KayakingBob wrote:
When gusty like that, I try holding the sheet-line uncleated, using my arm as a shock absorber to smooth out the gusts.
I have tried that, but kept getting cleated in unless I held my hand unnaturally high - seems like the cleat needs to be angled a few degrees down instead of being flat so that the sheet can be worked in-and-out without cleating unless the operator exerts some downward force on it while pulling.
I also find it quite difficult to un-cleat when there is a lot of pressure on the sail - and that's something that should be doable any time with just a quick yank on the sheet.
Slanted slightly downward was how I had it set up on my outrigger canoe and it worked well: uncleated was the default and cleating required an explicit movement...... Un-cleating was just a matter of pulling on the sheet, making it pop up out of the cams as it formed a straight line to my hand........ But I am reluctant to drill any more holes in the Xbar that are not in line with the existing holes....seems like every hole would weaken it.
All that being said... I don't see a mainsheet cleat mod in the list at
http://www.kayakingbob.com/hobie-ai so either there is one and I'm not seeing it or I am doing something wrong with my sheeting technique.
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