One day I decided I needed to bring my most used sail up north to use on the chalet board - the BIC SL200. The sail is an 8.5 m² from Hot Sails Maui called Speed Freak. Mine is without cambers - new ones in larger sizes have the option of one camber ...
In any case, when I was getting off the water that day, the wind was gusty, switching directions, etc and I have a tricky place to get out of the water. The sail flipped and impaled itself on the the dock post.
Since this sail is made out of dacron, I asked Marc, my kitesurf buddy which places he recommends for kite repairs. He did not hesitate and said KITEFORCE right away ...
I contacted them and Arthur said (after I sent him the above photo) that it was NOT a big deal and to just tape it all up with this tape they have. So, it was ordered online and Arthur made the adjustment for there to be NO shipping costs. He suggested taping one side with masking tape and wiping down with alcohol before applying the tape.
The order came within 3 - 4 days in a regular envelope with two small packets of alcohol swaps.
The sail was taped on the side with the emblem as that facilitated lining up the pattern where it was torn... Once one side was done, the sail was flipped, the masking tape removed and the tape applied on the other side.
I do NOT think I did a great job, since it was done on a carpet. I believe a harder surface like wood would be better (pardon the pun).
Here is a photo - now I just need to try the sail out again !! Maybe tomorrow :-)
Today is Saturday, 10AUG2019 and the sail was tested.
The day started out badly becuz my old van finally died today - it would NOT start.
Just this morning when bringing my youngest to his brother's house - to go see a movie - I mentioned that perhaps I would be lucky and my van would die in the driveway. He asked why that was lucky and I told him better than breaking down on the road fully loaded with windsurf equipment.
My wife must have had the same premonition as I did ... She asked which vehicle I was taking windsurfing when the van was obviously loaded and ready to go !!!
Well, the van would NOT start and so stuff had to be moved inside the 2017 Prius C since there were no other cars and NO roof rack that has been adjusted for that car. Now choices were reduced - one short board and two sails max. As an idiot I brought ONLY the Fanatic Shark 145 HRS and this sail with the 50 cm original fin ...
Marc saw me setting up and commented, "Oh, you're going with the BIG stuff !!"
When I asked what he was using today - he said same as yesterday 6.4 = woah !!
He also said that the wind was a little lighter now - hurry up ...
I must have suspected something more than originally anticipated and had rigged the sail with FULL downhaul AND outhaul.
It was a wild ride with the waves and good wind - was planing easily (jumped once and not in straps)
This was the first time I took this board offshore and it seemed fine in conditions OVER
The repaired sail was fine too
It rained off and on and after one session the wind dropped a bit and I released outhaul.
The sail looked a little odd where I had repaired it, but later looked fine.
(Odd in the bagged out look after the repair - like I had repaired it too tight, butt looked ok later)
If I disregard the bad start and the session with wind all over the place, I would still give the session and the repair an 8 outta 10. The sail can still get higher marks with more trials, but the session remains at eight ;-)
Dude parked beside me smoked some of that legal cannabis stuff after his session.
Guess it is no different than taking a beer or two after ??
I do neither ...
Oh yeah, on my last run, the wind picked up so much that it ripped the sail from my hands.
It was tough coming back in - gotta practice more those water starts, foot straps, etc etc
Besides Marc I saw Ben F, the guy who likes my orange Mistral SL, Sylvain the kiter, and Pierre/o.
for the record the sail was placed at the 140 cm mark on the board