Thanks sailing buddy!

leslieblaney · Joined: 25 Jul 2016 Posts: 5

I was sailing with my best buddy at Coyote, out at the channel markers. I heard a loud noise (never a good thing) and ended up in the water. Something broke, but what? My mast seemed ok, front end of boom was ok. Could it be my brand new universal? Seemed ok - except that it wasn't attached to my board anymore. WTF. There was my board, about 15 feet away merrily skipping over the waves on its way to Hayward. I looked up and there was Bill, sailing up to me to check out why I wasn't up and moving. I gave a big distress wave of my hand and pointed to my board yelling GET MY BOARD! He immediately veered off to get it. He trapped it and held it upside down on his sail while I crabbed my way to him while towing my rig. The nut was still attached to the bolt so I must have not tightened the universal down enough and it simply came unwound. I was able to balance my board on its side with my legs wrapped on it to keep it steady in the chop and on the first try got the universal right back in its track. Voila! Bill tightened it down and we were off. It could have ended very differently. We sail together a lot, but usually on crisscrossing tacks, not really that close to each other. Had Bill not been so close by, I likely would not have been able to get the board back. Had I been alone I would have had to ditch the rig and swim in. Not a problem with the warm water at Coyote and my nice wetsuit, but still not pleasant. Jeff gets perturbed when I lose a rigging tool. Imagine if I had to tell him that I lost one of our favorite boards and sail. Lucky lucky lucky. Thanks for being there and paying attention Bill!

Wind_Boarder · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:20 pm Post subject:

Hey Leslie,

Were you the guys hanging out late at Coyote yesterday (Sunday) at the middle launch ramp? I think we saw you guys and you asked me if the 2 guys still on the water knew that the park was closing soon.

If it was you, I think I remember seeing you come in and you looked so happy/grateful when you came out of the water!

We're glad Bill kept an eye on you and you guys were able to fix things so quickly!

Alak

leslieblaney · Joined: 25 Jul 2016 Posts: 5

Yes that was us, what a great day yesterday was! Our little adventure actually happened a few weeks ago, it just took me a while to post.

windsrf · Joined: 01 May 1998 Posts: 464

Good example of why the Chinook double bolt base is better approach - IMHO....

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Wider boards are harder to hold on edge while inserting the foot, but sitting on them, bending the uni....after you sight alighn the buttons, to 90 degrees, then inserting onto the track, works easily in almost any windswell, but not breaking waves.

Brian.bigfella@gmail.com · Joined: 11 Jun 2012 Posts: 127

Putting a base back on a board in the water is a nightmare. That's why I only use two bolt bases now.

Glad it had a happy ending!

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Super easy. Just sit on the board, align the holes, bend the uni joint, and slide it right in. Super easy if you do it that way, impossible if you try to hold a wide board up on edge.

U2U2U2 · Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 2:47 pm Post subject: