capsize. The risk is there of course and others have documented their capsizes. However, of the three collisions that resulted in a sheared brace bolt that I've been involved in ...there have been no capsizes.
For those new forum members who may have the idea that a broken brace bolt guarantees a capsize, then I hope this previously posted video may help retain some confidence that you can remain upright with a broken aka brace bolt.
These boats can be extremely difficult to capsize!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsWwV245rFQ[/youtube]

Very interesting, I sure wouldn't have expected to see the ama trying to move forward like that.

I think in my case I wasn't so much worried about the difficulties re-righting the TI - though I'm sure that'd be a challenge - as I was embarrassed at the thought of capsizing right in front of the "beginning kayaker" class my kayak shop was holding that morning! I'm sure the folks at the shop would never let me live that one down...

I've taken the TI out under pedal power with the amas folded in, certainly it's super-stable like that. The main reason I figured I'd have flipped is that I was so very slow about furling the sail. Though even then I'd still have the countering weight of the upwind ama and I was being turned fairly quickly so the sail would be losing power.

I am also very surprised to see that and would love to know why. A bit worried as my keep out lines (AI2) only prevent amas from folding back

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2015 Adventure Island
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PHLN ... EKefepPXQ/
Blog: http://www.irishrockpoolaquarium.com

During my tests of my keep-out lines at both 6 and 8 mph, there was no tendency of the ama to move forward, even though the ama/akas are shock-cord loaded to pull the ama/aka forward. You can see the 8-mph test here:


The tests are nice and instructive, but, frankly, if your aka shear pin breaks, it will likely be due to strong rearward pressure on the ama/aka. In such a case, the ama/aka is going to collapse backward. Your keep-out lines should be sufficient to keep the ama/aka from collapsing quickly with subsequent capsize. My AI 2 capsize in winds of 18-20 mph clearly shows you can capsize almost instantaneously when an aka shear pin breaks. You can read about that capsize here http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=54465

Stringy sails while hiking out on the windward side of his Island. That reduces the rearward pressure on his leeward ama. Maybe Stringy or someone could suggest a good argument why his ama is moving forward in that video clip. As I say above, at 6-8 mph, my free leeward ama/aka showed no tendency to move forward. I sail from the cockpit, not hiking out.

The construction of my keep-out lines is discussed here: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7276&start=720 Scroll down until you come to “Keep-out lines for my AI 2” at the bottom of the page.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Thanks for that confirmation, I saw your video and keep out line design beforehand, was just confused why stingry's ones moved forward but that makes sense now.

Cheers

_________________
_________________________________________________________
2015 Adventure Island
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PHLN ... EKefepPXQ/
Blog: http://www.irishrockpoolaquarium.com