carrying guest on AI

At last, a way to waterski from an AI!!!. But wouldn't you need two of them lashed to the akas to carry a passenger, to keep the boat balanced in any substantial wind?

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Chris
Yah if get gets rough enough, I guess you should have 2 for proper balance.
I've only taken the SUP out on the AI in moderate wind (as I'm still working on keeping my butt out of the water in windy chop)
But I love your idea of water skiing with an SUP. Gotta try that out
As the SUP picks up speed, the ride becomes much more stable.
Fred

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Chris
Re: Waterskiing behing the AI/TI with an SUP.
The model I use has 3 removable plastic fins near the stern.
I'd propably remove the 2 outer fins and keep the middle one or it can be quite hard to turn the board while it's being pulled through the water with all 3 fins in place.
BTW: This board weights a mere 22.5 lbs.
Fred

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From what I see in bluehen's video, balance is not so much of a problem as I expected. My wife says it looks so stable that she might as well prepare some sandwiches sitting on those tramps, while sailing at 7 mph!

Still,considering that my wife already wanted to buy an inflatable SUP to use it as SUP, Trinomite's idea sounds great to start with!
And it could also be useful to show her there was a good reason to reveal her real weight on a forum.

It would be interesting to see a picture showing how you Trinomite fixes it to the akas to understand better how it works.

Hi Massimo
There are 2 ways to connect the SUP to your akas. Imagine the akas on either side of the boat as a 'roof rack'
1) Slide the SUP deck side up onto Port or Starboard Akas, (fully inflated 10psi) and it will be (almost) as solid as a stiff fiberglass board to allow the board to be used as a passenger seat)
Use the tiedowns from your beach wheels (or roof rack) and fasten down the board firmly especially if it's a bit more windy.
2) For a temporary connection just bungie it down to the akas

Sorry won't be able to do pictures for a few days. I hope the text description is helpful.
PS: One of the problems with a solid SUV is you can really hurt yourself if you fail to fall away from the board and into the water on an accidental dump. The Inflatable, however, is like falling onto a very solid cushion. One of the other nice design features of the Seylor SUP it has a 4" rocker (the bow is curled up to prevent what is called 'perling' the process where a flat board submarines into waves. This will help prevent the SUP on your Island from scooping up water while under way). The board also comes with a no-skid rubber deck which I'm sure your passenger will appreciate. It also has D ring tiedowns which are rated for 10lbs of cargo in drybag(s)
The down side of using an Inflatable on your Islands is that if you like to fish a lot, you may want to keep the SUP at home. Yes all boards come with a patch kit. But why put the board at risk.
Speaking of Safety, a board leash is a must as it only takes a whisper of a breeze to push the board away from you in a fall. Obviously PFDs are also a must (but that`s not an option.....is it)

Best Regards
Happy SUPing (errr that doesn`t sound right...)

Fred

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Fred, what I meant by balance is: You don't want your passenger stuck out on the leeward side of the boat if the breeze picks up. You need to be able to hike out to windward.
As to waterskiing, is there a way to attach a towline directly to the SUP, so the rider could stand up and use the paddle for balance?

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Hi again Massimo
I forgot to ask one thing: I assume you will be using the tramp(s) with your boat and then add the SUP.
This is important if you plan to use the SUP as a passenger seat. The board is only 30 inches at the beam. That would make it a bit of an acrobatic act for your passenger to get on or off the board without having a tramp underneath.

As for making sandwiches on the tramps, well they may get just a tad soggy as the mesh material of the tramps will still allow the wash to go through them. In that regards having a 4 inch thick`air mattress will save your passenger a rather wet seating experience.

Regards
Fred

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Hey Chris
Yah, as I mentioned to Massimo, the board is only 30 inches wide that leaves a 6 inch gap if no tramps were used. Not huge but in a shifting platform every step matters.
I would think the easier way for the passenger is to grab a hold of the mast and transfer to the other tramp by stepping on the foredeck and to the other Trampoline.
There is no d ring on the bottom bow of the board other than cargo tiedowns on deck.
It would not be hard to glue a very solid D ring patch to just behind the rocker to keep the bow out of the water.
Remember if you use a tow line handle, you won`t need the paddle, you steer by shifting your weight on the board. As the speed increases the board becomes very stable (just like when you surf down a wave to some degree)
There is an alternative: You can buy a harness with a frontal hook which is what Kiteboarders use to control their kites with one hand....now it starts getting complicated
Looks like some quality R&D time is in order
Woohoo, Research time!
Best regards
Fred

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Yeah, the reason I was wondering about attaching a line directly to the SUP is that if you are using a handle, I imagine you would have to move your weight back and lift the bow out of the water a bit, increasing the resistance of the board. I guess that's why ski boats need so much power.
Can't wait to see the results of your experiments.

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Chris
To be honestly with you (which I am, as an honest person), this project would work better on a TI, for several reasons.

1) The AI was never designed for 2 persons, so the 2nd person is deadweight before you even begin.

2) Your second or yourself will become the surfer on the TI. this vastly increases your TI`s performance when the TI only has 1 person aboard.

You will need all the power you can get out of your Island and that may include motorsailing it.

3) What makes the SUP preferable here is that it does not require you to be on a plane to suck the tow out of the `hole in the ocean`

You can simply gradually increase speed as now that you have your tow on their knees on the board coasting slowly , simply increase speed further until they get used to the balance on the SUP.

They stand up and shift their weight slightly backwards and play with the waves. A broad reach may not be the best for their experience, but you will need to go there to max out the TI`s speed.

Considering the mechanics, I doubt I could get that to work with an AI even in a 15 knot wind. (But, I`ll try it out to see if it`s workable with a 2nd person slightly over 100 lbs, on the AI)

Fred

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Disclaimer!
It is considered standard practice (and even the law in certain areas) to have a spotter aboard facing backwards when you are towing a skier.
As that fact is probably unworkable, running a sailyak whilst towing a skier, please use every possible common sense tactic (and that may include installing and using a rear view mirror to maintain the safety of your tow at all times.
Thank you,
Have fun, All
Trinomite

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Yeah, I agree that it would need more power than an AI can generate to tow a skier, but Roadrunner has a number of posts of him towing other boats, sometimes much bigger than his AI. Since you can stand and paddle a SUP on a lake, I gather you don't have to rely too much on forward momentum to stand. I guess I'm thinking more of the SUP being passively towed by the AI/TI, perhaps with a bit of assistance from the paddler.

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Chris
Consider standing on a static float and test your balance..highly unstable, right?. Now if that platform was in a forward motion (either supplied by your own paddle or a tow, no more 'shaky legs'
(Same idea as the first time you rode a bike, the faster you pedalled, the more stable the ride gets)
I'm sure you've seen those 'tubular' tow behinds that they sell to Mariners to keep their kids happy.
Trust me after 3 minutes you'll loose interest very quickly. They get dragged behing the tow boat but that is about it.
However, here's the trick to waterskiing, wakeboarding, kitesurfing, etc.
You need to get up to plane speed to make this happen. As we both know, the Islands don't plane well (which is why when the yaks tend to reach their max hull speed they revert to what any semi displacement hull does: They nosedive.
Any planing vessel needs a combination of a layer of air and water surface tension under the hull to literally have it skip over the water like a thrown rounded stone.
Ok, we can use that concept to figure out that we may never get an SUP up to full plane speed, but we can still use these lightweight boards to come close to it.
Yes these boards are not what you see in the 'Extreme Surfing' videos, as the boards they use are tiny compared to an SUP (as these high speed surf boards rely on fast forward motion to get them to work, sliding down a monster wave and years of honed skills from the Watermen that use them.
But I think we can get a pretty nice ride out of these 'Longboards' in combination with the TI (or possibly an AI, in the right conditions)

Regards
Fred

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Chris, I`ve never bothered to paddle on a lake. I have an ocean outside of my front yard.
Trust me I could (just as anyone) tow a 50 foot yacht if needed by just using the Mirage Drive on thr AI. Sure it may take all day to get the stricken vessel back to port, but it will not even be close to the potential speed that the towed vessel can manage on it`s own power.
The power to get a boat that large onto a plane is in the $300 to $500 an hour in fuel (depending on the engine numbers and displacement).
As per my last post, I can`t stress this enough, SUP is now the latest craze for the fitness gurus. You use your entire body to keep from flipping into the water as you have to balance yourself at all times as you try to maintain forward motion (until your brain accepts `walkin on da Water`).
I must admit though it has it`s rewards as you look down on the fish swimming underneath you.
(Maybe a rod might be a good idea......(The possible rebirth of the `Pocket Fisherman`
....BUT WAIT, there`s MORE!

Cheers
Fred

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I really agree with Chris's advice on riding out on the tramps yourself while carrying a passenger on the other one. Simplifies things, balances the boat better and can sometimes help you when tacking.

I ride 2up quite a bit and even 3up at times on my AI. I even dragged a tired kayaker along with 3 people on board, and made decent headway.

The tramps stay pretty dry, but it can get awful wet in the cockpit at times!

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The Wind Is Your Friend...