Re: A day in the life of a windsurfer - survival story

From: Greg Harris (greggh@Synopsys.COM-DeleteThis)
Date: Thu Apr 09 1998 - 15:47:48 PDT


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Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 15:47:48 -0700
From: Greg Harris <greggh@Synopsys.COM-DeleteThis>
Organization: Synopsys
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Subject: Re: A day in the life of a windsurfer - survival story
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So essentially what one needs is something that can easily rotate around the
mastbase so it won't wrap around everything. The top part of the mastbase
already twists, and if I remember correctly I think I've seen some Windsurfing
Hawaii mastbases that had a little metal loop one could tie something to
around there. I wonder if some sort of thing could be made like that as part
of the bottom part of the mastbase - although could also twist around - so if
your joint broke you could be safe also. Or one could put like an extra
"safety pin" type device almost the same way you lock the level when you're
extending your mastbase height - except your locking the mastbase pieces
together after you've already used the normal pin.

I don't think any of these ideas are probably much good for joe windsurfer -
however, there is certainly a way to engineer some sort of safety system with
the mastbase. I also think it'd be worth the manufacturers to pursue - since
as Carlos' experience demonstrates: failure of the mastbase to hold can lead
directly to dire circumstances.

So is there anyone out there who can talk to the manufacturers about a safety
system? I'd certainly be interested to hear what they say.

ps - thanks for telling your story Carlos. It serves everyone to be careful
out there.

Greg

Bilbo Innovations, Inc. wrote:

> On Thu, 9 Apr 1998, Nick Rayner wrote:
>
> > One good suggestion was just to make sure the sail was connected by some
> > backup means to the board, not that I've done this yet but after reading
> > Carlos's story I'll investigate. You could just put a second bolt in the
> > mast track and attached a backup line from the sail to that (although
> > you'd want it attached to the sail in a way that would stop it getting
> > twisted).
> That's the problem! If you connect the line to the sail, it will soon
> make many loops around the base, unless you make sure that the number
> of your falls to the left exactly equals the number of falls to the right.
> :-)
> (This is true for jibes, if you do not tack at all.)
>
> Sergei Burkov, Ph.D.,
> INVINCIBLE DATA SYSTEMS, INC.
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