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Broken mast 7 miles offshore.
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Author:  carsautotech [ Sat Jun 15, 2013 7:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

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We headed it out on the new TI to catch those illusive red snappers. But 3/4 of the way out heard a loud crunching sound them SNAP. The sail starts coming down and if it wasn't for the furling line and main line. The sail and mast could of been at the bottom of the ocean about 70 ft deep. I spoke to a experienced TI owner and told me, that he had never seen this before. This was the first run on the TI so I was over confident about the craft in general.

Author:  KayakingBob [ Sat Jun 15, 2013 8:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

Boy! You did good! First to break a mast (at least like that) that I know of. One way to make an entrance on this forum! :lol:

Author:  beebrain [ Sun Jun 16, 2013 12:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

how did you get home? (Hook a giant red snapper headed in, or peddle?)
Kinda shakes your confidence it this boat, if this was your first voyage, eh?
Pretty surprising. Many of us have seen the masts take a lot of stress.

Author:  tonystott [ Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

Where on the mast did the failure occur?

Author:  kayakman7 [ Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

This is the second failure I've heard of. JollyRoger broke a TI mast during water trials in his then new sailing canoe. His broke in just about the same place too, just at the furling drum. Before you say that design had anything to do with his failure, he used all stock parts and went on to complete the Everglades Challenge in 72 grueling hours using a new mast. I believe his boat weighs less than a TI.

Don't let this scare you too much, there are bound to be a couple of defective masts in the thousands that have been made. I've seen mine bend like a pretzel and consider it almost unbreakable.

J

Author:  Tom Kirkman [ Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

Localized defect or damage of some sort, not a design flaw.

I would expect your dealer will take care of this for you.

Author:  carsautotech [ Sun Jun 16, 2013 6:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

We managed to safety put away the sail. Not to get discouraged, we decided to peddle to nearest oil Rig. About 1/2 a mile from reaching or destination, I hear living waters on the vhf radio that his passenger on his TI started to get sea sick. So we decided it was time to start to see if anything could be done about modifying the mast. I always carry a sticky point to stabb stubborn fish. So I reinstalled the furling drum, in the center I placed the stick to serve as a temporary mast. Slid the broken mast on to the stick and managed to keep it up right. To keep from going side to side or even forward, braced it about 3 feet from the base of the furling drum with straps from my hakas. Opened the sail 1/4 of the way and started to make leeway down wind. I still tethered my TI to living waters with a his rig hook. We decided to make the best of it. So crippled but not down, started trolling ribbon fish. And then fish on. My cousin Luis made battle with his first 38 in. King fish. Them living waters catches his only King of the day on a top water lure. After the ordeal was over, we thanked God for a safe return back to shore with injuries .

Author:  sun E sailor [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

c.a.t.
Glad to hear you made it back safe&sound, and even managed to catch a couple of fish along the way 8) . I agree with Tom, it must have been just a defective mast, that'll be covered under warranty. What I find most remarkable is this. Given the forces that must have been at place at the moment your mast snapped, what's really interesting is that the screw socket at the base of the V-Frame didn't break, nor did the weld on the crossbar. Thank You Hobie For Those Upgrades! To be on the safe side, you may want to check those two areas out now.

Author:  PassWind [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

that sux ...

... how strong were the winds ?

Author:  carsautotech [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

We had South wind about 5-10 knots. Our direction was straight South. So of course we were tacking. Our speed was probably around 5 knots. Then out of know no where , CRUNCH, SNAP, POP. Then dead in the water. I did have a lot of confidence in the sail system knowing that I've had older AI'S in 30 plus winds before. But you never know. I should of taken it out on the bay for good test run just to see if everything was in working order. But when you get your hands on a nice craft like this and it's new, one is itching go play with big boys. Lesson learned, never be in a rush to go hit the high seas before running a check list every time.

Author:  tonystott [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

You are way too hard on yourself... Assuming the mast was likely to be in question before venturing out into winds of only 10 knots would be as silly as carrying out a flotation test of a brand new Island in case it is going to leak... you could never have been expected to anticipate what seems to be definitely an individual component failure.

When you get the inevitable replacement from Hobie, don't even think twice about the possibility of a repetition; you were just incredibly unlucky.

Author:  Tom Kirkman [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

On the other hand, it's not often heard that a kayaker got into trouble or died because of too much preparation or equipment checking. I still do a "shake down" run somewhere local in reasonably good conditions each time I get a new boat.

Author:  NOHUHU [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

Naw,..Tony's right, it could NEVER happen again, to you!

Reflecting back, would you say were there any bridges on your route that day? :wink:

Welcome to the forum.

Author:  vetgam [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

I witnessed the whole thing that day . Light to moderate winds and no bridges. Too weird. I was the unlucky ill passenger in the other TI. Not a good outing for me- sea sick all day and a long 7 mile ride back to solid land. That's better than a broken mast though.

Author:  tonystott [ Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken mast 7 miles offshore.

Tom Kirkman wrote:
On the other hand, it's not often heard that a kayaker got into trouble or died because of too much preparation or equipment checking. I still do a "shake down" run somewhere local in reasonably good conditions each time I get a new boat.

I hear you Tom, but if he broke the mast 7 miles from shore, that means everything worked well for over an hour, which would surely satisfy any "shake down" criteria.

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