Has anyone tried the free fall hook?
Some of my thoughts so far after a couple of months.
In short, It took a few premature ejections to figure it out but I have become a fan.
It all sounded great online but on the water the first runs it didn't hold the weight of the sail, let alone my weight. Being uncoordinated at the best of times I had to let go of the sail, kneel on the board and to anyone watching I could have been playing with myself while I hand rotated the dial. Not easy or graceful in the chop. Those first couple of reaches it was just a pain in the arse, it just kept letting go, so I went back to shore, grabbed the metal tool out and tightened it right up, not one premature ejection for the rest of that session, but at the back of my tiny mind it was working just like any other hook.
Back at home I rigged up a temporary harness line and went about testing the strain with my own weight and scales. It works like a Ski binding, dial it in to suit your weight and the conditions.
I figured I'd need it to hold on to about 120-130% of my weight, (100-110 kg's(80+20-30kgs)) any more weight or tension and it would need to let go/ auto eject and save my uncoordinated ass from instantaneous delivery to the board, boom, sail or water, which is like concrete at 20+ km/h. This equated to roughly 20-30% tighter on the thread. So far I've been lucky and no catapults. If the wind is strong I'll tension it by half a turn and visa versa in the lighter wind days. I've had to deliberately pull down on the harness lines to make it let go which gives me the confidence I think it's designed for - letting go when I really need it. This is probably the point of it, it's only there when you need it. It should perform like any hook but eject when under extreme load.
There was definitely an initial adjustment period but for the sake of confidence building on the foil it's worth the $300.
Franck Gressier has created an excellent system for the Windsurfing & wind foiling industry and kudos for Patrik International for sharing it with the world.
Hopefully this post can serve as a reference point for anyone out there so you can keep pushing those PB's.
Keen to hear others opinions! How did you dial it in to your weight, testing, conditions, fin or foil and do you need to adjust for fin?
Lastly, If I had to criticise, I'd like the dial to have a click or step when dialing in. Ie: 10 clicks = roughly 10kgs. It currently feels arbitrary and requires some testing and gray matter. In saying this, this could be more of a reflection of my own tiny mind than something as benign as a 'click'
In the words of Freeflight: "keep pushing"
I have it, love it
. I agree for the adjustment, not easy to set for speedsurfers.
Once I hit a hard mud bank, not fast but the hook released and avoided me an impact in the sail and some ribs issues
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Select to expand quoteRonanL said..
I have it, love it. I agree for the adjustment, not easy to set for speedsurfers.
Once I hit a hard mud bank, not fast but the hook released and avoided me an impact in the sail and some ribs issues...
If it is set correct hook would release on max loading at impact, not before.
At this time you hit what you hit (water / equipment) then it will break free.
If it's letting go before impact chances are it will let go sailing in chop and that would be dangerous.
