Re: Warning: adjustable WH bases

From: Matt Yamamoto (matt@hpisod9.cup.hp.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Fri Jun 17 1994 - 14:47:23 PDT


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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Re: Warning: adjustable WH bases 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 17 Jun 94 13:08:52 PDT." <199406171308.AA2873@comm.Tandem.COM-DeleteThis> 
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 14:47:23 -0700
From: Matt Yamamoto <matt@hpisod9.cup.hp.com-DeleteThis>


> Several years ago I had an adjustable Windsurfing Hawaii mast base. This was
> not the "star" type - it was rectangular with a relase lever which let you
> adjust its position "on the water". It had 2 serious defects:
>
> 1) It had a red button on top which allowed the mast foot to be released from
> the base. However, if you landed hard and flat the shock would spring it
> open with the result that the rig separated from the board. This happened
> to me way out at Coyote in big swells and it took me a long time to get
> board and rig connected again.
>
> 2) The "footprint" of the base on the deck of the board was too small with
> the result that too much lateral stress was put on the mast box - this
> caused the box to loosen on my glass wave board.
>
> I've used quite a lot of WS gear without too many problems but this thing
> really sucked - if anybody else has one I would junk it now.

I had the same problem with the older model WSH Camfoot bases. I had my
board and rig separate at Coyote on a 4.5 day when I was going up for a
jump. The board went at least 50 yards before it started to slow down.
After a few minutes of swimming as fast as I could, I finally caught up
with it. I was so exhausted that I immediately hopped on the board without
thinking and put a nice ding in the top of the board with my harness hook :-(.

The newer model WSH camfoots appear to have fixed the problem. I have
used them for the last couple of years on all my boards and have never
had one release. The newer model ones (available 2 or 3 years ago) can
be identifed from the old ones by the presence of a stretch cord which
loops around the lever which releases the universal. The stretch cord
holds the lever in and prevents it from accidentally releasing. If you
have an older one without this stretch cord, WSH will probably replace
it with the newer model for free. If you have an old one, you should
definitely have it replaced as it accidentally released on me on several
occasions.

-matt



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