How to ruin a good day (well sorta) long story....
Day two with my spinnaker. Weather forecast: 20 trending 35kmh
Start was unimpressive. I ran out of talent hoisting the kite in probably more wind than I should have, and finished up with a rat's nest. Landed on a handy island (my lake is 74km2 in area, with lots of islands), and basically rerigged everything from scratch (more to imprint in my mind which line does what) with much appreciated help from a visiting holiday maker.
Took off (just about literally!) for a very exciting sail under spinnaker alone. I also enjoyed how well the kite worked on beam reaches, although it certainly is best when the wind is over your shoulder. You know you are really moving when the deck stays under water more often than not! Would you believe two hours of mega fun??
Called in to Coomba Park, an isolated village (and despite rumours to the contrary, I did not hear a single banjo!). Some picnickers took pity on this old fart, hobbling along with walking stick and hump back lol) and furnished an icy beverage and cheerful conversation.
Suitably refreshed, I headed out into a windward trek back to launch spot, in freshening winds.
I had a brief opportunity to hoist the kite again, and it was just as awesome. However, when putting extra effort to completely hide the kite in the snuffer bag, I didn't know my own strength and BANG, I broke the aka brace pin
(The is a trap for young players eh?).Fortunately, the broken pin was on the windward side, so no instant dramas, but knowing I need to drop in a new pin, I started thinking of a likely spot to beach the TI, but then I discovered that my mainsheet had somehow jammed down the Miragedrive slot. so I couldn't reef!!!
I pulled the drive, and was shocked to see both fins bent back at a 45 degree angle (AND I DIDN'T EVEN FEEL IT!) well aren't I the finely tuned mariner... not.
So I had no choice but to spear the thing into shore at the first opportunity.
Great! The masthead got caught in foliage of a nearby tree, and got hopelessly jammed. so even when I got the mainsheet cleared, I still couldn't furl the main!
Why do they call it a comedy of errors? I wasn't laughing....
I guess I should add that the sheer pin on the OTHER side also broke while I was stuffing around trying to get out of my predicament.
At this point, I decided that retreat was the best option, so called the emergency phone number (000 here, but 911 elsewhere I believe). I bit my tongue when the emergency operator repeatedly asked for the name of the nearest intersection (it was a frikkin island in the middle of a lake, how do I answer that one???),
I soon got a phone call from the local volunteer Marine Rescue guys, who sent a patrol boat to tow me back to the launching ramp (oh yes, in the dark, something had also jammed the rudder to one side, so I had to raise it for the tow).
So the tow took an hour, and another hour tidying up the mess for the drive home.
Damage? Could have been worse; 2 brace pins, 1 pair Miragedrive masts.
But the spinnaker worked perfectly!