After sundays honking conditions (30-40 knts) and watching Mr X spend 40 minutes struggling back to shore.
I advise you replace your UJ every season, it costs a few bucks but it might save you a lot of grief. (The Pryde doco states that UJ's should be replaced after 100 hours)
P.S. The kiters helped out big time and I have posted the full story and a big thank you on behalf of all windsurfers, in the kite forum.
doesn't that refer to the tendon? I replace them often but the safety rope shoudl get you back.... or was it busted alloy cup/bolt/pin ???
Seen it happen once, wasn't fun for the guy involved...
Like Mark I'm wondering why the "swim saver" piece of rope or webbing didn't work?
Obviously if the cup or pin breaks then you're SOL but otherwise the two components should stay attached to each other?
Yep, broke one a few months ago and the webbing kept it together. Didn't have a spare though 
yer i've had the rope save me before and the safety belt (webbing strap) but if you break the pin if you have that style of uni, your screwed.
I've had the threaded base of the pin shear off leaving the uni totally useless. Using the downhaul tied around the uni a few times I was able to limp back in.
I actually try and replace the entire base every 12 to 18 months... base plate, uni, quick release.
It might seem excessive but I found that things always tend to break when you actually need them the most and you have no spares at hand. ie while at that remote beach with no shop within 500 miles.
I had a UJ bust on me. Around 12 years ago at Shoalhaven Heads in a mega north easter. The webbing around it kept it together. However what was left of the base kept bashing into my board on the way back. It was a Bombora proto fiberglass board. So there was a big hole in the deck by the time I got home. It wasn't too hard to fix.
I had a look at the board after it had been recovered and yep the liddle wopey thing had snapped as well as the uj.
Also a nice crack in the bottom of the board ??? and the owner had a pretty good limp happening as well.
O yeh. good on you Benny, thats two weeks in a row on rescue duty, you will have to start wearing speedo's over your wetty and a red and yellow scull cap soon 
For those interested see www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=38514
I had 2 UJ's break last season ( as I lamented on a thread at the time ) and on both occasions the rope - which is the same as downhaul rope - saved me a swim because I learnt early on that the little figure 8 knot that everyone can do does come undone over time..........unless you put a good dollop of glue on it !!
It didn't save me from a swim when I broke my boom though DAMMIT...
Last Nov in 35 knts side off shore, I suffered the misfortune of a snapped Stainless steel pin at the top of the tendon (euro pin)
When I eventually freed myself from harness line and came up from under sail, trusty f2 wave board was already 30m away and motoring.
I struck out after it in my best Vandenhoogenband style (must.... retrieve.......floaty.......bit).
After going flat out for about 50m, I was still 15m away and absolutely stuffed.
With my vast mathematical background, I quickly figured out I wasn't gonna get to it before drowning.
It also dawned on me that
- trusty f2 wave (circa 1998) had a value of maybe $350ish (really good fin)
- the rig I had left, 4.4m Pryde core, 75% carb mast, boom etc value $1000ish.
Hmmmmm, maybe better swim back before it sinks to the bottom.
Took ~30mins to sidestroke back to shore.
Board ended up getting washed into a headland (spotted by guy with binocs on his balcony, who kindly put down his beer and came to see if all sailors were accounted for....many thanks)
Moral of story,
1. check stainless bits for any corrosion and replace if sus.
2. both local wsfg shops reckoned that the euro pin was far less dependable in harsh choppy conditions than the power U joint (2 stainless steel press buttons that pop out on each side). They even said that lots of sailers in WA switch to power U joints for this reason. - This seemed a bit strange to me as both systems have the same gauge of stainless steel coming out of the universal. (maybe the euro pin is susceptible to greater torque or something)
Curious to know what other people reckon about the 2 systems.
PS - f2 board covered about 3km journey without tipping over.... not good when board goes beter without you on it !!!!!
Yep I know the feeling,
It happened to me about 400 meters out at Lucky bay, I was on the 130 ltr and I think I had the 5.5 up and I was having a real blat back towards the carpark when all of a sudden I was in the water and then about 5 seconds after that I realised that the mast base had snapped and looked to see my board on a small runner with the wind assisting it away from me, so I took off swimming for the board and realized pretty damn quick I was not gonna get to it, I had a buoyancy vest on so I swam back to the rig which was all very new so I guessed that helped it stay up and proceeded to swim with it back to the carpark, it took about 30 mins and when I got there some one had chased my board down for me as it was sitting on the grass waiting. Nice people out there
It all happens in the blink of an eye and if it's a honkin day then anything can happen.
It's great to see people looking out for each other well done to everyone who helped out.
By the way I never sail with out my buoyancy vest, even in the river.
Good advise Whipping boy.
Cheers
If the bloke with the binocs had told me Mr f2 wave was carving its jibes with out me, then there could have been a wrist slitting session.
Here another one saved by the tendon rope, quite some years ago. I was about 5km upwind (FW) from my starting point when the tendon broke (but being on a lake not a real drama). Anyway, after tightening-up the tendon rope, it brought me back home safely, even planing. It did create some damage on the deck though.
Tendons are strange creatures, some brake after 6 months, some last for years... that is before cracks show up or breaking straight away. [}:)]
I broke a tendon out the back of Main Break, Lancelin. Ropes held it together and the broken bit sat on the deck plate so I could sail back to shore, no board damage 
After that I decided to change tendon every season. I bought one last season and never got around to swapping it over 
. It's been sitting in my glove box for a year and I'm not too keen to use it now (heat etc.)
For sale: UJ Tendon. Never Used.
So, the data is in...looks like the wittle wopey thing works most of the time, after all!!
Note to self: Glue the figure-8 knot together!
Why do we not have Tendons with a stainless wire trace through the middle? All it would need would be a loop at each end around the pin that holds the tendon into the base.. Such a thing could be fully encased inside the tendon, and would mean that in the event of a tendon breaking, the wire would take the load, the base would be held nearly in alignment (so no more bashing holes in your deck with the broken end) and there'd be a decent thing holding it together instead of that piddly little cord..
After noticing that my tendon had split halfway through one day while waterstarting out the back, I replaced the strings on my bases with nylon coated stainless fishing trace. Haven't broken a wire yet (or a tendon for that matter!) and I'm certain that the 200 pound test wire is a lot stronger than the little piece of string that was there before..
Cost about $12 for 10m.. (Of course, I only needed less than 0.5m but that's life!)
hey 555, myself and friends have been saying to do the wire thing for years, maybe you should design, build and sell them, you would make a fare bit of cash i think. you could call it the "triple 5 super tendon" but all jokes aside, it would be a great addition to everyone's gear.
. It's been sitting in my glove box for a year and I'm not too keen to use it now (heat etc.)
This is good!
Hey 555, can the fishing trace be tied in knots or is it too stiff? I like this idea - I might get some myself!
I wa thinking you could also drill a little hole down thru the length of the tendon and put wire through it -- but then the bolts which hold the bloody thing in place would get in the way!! Maybe a diagonal hole would be the way to go - it might weaken the tendon a bit but the strength of the wire would surely make up for it!!
I've had the swim saver rope break.
I've had the minuscule bolts through the tendon break.
I've had the mast track pull clean out of the board (Bic)
All these failures are down to incompetent design. They just should not happen. 
Had there been any costly consequences I would have sued the ***** that sold them.
It behoves us as consumers to OUT the pricks that do this to us.
As a matter of decency we should warn our fellow windsurfers about dangerous products - maybe a post in the reviews section.
I wish I knew more about the law vis a vis libel and defamation. I understand in good old red neck Qld that truth is no defence in a defamation suit. You can be the biggest rogue paedophile father raper low life and sneak in the metropolitan area but if its not generally known, and some good citizen makes it generally known, you can sue the goody goody. 
I have one of these bases
Cast Stainless Steel Pin and Caps and decent 5mm kevlar core rope as a swim saver.
Touch wood, I have not had to try the swim saver out yet.
