Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with SMTP (1.37.109.8/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA28962; Wed, 14 Jun 1995 13:00:47 -0700 Return-Path: <EKarver@CCGATE.SPOT.COM-DeleteThis> Received: from alpha.spot.com by hplms26.hpl.hp.com with SMTP ($Revision: 1.36.108.11 $/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1S) id AA061750051; Wed, 14 Jun 1995 13:00:51 -0700 Received: by alpha.spot.com; id AA06972; Wed, 14 Jun 1995 15:54:24 -0400 Received: from cc:Mail by CCGATE.SPOT.COM id AA803170321 Wed, 14 Jun 95 15:52:01 EST Date: Wed, 14 Jun 95 15:52:01 EST From: EKarver@CCGATE.SPOT.COM-DeleteThis (Karver, Eric) Message-Id: <9505148031.AA803170321@CCGATE.SPOT.COM-DeleteThis> To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: Re[2]: Broken Universal & Rescue (long)
Agreed. Six weeks ago I failed to check if my two piece mast was fully
seated after rigging. I have rigged this mast dozens of times without
incident, yet on my first reach away from Crissy field my mast snapped
and I endured a rather cold and humiliating swim back to shore.
Thankfully the tide was flooding and I wasn't too far into the
channel. I never leave shore now without checking and re-checking all
of my equipment.
Eric Karver
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Broken Universal & Rescue (long)
Author: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis at INTERNET
Date: 6/14/95 1:54 PM
>> > I wonder if we could do some sort of a large survey, maybe thru
>> > "Windsurfing", on how many hours equipment lasts so we can replace it
>> > before it gets close to the -2 sigma breakdown time?
>>
I have found out that a thorough check on the equipment at the time of
rigging goes a long way towards avoiding equipment breakdown on the water.
Hang glider and sailplane pilots perform such a check at the beginning of
each flight for obvious reasons. I think that at sites such as 3rd Av one
should inspect his or her rig with the same attention that a hang glider
pilot does. Many breakdowns could be actually prevented by examining
critical parts such as the universal (bend it to see if any hairline cracks
are present, check if the nut is unscrewing), boom front end (corrosion,
cracks), clew, skeg saver (cracks), mast (cracks), lines, etc... Last year
while doing such a check I noticed two cracks forming on the plastic part
of my Nautix front end. This maybe saved me a long swim to shore.
Pierre St Hilaire
Interval Resesarch Corp
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 10 2001 - 02:29:25 PST