From: btcx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing
Subject: Re: catapults/harnessesy
Date: 25 Jul 92 22:14:21 EDT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Cornell University

>Now that I am finally beginning to windsurf in higher
>winds I am worried about getting catapulted into my
>rig while still connected to my harness lines.  I was

my main technique to avoid the incipient catapult is to rotate the
sail-sailor to luff the sail.  straps help by giving you more resistance but
you can't fight the force once you go past a certain point because it's so
great, you can only try to redirect it. 
i think it's useful to work on techniques to avoid catapults, but
sooner or later you'll get tossed by either a windshift or gust or mis-timed
wave or laziness, so it's best to be prepared. 

>1. Should one try to hold on to the boom or push it
>   away? Does one method or the other result in a fat
>   lip?
>2. I use a chest harness with a high hook. Does this
>   increase or decrease the risk of bodily injury
>   if I get thrown into the rig?

i have been tossed many times in both chest and seat harness. i have never been
hurt, but i can't say i would expect to not get hurt.  one time i hit a sand
bar just after bearing off and accelerating. even though i landed on sand and
my mast hit with a bang, nothing broke. another time i got thrown above the
boom - i distinctly remember being above the boom with my hands still on the
boom and my knees passing between my wrists as i went over - it was so
exhilarating i let out a whoop as i went.  another time i went in a low arc
around the front of the board at just above water level.  i remember looking at
the board - still on a plane - pointed right at me as i went around the bow. i
think i almost always have held onto the boom. 

>3. My harness lines are just 1/2 inch nylon lines,
>   no plastic tubing around them or anything. Does
>   this "floppiness" help or hurt, ie, am I more likely
>   to stay hooked in longer (once airborne) and therefore
>   suffer greater injury?

imo, if you're hooked in when it starts it's unlikely the line will go slack,
you're just like a ball on the end of a string.

>4. Does a catapult ever result in being UNDER the sail
>   and still hooked in after one hits the water?
>   This seems the most dangerous. Can it be avoided?

i agree, being under the sail, esp. if there is no air under it or if there
is air initially and it gets knocked out by a wave.  panic can set in very
quickly if it seems like you can't get unhooked so you feel trapped.
even if you've thought about it.  i think this happened a time or two in the 
chest harness (single thickness hook - see below) but not yet in the seat
harness.

>5. My chest harness has a quick release mechanism for
>   quick exit when tangled with the harness lines.  I
>   have not seen anything similar for the seat harnesses.
>   Is there a seat model which really is quick release? 

yes, a single thickness hook can get wrapped and make you feel caught and
panic sets in - it can even make you forget the quick release mechanism.
a hook that is doubled back so it is narrower at the hook point and out to the
tip is a lot less likely to get wrapped and trap you. i don't know of a 
seat harness with a quick release.

Brian Carcich - Galileo Project - Centre for Radiophysics & Space Research
Cornell University                     | +01(607)255-5908
422 Space Sciences Building            | carcich@cuspif.tn.cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY   14853-6801                | CUSPIF::CARCICH (SPAN 6287::)
FAX +01(607)255-9002                   | btcx@crnlvax5.BITnet
The only things I don't like about C and Eunuchs(tm) are their proponents
Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing