Launched the shiny new AI this morning. Breeze was a bit fresh, but I figured I could tool around with the sail furled or partially reefed until I got the feel of things. Launched the boat from a small beach, with the Mirage drive out and paddled out for a bit. Thought I would try the Mirage drive and that's when the porridge started hitting the fan. The drive seemed to click into place OK and I pedalled for a few minutes. Then suddenly, the pedals slipped sideways to starboard. I tried to right them, but they were jammed tight, so I couldn't even get the drive out. The wind was freshening at this stage, so I thought I had better paddle back to shore. Unfortunately, the drive was acting like a rudder and heeling the boat around to port. I couldn't get the pedals forward enough to pull the fins up. Using the real rudder to try to balance to drive, I was able to make very slow progress paddling across the wind. To make matters worse, as I got near the beach, it was too shallow to use the daggerboard and I got blown sideways onto rocks. I ended up jumping out and hauling the #*$@&# boat off the rocks and onto the beach.
Luckily, I had some old kayak cradles in the car, so I was able to get the hull up on the car with the pedals still sticking up in the air.
Went to the local Hobie dealer, where I had picked up my boat the day before and this guy comes out and says "You must be chrisj". The guy turns out to be Stringy. Anyway, Stringy and the dealer jiggle around and manage to free the drive. After putting the drive in and out several times, we found that at times the locking lever was not fully engaging, thus leaving one side of the drive unlocked. The lesson seems to be to check visually that the lever has fully engaged - the drive going in straight and clicking into place is not enough. Neither the dealer nor Stringy had heard of this happening before.