Not much fun trying to sail a finless board 500m back to shore in a gusty (10-30kt) hot norwester (offshore) in Vic. with a fin that had snapped at the base of the finbox! (ie; no fin!)

That'll teach me for being a smart**se and trying to get too much lift from a chop-hop in front of a mate! (although I reckon the damage was done before then!)

On the upside...core strength got a work-out trying to maintain stability and direction on the way back in, and suprisingly, I managed to keep upwind!

sflack said...

Did you use the good ol' harness round the bottom of the board trick?

Or did you just slog it in?

Can you expand on that? I don't know of any other way than 'slog'...(although I was trying to work out how I could drag my foot behind as a fin, but there's been too many mentions about them nasty/bitey things here, didn't think that would be smart...or possible!)

sflack said...

Did you use the good ol' harness round the bottom of the board trick?

Or did you just slog it in?

Yes, please elaborate.

I was once about to go out in a good 20kt'er at an unfamiliar beach. Got all rigged up, carried my kit down to the water, jumped on, and not 3 metres from the beach hit a rock and snapped my only fin clean off. Talk about an anti climax.

It wasn't overly difficult to sail without a fin, the hardest part was holding my body rigid, and not over-correcting, which resulted in sideways sliding, I tried to dig the rail in a bit with one foot forward of the masttrack which helped keep me slightly upwind...I reckon the harness would add stability, but would be like towing a huge lump of weed. Either way, I don't particularly want to do it again. Thanks for the feedback.

Sailhack said...
[ there's been too many mentions about them nasty/bitey things here, didn't think that would be smart...or possible!)

What are the nasty bitey things. Some big sharkies along w'bool to Portland have been very friendly this season