Not a nice feeling hey.

I've had that happen before, tried all variations of sidestroke, backstroke, freestyle, but as you say it's useless to lie on the board, you've got to be swimming in.

Apparently what some people do is pack up their rig in the water, and then they can paddle the board back, not sure how I'd go trying that idea!

Derig the sail in the water,
lay everything on the board,
lie on top and paddle in.
Very hard work and uncomfortable but doable.

Haven't had to do it myself but I have seen it done.

Many years ago whilst wave sailing by myself out from main jetty at Lancelin, webbing slipped through mast tip cap (which went missing) and sail slipped down mast. Managed to paddle back to beach near jetty, took me around two hours to get in! Easier to do with 4.7 wave sail and 8'6'' wave board, one hand paddling under body whilst holding onto mast below boom with other hand, swapping hands regularly.

The day previous, I had left Esperance at around 4pm where there had been no sailable wind for more than a week (in Dec/Jan!) and driven for 11 hours to Lancelin (with stopover at Wave Rock) just to get a few days of wave sailing before returning to work, so when you're desperate and determined you can do almost anything!

Know the feeling to well, you never really get use to it, even as a wave sailor living in Qld. Agree with the volume comment, my smallest board these days is a 90l gun for big days; a dog in anything but good swell but it still floats me when the wind drops out.
Got drilled a couple of years ago on the outgoing tide on the Caloundra bar, 3m+ and shredded the sail so no hope of dredging in. After abut 20mins of going nowhere but out to sea while watching the sun getting ever closer to the horizon then being ignored by some friendly jet ski types, I ditched the sail, fed the two parts of the mast through the front foot straps & tied the boom tail to the back strap. Loosened and spun my harness so I could lay down to paddle or kneel, worked a treat. Lost a two year old sail but lived to tell the story

I also know it well. 600m offshore at the Greenhead break with only one arm and late in the day. Hard call to derig or just drift and get one of the boys to send a boat out. Scary stuff

I saw a great article on self rescue in a WS magazine a few years ago that had great tips for bringing somebody else's rig in while they paddle, how to jury rig a broken boom, how to derig in the water without losing anything etc. It was a ripper.
If anyone knows of it online.......?

GazMan said...

Many years ago whilst wave sailing by myself out from main jetty at Lancelin, webbing slipped through mast tip cap (which went missing) and sail slipped down mast. Managed to paddle back to beach near jetty, took me around two hours to get in! Easier to do with 4.7 wave sail and 8'6'' wave board, one hand paddling under body whilst holding onto mast below boom with other hand, swapping hands regularly.

The day previous, I had left Esperance at around 4pm where there had been no sailable wind for more than a week (in Dec/Jan!) and driven for 11 hours to Lancelin (with stopover at Wave Rock) just to get a few days of wave sailing before returning to work, so when you're desperate and determined you can do almost anything!

If there is still a gentle breeze, I can sail along quite happily sitting on my board. Beats paddling any day!
1. Set your rig up for a waterstart as normal with the rig flying.
2. Put your front hand on the mast about halfway between the board and the boom.
3. Reach as far along the foot of the sail with back hand and grab on.
4. With hands in this position and not much wind the rig will be about halfway to the upright position.
5. Slide your back leg over the board so that your calf is lying on deck of the board about halfway between the front straps and the mast base.
6. Much like a waterstart, push the rig upright(and beyond) and then slide your bum up onto the deck so that you are straddling the board. It doesn't matter if your legs are dangling either side of the board and in fact can help for stability.
7. Settle everything down, then lift your legs up onto the board with your feet resting near the nose of the board.
8. Important to trim the board fore and aft, and have found that to get best steering get the nose down as low as possible without overdoing it and nose-diving.
9. Sheet in and steer by leaning. You will find you can actually sail a fair way upwind as the whole rail of the board is working for you
10. If the wind picks up again, it is very easy from this position to haul yourself to your feet without overbalancing.
Have done this in about 5 knots of breeze on a board that would be impossible for me to stand on with no rig without sinking.
It sounds a bit weird but actually works well and is easier to do than you think. But like everything, best practiced first in controlled conditions before you need it in a more serious predicament.

Strap some flippers to your board, the tow in surfers are starting to do this now, would help in a long swim

Can't find that article anywhere. So from memory

Firstly always have a spare 2m of downhaul rope on the boom arm or in harness pocket.

(1) let off downhaul and separate extension and rig (extn says in mast track)
(2) straddle board and sit up with rig floating.
(3) let off outhaul, paddle around to other side of rig and remove boom from mast. Slide off boom. place on board then sit up on board again. Now the boom and extn can't go anywhere.
(4) remove mast and slide one half into each of the front footstraps under your bum so they form a vee at the nose of the board. Tie your outhaul to the two forward sections of the mast. You could keep one half of the mast to use like a canoe paddle if you wish but that's asking to lose it and the paddle will not be long enough to need to do that (we hope)
(5) roll sail and use your spare 2m of rope to tie the downhaul pulley and around sail so it can't unroll, then tie to outhal and where mast halves meet up near the nose
(6) remove extn from mast track and tie downhaul rope to clew grommet in sail and tie that to footstrap.

Now even if you tip it all over you can't lose anything and go paddle!


The other good tip is to recover another sailor's rig. BUT it requires decent wind strength for the waterstart. Lie your rig in water and lie their sail on it upside down / reversed - so u insert their rig under your boom mast tip first, and use the spare bit of your downhaul to tie the tip if their mast to your extension. Then use the leftover outhaul length to tie their boom to your mast tip (will be about a metre betwene them so not always possible.. Water start and sail back in. You can actually still plane like that. They can then paddle their board easily

If you sail in the ocean I reckon it's pretty important to know how to de-rig and stash your gear so you can paddle in. I've had to do it 3 times so far, broken masts, broken boom and a broken uni; it's surprisingly easy once you know how.

The last time I had to do it I actually put the mast, sail, everything though the boom and lashed it all together (much like if you had to carry it all up the beach) and then used the uphaul rope to tie that to the rear foot strap. I then lay on the board and the boom etc towed along behind me, worked well. Much more comfy paddling than lying on top of sails/booms etc.

Mark _australia said...

I also know it well. 600m offshore at the Greenhead break with only one arm and late in the day. Hard call to derig or just drift and get one of the boys to send a boat out. Scary stuff

I saw a great article on self rescue in a WS magazine a few years ago that had great tips for bringing somebody else's rig in while they paddle, how to jury rig a broken boom, how to derig in the water without losing anything etc. It was a ripper.
If anyone knows of it online.......?

No longer on the boards website but can still be found on the webarchive here.
web.archive.org/web/20051122185839/www.boards.co.uk/articles/index.asp?article_type=11
Link never works directly copy and paste whole address in to your address bar
No pictures but still lots of useful info.

I paddled in once in flat water. 103 litre Bic Electric Rock and a single piece mast (early 90's?) I found it very difficult to paddle when on top of the rolled up sail, mast and boom - kept falling off in flat water. Had to sit on it and paddle with the mast in very quick short strokes.

If I was in real danger, I wouldn't hesitate to ditch the rig and harness and paddle in. It might be a good idea to have the spare rope tied to a velcro ankle leash, or have a longboard leash if having to paddle in a long way through waves.

A board is probably more visible than a rig.

wbailey said...

Ducati said:
check this out also
http://www.calema.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3

That one is similar to what I posted above but the only issue I have is it is too easy to lose the mast if it is rolled up in the sail. Puttingmast halves thru front footstraps to form a V at the nose of the board and then tied together is better as it is just as secure but you can see if a mast section starts to slip away.
Looking at his last pic, if one of this ropes came undone he could lose half the mast and not even know it.

nick0 said...

for short distances ya swim in the water grab ya mast imbetween the boom and board with one hand , lay on ya side . kick and paddle with other hand . quite comfortanble and doesnt wear u out very quick

I've done that one from out near the tankers at Nobbys to the beach.. forgot to change sides.. was I stiff the next day! I think the big cambered sail was the main issue this time..