I've never had a uni break on me. Always believed in the safety strap (prevent rig separation, emergency sail home) but had never actually needed it.
Sunday at Mecox with OG Puffin Steve (Peconic Puffin since 1993) conditions were marginal 6.3. I launched first, and was mixing jibes when I could plane with tacks and helitacks when I could not. Steve was still rigging on the beach when one of my heli's felt odd. Was the boom loose? I checked…no it was fine. Found myself shlogging then looked down…what the heck was the base of the mast doing so far downwind of the mast track?
Ah.
So I shlogged gingerly back to the launch, where I showed Steve my severed tendon. He looked at me…the reason he was taking so long to rig was that he'd found his own uni had split. Never happened to him before either, and he'd been windsurfing since the 1980's (I started in '92). Go figure!
Leave a Reply