Equipment Failure

Tips and Tricks

1. Boom breakage: usually only one side of the boom will break; you can still sail with the other side. If it's pointing in the wrong direction, turn the boom upside down. BE CAREFUL of the broken boom end swinging around, which is probably sharp and can cut or scratch.
2. Fin breakage: if you lose a fin, tie your harness around the rear footstraps. All you need is _something_ below the water-line to be able to sail, so a harness should be able to get you going.

Self Rescue

If there is failure that prevents you from sailing back to shore (e.g., broken mast or universal), you need to derig the sail and paddle it back to shore.

The link below is a good video reviewing how to take apart a rig in the water to paddle it back to shore. It is a good idea to practice this on land every season -- who am I kidding, no one's gonna do it, but you should at least watch this video every season to refresh your memory. The key things to remember are (1) never ever ever let go of the board: it will float away faster than you can catch up to it; (2) make use of the various lines available (uphaul, downhaul, outhaul) to tie things to each other as you take apart the equipment; make sure everything is tied to the board in some way.

Self Rescue Video: https://vimeo.com/234383599

Universal (Tendon)

This is what it looks like when the tendon on a universal fails:

The tendon is a cylindrical piece of rubber that is connected to each section by a bolt that goes through a small hole.

A tendon failure will occur at those holes.

To prevent such failure, remove the bolt and inspect the tendon before each sailing season.

Here's a comparison of a bad and good tendon: