The water at my local is full of eagle rays. I sail a lot. I hit them a lot. I have massive over-the-fronts. It hurts. It wrecks my gear. It wrecks the rays (presumably).

What's the solution?

Weed fins and concrete

Shorter weed fin? Otherwise - change of location.

I know the feeling had my fair share of hits in the bay.
Weed fins may help but not in all cases .

I'm starting to get a bit gun-shy about blasting down the Queens Beach speed-strip.

Keep the ray
Cut flaps off
Punch them with a bit of sharpened waterpipe to get nice white circles about 1" (x 1/2" thick)
Mix little white circles with scallops to take on a bit of smell
Sell the whole lot as real scallops.

(Chinese restaurant trick, wonder why 'rays are so popular to catch and there ya have it)

Get a board with a powa box. Fins guaranteed to snap off. keep a few spares jammed in your harness and a screwdriver for on the water changes

^^ They are designed to. The clearance between bolt and the barrel nut insert is a tiny bit more than for a normal nut n bolt, so as to save your board.

But yeah the box in a board is pretty damn strong and I have had the fin let go earlier than I'd like. EG a walking pace collision with rock, that would obviously not damage the board. In that case the fin manufacturer sold me a fin at cost! Top marks to them

All my boards are powerboxes. The fins only break off when I hit turtles . Rays have a bit of give in them. Still like hitting a dining table though.

Think that you still end up better than the ray

Slow down .

on a serious note .weed fins do run over them easier..
but not that nice to use .
go wave fins....they won't kill but sting the ray .

Potentially unpopular opinion warning:


Quite seriously, in your opening post you say it presumably wrecks the rays. Indeed if you are having massive over the fronts, I'll bet that's true in quite possibly a pretty gruesome way. They're just hanging out, at home, doing ray things.
Maybe it's worth considering not sailing so fast in this location, in fairness to the Rays.

Its a problem at other places including lakes. Yes maybe a weedy or more swept back smaller fin but potentially at the expense of sailing experience. You could just hit sandbanks or rocks like me and save the rays

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saltyheaven said..
Potentially unpopular opinion warning:


Quite seriously, in your opening post you say it presumably wrecks the rays. Indeed if you are having massive over the fronts, I'll bet that's true in quite possibly a pretty gruesome way. They're just hanging out, at home, doing ray things.
Maybe it's worth considering not sailing so fast in this location, in fairness to the Rays.

Yes, it's a concern, haven't hit anything noticeably big this season but have narrowly missed a shark and a seal. Power boxes are designed to merely save the board. Shouldn't we think about a bit more precision in the breakaway? In normal sailing the fore and aft force is only a kilogram or two of drag. A calibrated hinge to the rear at 5 kilograms would greatly improve safety for other water users.

The sailor should avoid the catapult and still have enough fin action to get back to the beach and fit a fresh shear pin.

Take up kitesurfing you can ride a board with no fins

I only know one bloke called Ray and I don't think he swims there, why are all these Ray's getting together in one place anyway.

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Ian K said..

saltyheaven said..
Potentially unpopular opinion warning:


Quite seriously, in your opening post you say it presumably wrecks the rays. Indeed if you are having massive over the fronts, I'll bet that's true in quite possibly a pretty gruesome way. They're just hanging out, at home, doing ray things.
Maybe it's worth considering not sailing so fast in this location, in fairness to the Rays.

Yes, it's a concern, haven't hit anything noticeably big this season but have narrowly missed a shark and a seal. Power boxes are designed to merely save the board. Shouldn't we think about a bit more precision in the breakaway? In normal sailing the fore and aft force is only a kilogram or two of drag. A calibrated hinge to the rear at 5 kilograms would greatly improve safety for other water users.

The sailor should avoid the catapult and still have enough fin action to get back to the beach and fit a fresh shear pin.

As an ad hoc measure you could use plastic cross nuts and a tether from the deck to the fin. A folding fin would be better, just more of a project.

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ikw777 said..
I'm starting to get a bit gun-shy about blasting down the Queens Beach speed-strip.

What, Queen's has a speed strip now? I thought it was wall to wall bumps.

Get an iSonic* - it'll solve all your problems. The fish lives, and your fin's as good as new..... [funny that it's still quite raw ]

*(preferably a model around 2012 when they had an inherent weakness at the wingers)

You lot should start being sensible, he asked if it hurts the rays.

I reckon it probably just stings.

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Mark _australia said..
You lot should start being sensible, he asked if it hurts the rays.

I reckon it probably just stings.

Mark,
I don't want to get in a flap but was that barb directed at me.
Hooray...

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NotWal said..

ikw777 said..
I'm starting to get a bit gun-shy about blasting down the Queens Beach speed-strip.

What, Queen's has a speed strip now? I thought it was wall to wall bumps.

Yep, that's the one. Sometimes the chop is only a metre high!

Buy a Fanatic Ray, that way you'll still be able to fly with them, just not hurt them or yourself

Must be something to be flat out flying thru the water then suddenly you're floundering.
Still that's quite a cautionary tail, I was expecting a stinger at the end but instead it's a ray of sunshine.
If you are going to be losing fins like that perhaps you could tie a hook and line to them so you don't have to go fish for them afterwards.
Make me stop

How about the old multi fins canard clip. Back to the future for fin saving.

sharper fins