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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:27 pm 
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Was fishing with a buddy today on some shallow flats. He could paddle around ok on them, but they were too shallow to use the mirage drive. and I DONT like paddling the AI. So every time it was proposed that we moved spots, he would point to where we are going next, I would head straight out into the channel, sail down as close as I could without running aground, roll up the sail and head in, My way was twice the distance but still always got there first :lol:

Then came a really scary moment, I had pulled in the sail and was heading shallow but still using the mirage drive, I figured I stall had a good 50 yards or so before I needed to keep the fins up and grab the paddle. Boy was I wrong. I was coming in with the wind at my back, and was peddling at a really good clip.

BRRRRUUUMMMPPPP!!!!!!!!!!

The fins dug into the hard sand bottom and the boat slammed to a stop... the fins were imbedded in the bottom, I couldn't raise them.

I figured no big deal, I'm not that far from the truck, I can just wade and drag the boat around, the day is not a total loss, Ill order parts when I get home and by next weekend everything will be fine.

I get out of the boat and lifted up on it enough to get the fins out of the bottom and walked the boat in deep enough water to the drive out.

No damage, none whatsoever, not even bent a little. I was floored, the entire weight of the boat, my, gear, beer.. jammed to a sudden stop and they took it like nothing happened.

Just wanted to share. :D :D :D :D


Last edited by Wingnutt on Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 3:24 pm 
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Location: Burbank, Ca
I love these things!
I live in So Cal and do most of my sailing off the coast or once a year at Lake Havasu in AZ.
AZ, slammed into a sandbar in 12 knot winds and had the mirage straight down.
MDR, slammed into a shoal thanks to the markers moving and mirage straight down.
In big winds I have found that the Mirage in a straight down position can help with stability and acts as a "second" Daggerboard. NO damage in either instance other than some scuffs on the blades.
If you want to hurt them...leave them in your vehicle, windows up when it's 117 outside. They warped a bit and look funny but still work perfectly. The family would KILL me if I put them in the oven in an attempt to get them perfectly flat again. LOL


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:20 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
I am confused here. Aren't you aware that if you keep your pedals away from meeting, you will keep the fins from pointing straight down? To navigate in shallow water, simply make baby strokes so the fins only move little from the horizontal

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


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:34 pm 
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tonystott wrote:
I am confused here. Aren't you aware that if you keep your pedals away from meeting, you will keep the fins from pointing straight down? To navigate in shallow water, simply make baby strokes so the fins only move little from the horizontal


Yes, really, I know how to flutter the fins in shallow water. Problem is to use the fins you have to keep the rudder down.

Would you like to travel three or four hundred yards at a time with your rudder dragging the bottom hitting everything?

These flats we were working were about 1' deep. There was a deeper channel about 60 yards further out off the shore, I would paddle till I got to the channel then travel down the channel to the next spot, then turn back in towards the shore. It was a much faster and less tedious way of doing it than sitting there trying to flutter the fins in a foot of water while the rudder drags along causing very difficult steering.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:59 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
If the water was only 1 foot deep, wouldn't it have been easier to "do a gondola" with your rudder up? Sorry, just hypothesising

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


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:09 pm 
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tonystott wrote:
If the water was only 1 foot deep, wouldn't it have been easier to "do a gondola" with your rudder up? Sorry, just hypothesising



Short answer, NO, that is not easier, at all.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:30 am 
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Whenever I get into shallows I just take short strokes keeping my feet apart - this leaves the fins up against the hull, but still you can 'flutter' them and get really good speed. There is not real reason to do full sweeping strokes if you don't have to - for short distances over sand bars or obstacles - this is the way I always do it.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:07 pm 
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Location: Burbank, Ca
While I appreciate all comments, please keep in mind that there are just times things happen. In both of my cases waves, puffs made it impossible to see shallows. In MDR I had the evil combo of a large sailor leaving and markers moving. I was likely watching the big boat after a quick scan of where I was headed. Both times I wanted blades down to create more drag and friction loss

AI's can turn on a dime and I am NOT getting in the way of a 40+ just to become a "speed-bump"

The way I read this topic and responded in like is just how well these products are made. My two incidents were pretty scary but no damage. Pretty Cool


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:24 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
I guess I got thrown by the title of this thread, which perhaps should have been called "Sometimes paddling makes sense"

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


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:06 pm 
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Location: CLEARWATER, MN
I have accidentally gone aground twice while pedaling. Both times I bent the SS fin masts and tore a hole through the lower section of the mast pocket on one.
Now I assume, that if I am in shallow water, that if the pedals are not locked together with the fins in the up position, I am going to damage the fins if not the drive itself. So I grab my paddle and use it. Even if I have to use the paddle as a push pole. Cheaper to replace the paddle than Drive Turbo-fins.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:25 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:16 am
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Location: East Maitland NSW AU
Christmas. Our brand new TI was not more than a week old. Wife and daughter took boat out and whilst fiddling with the sail and me giving helpful, highly appropriate and no doubt entertaining hand signals from the shore, they ran aground on oyster covered rocks. :o Then tried to peddle off them. :roll: I couldn't watch!

They then sailed for an hour trying to decide on either the best way to tell and show me the damage, or whether someone from home would come and pick them up if they just sailed to the other side of the bay and and abandoned ship!!!

A bent mast and a torn fin, tails between their legs and very sheepish looks, but we straightened the mast as best we could and figure it was going to happen sometime anyway... just would have been nice to have had the boat more than a week!! :D


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:12 pm 
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Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland
Wingnutt wrote:
No damage, none whatsoever, not even bent a little. I was floored, the entire weight of the boat, my, gear, beer.. jammed to a sudden stop and they took it like nothing happened.

Wingnutt, what kind of fins were you using? Standard, ST or Turbo? (When I'm finally able to get myself a Hobie, I was planning on ST fins, but it's always useful to get info on the different types.)

Mary


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:58 pm 
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Mary Skater wrote:
Wingnutt wrote:
No damage, none whatsoever, not even bent a little. I was floored, the entire weight of the boat, my, gear, beer.. jammed to a sudden stop and they took it like nothing happened.

Wingnutt, what kind of fins were you using? Standard, ST or Turbo? (When I'm finally able to get myself a Hobie, I was planning on ST fins, but it's always useful to get info on the different types.)

Mary


ST Turbo fins, the AI comes standard with them.

I think the ST fins and the standard fins are the same length, but the ST fins have more surface area, the Turbo fins are longer.

I dont know how long the ST fins are, Im kind of kicking around the idea of buying a set of the STs for days when Im going to be doing mostly flats work, the Turbos start smacking the bottom about 1.8 feet or so. I dont know how much shorter the STs are than the Turbos or how big of a pain it would be to switch them back and forth. Im NOT buying a second mirage drive.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:04 pm 
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Location: Dumfries, SW Scotland
Thanks for the info. I'm looking to get a pedal kayak, not a sailboat, and I think ST (not Turbo) would suit me best.
Mary


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 6:45 pm 
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[/quote]I dont know how long the ST fins are, Im kind of kicking around the idea of buying a set of the STs for days when Im going to be doing mostly flats work, the Turbos start smacking the bottom about 1.8 feet or so. I dont know how much shorter the STs are than the Turbos or how big of a pain it would be to switch them back and forth. Im NOT buying a second mirage drive.[/quote]

Hi,
2 pointers!
1) in very shallow water, as you say, you don't want to have your rudder dragging... use you paddle held behind you as a rudder - pushing/pulling it away form the hull to turn - I've used this method with a little sail out to provide forward drive (or fluttering MirageDrive) with good success & got some weird looks by onlookers in very shallow water.
2) The ST fins (my favorite & 2.5" shorter) and are fairly easy to swap with the Turbo's. The shafts are different so need to be unscrewed and swapped over. If you plan to do this regularly I suggest not "locktighting" the threads - but be sure to check shafts are tight regularly (assuming you have the V2 drives)


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