# SA Springtime: Sandmonster appeased?



## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

Yea, come forth Sandmonster
Heart breaker
Gear eater
Reel grinder
To your treacherous maw I offer you:


One Hobie Sidekick central crossbar[/*]
Two Hobie Sidekick retaining clamp bolts and well nuts[/*]
One Hobie Sidekick float retaining split pin[/*]
My best fishing reel[/*]
Also you get to make the second-last runner on my rod rotate freely[/*]

So may it please you and bestow upon my boat: mojo









_As it appeared five minutes before the Sacrifice_

Well, it was looking to be a brilliant Saturday, so as soon as I was up and about I headed on over to Binks to see what I could do about what I did here. They sorted me out with replacement parts for about $40 and after a little screwdrivering, my Revo 11 was good as new. Here's the extent of the hull damage incurred, a marginally wider bolt hole:










So I got out on the water a bit after lunch, trolled about the place in the nil to five knot winds enjoying the sights of the clear skies, sunshine, all the fellow kayakers, a pod of dolphins. Just feeling really happy. Didn't give the sail much of a workout but it gave me a few little assists. I was a bit sheepish from Friday and didn't bring any cameras, but Solatree took a great shot of what it was like out there:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=56802#p589888

It also helped that I picked up my personal best snook, which looked like it had 5-10 cm change left over past the 60 cm mark on my rod.

The forecast for the next day was saying 10-15 knot northerly winds. This would normally make me frown, but combined with the low swell I knew it'd be a great day to test the sail with the sidekicks and practice a little sail-fishing coordination. Not many kayaks out but I ran into Solatree (well I missed him really) on the way out and back. He don't care 'bout no 15 knotters. The sail-fishing worked out pretty well, in spite of my dozey jamming of the main sheet under the sidekick crossbar:














The fish went 69 cm, a funny number AND a new personal best!









Thanks for snapping the photo, Solatree 

As I mentioned in the vid, there was a 140 degree no-go zone around the wind, but I wonder if the wind speed being more than double Hobie's nominated "optimal" wind plus having the outriggers on had an effect on that. Got it to touch 8 km/hr no pedaling on a broad reach at one stage. I'll post a review or something after a couple more trips for anyone interested in how the 11 goes with the sail gear.


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

You have loads of fun ahead in the Spring / Summer on it's way.


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## Zilch (Oct 10, 2011)

Brilliant, well done Chris 

;-) Mate have you thought of simply setting up a camp on the beach :lol: there are toilets 100 metres north  
You could charge us a fee, we would simply text and ask what the sea condition is prior to us deciding to go or not :lol: 8)

10 out of 10 mate

Steve


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

Cheers Steve. I'm not sure I'm the best judge of conditions though, might get litigated against pretty quick 

Sue, I can't wait. Got a big week coming up in November with the family in KI and thinking about it makes me wriggle my toes.


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

I love your enthusiasm Chris. The sailing adds so much more to the options department doesn't it?
I'm sure to see you out and about on the briney again on the weekend.
Note the sandbar behind you in the pic of you holding your snapper.
Something to avoid for the next few weeks.


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## fishstix (Dec 18, 2011)

Really enjoy your vids. that slo-mo whilst netting the snapper is a classic and the captions had me laughing out loud. 
nice fish too.

I have an AI and sometimes troll for snook, salmon trout etc but never thought a snapper like that would be possible. 
The sail area of the AI often makes it difficult to round up on the fish as you then go on a reach [the fastest sailing angle to the wind] and speed away from the fish,not ideal. Options are reef the sail, or loosen the sheets and put up with the sail flapping around you, and or lose the fish.

trip and fall vid. wow! how many times have we all been in that situation, thanks for going to the effort of actually filming it for us

Voted most entertaining video award.

regards peter


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

It really was a sailfish !







Another great vid Chris.


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## GlenelgKiller (Mar 13, 2012)

Drewboy said:


> I love your enthusiasm Chris. The sailing adds so much more to the options department doesn't it?
> I'm sure to see you out and about on the briney again on the weekend.
> Note the sandbar behind you in the pic of you holding your snapper.
> Something to avoid for the next few weeks.


Thats the one! F%#cken thing!!! Are we better off launching at Broadway for a while? Never launched there before so interested in thoughts of others


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

GlenelgKiller said:


> Drewboy said:
> 
> 
> > I love your enthusiasm Chris. The sailing adds so much more to the options department doesn't it?
> ...


That (F)SYC sandbar has a very twisted sense of humour especially in the dark. :lol: 
Not sure about launching from the Broadway. Last time I looked the bottom of the ramp was all rock. The Broadway also has quite a steep drop off, so the waves come up very quickly and catch the unwary and wary!
Kent street launch just south of the Broadway is probably a bit better but the parking is a bit limited.
Why don't one of you get down there with a shovel and build us a bit of a breakwater. Squidley lives on the beach perhaps he could make one for us? ;-)


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

I'll get on it. How's the incline south of Minda? I think the parking gets chained off after 9pm but maybe that break is more gentle.


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## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

Squidley if you want to sail closer to the wind make sure that the pedals are together i.e. the flippers in the down position and hopefully you have the STs or turbos. This gives you some keel to drive the boat upwind. I presume you know how to trim the sail and use the tell tales on the sail to make sure that you have airflow on both sides of the sail - i.e. let the sail out to catch the wind, sheet in and stop before you get luffing of the leading edge or the tell takes drop from horizontal. I can't get the AI to do much better than about 45-50 deg to the wind and the Outback is not a lot worse although progress upwind is slow.


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## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

PS forgot to say great fish.Being a lazy guy I love trolling under sail but have only got one small snapper just off Glenelg beach. Have trolled deep divers many kms on KI without a touch.


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

Thanks Paul. I've been keeping the fins vertical to reduce slippage, but it sounds like the bigger fins are worth considering for what I want to do. I'm glad you like the vids Peter, great to see a new member  all the legal snapper I've caught trolling (4!) have been on red and white minnows that dive between 3-4 metres, in 7-8 metres of water. This guy's got a technique down for stopping an AI with a fish on:


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## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

Squidley have you thought of installing a roller furling system for your sail? There are some items on here which show you how to do it. I heard the flapping of the sail on your video which is not only a nuisance but once you get a treble in the sheet it is a real nuisance. With the system as on the AI, with one hand to hold the rod and the other can furl the sail, no flap.


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Here you go Chris... one of the sail furling vids Paul is talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFWWKI_q ... ata_player

And yes, Josh Holmes has it down pat all right.
I was lucky enough to spend a week on the water with him 2 years ago.
You can't beat the feeling of a hookup on a troll under sail.
It does demand that you adopt a few extra disciplines though.


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

When I went to Binks to buy the yak, I brought up the furlers that involved rotating the sail with the pipes and the sheets and they showed me their own design which rotates the mast:




I liked that it was compact; the pulley style control means there isn't a second sheet to tangle, so I got them to put it on. At the moment I'm finding the rope pretty slippery on the pulley and it's quite fussy about mainsheet tension. Hopefully the pulley rope'll roughen up in time and grab it better, otherwise I'll probably take it off and make a sail rotator.


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## Ubolt (Dec 8, 2009)

I think the sand monster is angry. Anyone see the channel 7 news pretty big surf at Brighton


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Ubolt said:


> I think the sand monster is angry. Anyone see the channel 7 news pretty big surf at Brighton


They sure are big waves! Might not be any beach left to launch off of by the weekend.


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## GlenelgKiller (Mar 13, 2012)

Its big at Glenelg North, maybe biggest i have seen. Crashing over the wall on to the espy.


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Just as long asa it isn't as big as a recent Christmas Island swell.


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