managed to destroy my isonic 97 today, hit a poor dugong at full noise. No time to avoid him.

I know that feeling all too well

I was wondering if it had happened before! Nursing a few good bruises as well.

Bumma !....Later on Simon C. went out on his brand new, just out of the box, isonic and hit a crabpot rope breaking his mast !

no there was no crab pot or crash just a broken mast thats how i usually do it . Its a special skill i have

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Simon100 said..
no there was no crab pot or crash just a broken mast thats how i usually do it . Its a special skill i have

Oh...Must of snapped close to that crab pot float.

no seriously i didn't hit anything. masts will do that your just sailing then they go BANG and you fall over backwards and have to swim in

Hey Sim, I reckon this bloke below has a headache and now he is taking us windsurfers out one by one!

Bugger Black ! Sailed at Wello yesterday and passed two Dugongs just cruising near the channel. Are they common in the Southern bay ?

I have seen them a couple of times, never hit one before. Poor fella! They move really slowly so if one pops up in front of you, you're gone.

I see Dugongs every few weeks and have hit a couple. Sometimes you can see a brown line in the water where they have been feeding and have stirred up the mud, don't go over either end of the brown line.

Bart,
Snapping your iS97 on a fish is so 2013. Just ask vando & me. Get with the times son

Either I'm slow or Mistrals are stronger than Starboards. I've hit a dugong (with my 137) and a turtle (with my 112) this year. With the dugong there was slight damage to the fin box - repaired by Ed. With the turtle, I sheared the last 50mm off the fin - a right off.

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John340 said..
Either I'm slow or Mistrals are stronger than Starboards. I've hit a dugong (with my 137) and a turtle (with my 112) this year. With the dugong there was slight damage to the fin box - repaired by Ed. With the turtle, I sheared the last 50mm off the fin - a right off.

It would mainly depend how close to the surface the dungong is, in my case when i snapped the board it was right on the surface and G10 fins don't shear very easy :). Somethings gotta give, I would have preferred the fin or fin box to break though.
That was a costly experience, the board was only a month old .

Folding fins.

You know you want one.

Has anyone ever marketed something like this NotWal? I'm picturing a fin held in by replaceable shear pins that will simply shear and release the fin before the box or board is structurally damaged. Maybe it even has a bit of rope that tucks inside the assembled fin box so the fin just flaps behind when it is knocked out and you don't lose it.

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Paddles B'mere said..
Has anyone ever marketed something like this NotWal? I'm picturing a fin held in by replaceable shear pins that will simply shear and release the fin before the box or board is structurally damaged. Maybe it even has a bit of rope that tucks inside the assembled fin box so the fin just flaps behind when it is knocked out and you don't lose it.

Not to my knowledge but I cobbled one together once upon a time out of a tuttle box after breaking a few fins. Then I never hit anything ever again.

There was another bloke who used to sail around Wello who knocked one up. If memory serves he had a fin that pivoted out of the fin head. I think he may have started with one of those fins with adaptable heads. I haven't seen one of those since last centuary.

Yes and US box fins like Waterloo's above can be easily rigged to break away.

I think it's a niche waiting to be filled by some enterprising manufacturer.

it was just a freak accident. Ed reckons he can fix the board, will soon see. No damage to the fin box, must be super tough. I would have expected that to go first.

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Paddles B'mere said..
Has anyone ever marketed something like this NotWal? I'm picturing a fin held in by replaceable shear pins that will simply shear and release the fin before the box or board is structurally damaged. Maybe it even has a bit of rope that tucks inside the assembled fin box so the fin just flaps behind when it is knocked out and you don't lose it.

Yes. It's called a Powerbox.

Ive got a powerbox fin. Which bit shears and lets the fin tilt back? It just looks like it'd break the board or fin if I hit something.

You lose the fin. Often the bolt pulls through the barrel nut. Much better than breaking the board.

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Paddles B'mere said..
Has anyone ever marketed something like this NotWal? I'm picturing a fin held in by replaceable shear pins that will simply shear and release the fin before the box or board is structurally damaged. Maybe it even has a bit of rope that tucks inside the assembled fin box so the fin just flaps behind when it is knocked out and you don't lose it.

Yes. I still have a brand new packet of two, for the old style (US box is it?) It's just the plate's that slide into the track.
They're two piece, (inner and outer), but still the same physical size and shape of a normal plate.
I've often thought, the same principle could be apply'd somehow to develop simple bolt's that let go the same way.
I'll dig them out and post a photo when I get a chance.

Actually the same could be done very easily with barrel nut's. The clever bit would be how to tether your fin, so as to not lose it prematurely.

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blackattack said..
it was just a freak accident. Ed reckons he can fix the board, will soon see. No damage to the fin box, must be super tough. I would have expected that to go first.

You'll need that strong fin box for when you get your hydrofoil fin.

Hi Shifu, so the theory is that the brass thread of the pin in the fin strips before the head of the bolt pulls through the plastic of the box? Interesting, I didn't know that.

Hey Darren, that US Box style setup would be a goer. A fin that hinges at the rear with a sacrificial/replaceable clip at the front would work wonderfully. An interference fit for rigidity and a little safety rope tucked into the void above the fin so you don't lose your fin and it just flaps behind when it gets dislodged.

Hi paddles no the brass thread doesn't strip it just tears it from the fin base as it only has about 1 cm of base above the brass ferrule. You then have to buy a new fin. Better than a board though.