myiW Current Conditions and Forecasts Community Forums Buy and Sell Services
 
Hi guest · myAccount · Log in
 SearchSearch   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   RegisterRegister 
Worst Experience While Learning
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Windsurfing Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
hoodvista



Joined: 23 Sep 2000
Posts: 28

PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

U2U2U2 wrote:

Using a roller instead of a hook on your harness helps the stuck, and wider /bigger straps as well.


Seems like getting stuck under the sail is the most common nightmare. I can definitely relate. Frickin' scary.

Does a roller bar really help?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've never gotten seriously stuck under a sail in 34 years of obsessive WSing with and without roller bars. I've seen more friends get hit by lightning -- hell, hit by a leaping sturgeon, seriously -- than get stuck under a sail. It can happen, but not commonly, and probably mostly in surf.

The reason I won't sail w/o a roller bar is that it enables extensive maneuvering while hooked in, a great way to conserve energy and sail longer. For cruising it's sorta moot except for prolonging line durability. Some people even prefer hooks.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cgoudie1



Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Posts: 2597
Location: Killer Sturgeon Cove

PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've seen more than a few people stuck under their sail in the Gorge, It has also happened to me, but I drove Darryl's vehicle up to Skyline hospital after a breaching sturgeon caved in his knee, so maybe I'm just
lucky ;*)

-Craig

isobars wrote:
I've never gotten seriously stuck under a sail in 34 years of obsessive WSing with and without roller bars. I've seen more friends get hit by lightning -- hell, hit by a leaping sturgeon, seriously -- than get stuck under a sail. It can happen, but not commonly, and probably mostly in surf.

The reason I won't sail w/o a roller bar is that it enables extensive maneuvering while hooked in, a great way to conserve energy and sail longer. For cruising it's sorta moot except for prolonging line durability. Some people even prefer hooks.


Last edited by cgoudie1 on Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:55 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
AndreiA



Joined: 14 Apr 2013
Posts: 73

PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:15 pm    Post subject: Cuba accident in 1999 Reply with quote

We went to one of these all-inclusive hotels in Cuba, and I managed to persuade my wife to try and learn windsurfing. So she joined a small group vacationers and a local guy from the animation team explained them the basics.

Next thing, they go on water and a beautiful young Russian lady gets hit by the mast across her face. Right in front of my wife, and that was it! She never even tried after that. For the following week the injured was walking around wearing large sunglasses, which could hardly conceal the black eye. Reminder to would be windsurfers Sad

Andrei
http://www.na-windsurfing.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
PeconicPuffin



Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 1830

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

isobars wrote:
I've never gotten seriously stuck under a sail in 34 years of obsessive WSing with and without roller bars.


This is a wave sailing danger at the shoreline, when board and sail are being carried in or out of the water. Calf deep water. If the clew gets caught in current flowing in a clew-to-boom direction you can get flattened in two seconds. I've seen it happen a couple of times to good sailors. I know one excellent sailor who told me he nearly died in six inches of water when this happened to him. It's avoided by keeping the clew flying (not always easy if the wind is full of holes at the beach) and by keeping an eye on the water flow, looking for unexpected swirls and surges.

Harness lines and hooks have nothing to do with it.

_________________
Michael
http://www.peconicpuffin.com
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

12ish years old, straight offshore wind, much stronger than I'd dealt with before. I was able to get my longboard up onto a psycho daggerboard down plane a few times (I didn't know any better- you put the daggerboard UP in strong wind??). Got exhausted after an hour and couldn't get back upwind to the beach so started swimming. Of course I couldn't drag everything upwind with me but by golly I was trying. Luckily a nice gentleman paddled his board out to me and traded- he sailed my grossly overpowered 6.0 back to the beach while I paddled his board back in to the beach.

Luckily, there was someone there to help me out. No straight offshore wind after that experience! It wasn't that scary at the time... but now looking back on it:

This was before the time of OCEARCH, so I had no Frickin' idea how many 15 foot long 3000 pound great white sharks were probably circling around directly under me..... at Hardings Beach, Cape Cod... Summer home of the Great White!! Laughing Shocked

_________________
formerly known as hodad.andy

http://wind-nc.com
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
beaglebuddy



Joined: 10 Feb 2012
Posts: 1120

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Put a mast track on my SUP a couple of years ago and taught myself how to sail it in light winds. I was getting more confident and ventured out into some swells and small waves in Hanalei bay. I was having the most fun in my life swell riding while hooked in, back and forth for hours then as I was sailing in trying to catch a tiny wave I heard a noise behind me, I turned and looked back to see a giant, I would say at least logo high wave bearing down on me.
My reaction was to try to turn the board and ride the wave like when you make a bottom turn but apparently I did not have enough speed going and the wave destroyed me, I popped up to see my board and rig being carried away by the remains of the wave. I swam for it, jumped on the board and uphauled with speed and dexterity that would have won my country a gold medal if uphauling were an Olympic sport to escape the next wave.
Such a surprise to look back and see that!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
gronquist



Joined: 12 May 2000
Posts: 70

PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a good one: parked behind some bushes to sail Devereaux, a point break in 5.0 side on slop. Super windy up on the point though: big, dead pine tree feel down, hit my car and I literally jumped aside to avoid getting hit. Shortly on the water, the lone person on the beach started chasing me back and forth as I ignored her shouts into the wind: I really didn't care about someone who was concerned about the endangered, protected Snowy Plover birds who were nice and protected in the sand dunes. (it's only the dunes off limits). Finally got on a plane to boost a jump off a wave, but blew out my fin box on a rock. Couldn't waterstart and got rolled in some kelp, current shoving me to the point,and got flushed over urchin covered point rocks, more like tombstone rocks.. the last place we ever go in or out of the area. In a nutshell a clusterfxxx of a day: broken tree/near decapitation, angry bird lady, broken fin/box, reef flushing. end of story (oh yeah, then it rained)

Santa Barbara
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
justall



Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 442

PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

gronquist wrote:
In a nutshell a clusterfxxx of a day: broken tree/near decapitation, angry bird lady, broken fin/box, reef flushing. end of story (oh yeah, then it rained)


Ouch ... Quite a downward cascade ... I had a not-as-bad session like that when I blew off a family event to seek wind ... Sure felt like a karma thing.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
arnegahmig



Joined: 27 Nov 2013
Posts: 17
Location: El Médano

PostPosted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 6:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It really seems like most of the bad experiences were when trapped under the sail. The only time this is actually dangerous is as was described in 30cm deep water. For any other time this happens, this article might help:

http://howtowindsurf101.com/being-trapped-under-the-sail-is-harmless/

My personal worst experience was when wave sailing, wiping out, getting dragged onto the reef and fighting to position the gear to keep it intact in 50cm deep water in a lull which didn't allow for a waterstart without losing the fin on the rocks. The gear wasn't mine... It ended with quite a few scratches and bruises form the waist down. But hey, the kit was not damaged Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Windsurfing Discussion All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Page 3 of 5

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum

myiW | Weather | Community | Membership | Support | Log in
like us on facebook
© Copyright 1999-2007 WeatherFlow, Inc Contact Us Ad Marketplace

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group