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PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:47 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:58 am
Posts: 2893
Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Weather forecast was 25 knots of northerly bluster, and this morning I pointed the TI towards the bar leading to the open ocean, but the numerous whitecaps and exploding waves over the end of the breakwater pushed my caution buttons, so instead I headed into the huge local lake, with its intricate winding channels with depths quickly ranging from under 1 metre to over 25. My Elite 4 DSI is no luxury here.

After about 4-5 hours of darti8ng around, and with rising wind, I returned to the boat harbour about 800 metres in from the bar. Now a sane person would have headed straight back to the ramp, but I liked the look of the huge waves coming in the channel...

So I reduced sail to about half, and made a serious go to windward, with waves up to 15 feet crest to trough, and spaced sometimes only about 30 feet apart. Fortunately the channel is at least 10-15 metres deep, so the waves were only breaking about 200 metres upwind.

The TI was FRIKKIN AWESOME! I had to steer straight into the waves as I am not sure it would like to be on a 45 degree angle side-on to the waves. Of course, pointing into them meant that the front would be momentarily out in the air, before spearing into the face of the next wave. It was a juggle to avoid facing two waves head-on in a row, as this tended to wash off too much speed. Once I got close to the breaking zone, I timed my U-turn in a suitable trough, and unfurled the sail, for the sleigh-ride of my life!

So how do you top that? You go back and repeat three or four times! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I think the grin on my face is permanent!
Here's the bar on a quiet day...(taken from my camera on a 40 foot mast)
Image

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:45 am 
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Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 9:59 am
Posts: 254
Location: Polk City, Fl.
Tony, I love surffing down wind on mine. But also just love the way the TI handles anything out there. Lots of people wonder why I smile so much, it just because of the rides the TI has given me.
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“Remember life is short- eat dessert first.”
The world is 70% water – So that means we should spend 70% more time sailing than mowing lawns!
Larry


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:00 am 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:30 am
Posts: 429
Location: Gulf Shores, Alabama
Good stuff !!! I always tell people the AI is the best thing I've ever owned. Kudos to Hobie for creating these versatile and FUN sail-yaks.


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