how a ya waveslave bro?? have not seen you for a while. so you decided to visit us pollys.. you been missing us have ya??
I have a qustion for you waveslave cause i know ya qustion was a tool qustion, i know you to well bro
umm what happens if i get a hole in ya kite and it sinks to the bottom, why cant they make kites float still??
yaa naughty boy
you're spot on slave, i often wondered why they dont put bladders into wide luff racesails so they dont sink... if racer drops his rig in a gybe surely its quicker to recover if the rig floats (and since it's potentially $5000 you lose if you have to dump the rig from breakage, could be worth it).
Weight? kites aren't heavy and it wouldn't need to be as strong as kite bladders.
Monty had the carrot years ago but it was an add on instead of an integral part of the sail.
Dunno bout wavesail/freeride sails, maybe a double skin section at tip and base or something.
fellas they dont sink tho twice i lost me rig and still found it floating.. the qustion should be why cant they make rigs that float so we can water start easier??
Snapped my UJ last week and was lucky that I happened to end up under my rig as it started to sink and forced it back up. Was lucky cos realised what was happening so could get it back.
However, in general it's the same argument as why you don't want a lifejacket in waves - more often than not you're trying to sink and push the rig through the wave to limit damage
Could you put a pressure trigger on a device that inflated when it sank? They've tried them for PFDs and there are some problems (unconscious people float face down before they sink) but you could do it on a rig without the same problems.
It'd need to be a fairly light device though - no point sticking a kilo on the rig because you want to save it because you spent so much on it because you bought the lightest components...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_flotation_device
From above link
The latest generation of self triggering inflation devices[3], however, respond to water pressure when submerged and incorporate an actuator known as a "hydrostatic release". Regardless of whether manually (pull cord) or automatically triggered, a pin punctures the cartridge/canister and the CO2 gas escapes into the sealed air chamber. However, there is a chance that these water pressure activated inflation devices do not inflate the life jacket if a person is wearing waterproof clothing and falls into the water face-down. In these cases the buoyancy of the clothing can hold a person on the water surface and avoids the hydrostatic release. As a result a person can drown although the life jacket is fully functional.
Alternatively - if the mast, boom and extension had air pockets sealed in, would that be enough. Rig weighs - mast 1.5kg, boom 3kg, sail 4kg, extension and joint 1kg. That's 10 litres of air you need to trap... 1m x 10cm x 10cm... that'll never work either...
Why cant they make rigs so the clew doesnt drop to the bottom of the lake when you want to waterstart..[}:)]
Dont use one myself, but saw this device in a magazine or on the web in my travels:
www.easyuphaul.com/
I reckon the inflated bladder in the luff sleeve is a good idea for race sails...but then we'd be accused of ripping off an idea from the kities and we wouldn't want that would we? 
Now here's a doable idea. Short lanyard connected to a modified UJ washer so it rotates, pocket in the sail's mast protector or aftermarket in a clip on mast protector like the old days, sail separates from the board and tugs on the lanyard at a pre determined pressure and PFFFFFT air bag inflates.
Then I ask myself, wouldn't the lanyard be suffice to keep the rig connected to the board? What happened to the UJ security strap in the first place?
Anyway it was fun playing with this idea....it would work though.
I used to wrap and fix foam (part of old camping mat) for a foot or so along the rear of both boom arms, to make waterstarting in the impact zone a bit quicker. It helps lift it sooner Starboardcrazy, as long as you're using a small enough boom to need the rear extended far enough to leave space for the foam.
Confused also
My uni has a bit of downhaul rope with a breaking strain of about a tonne so it cant separate.
The Chinook cups are one pice billet so there are no bits to break between the board or mast and tendon
and if the worst happens, the rig will float for a couple of mins to enable you to paddle your board back to it and tie the two together before swimming in.
No probs.
It happens all the time, alot of good sailors here have dumped their rigs.
You can't always rely on specs i've had carbon booms shatter without possibility of jury rigging them, worst was a sail pulley exploding mid jump about 4k's out. I think I was more bewildered than concerned at the time though.
The inflatable bag is also a good idea, I considered making something similar for sailing at burrum. If the wind drops there when you are at the river mouth you have no chance of swimming the whole lot back... probably easier to go with the flow and end up in NZ. You could carry something like that in your harness all folded up, if you need to dump rig tie it. In worst case you get seperated from your board you've at least got something that floats you can use to stop exhaustion.
Also the bits that break include the safety rope. The ones that come with unis are often usless. Its a good idea to replace it with downhaul quality line.
Brass deck nuts slowly corrode away too. If the thread is rounded and the nut has a lot of play you should replace it.
And boards with Bic/Tiga pressed in alloy mast tracks can pull right out of the board.
Where are all these very expensive rigs littering the bottom of the ocean ?
I might have to go there and hire a trawler or a mini sub for a few days.
And, do all the rigs start to build up and make the waves break steeper or do the poles jut out of the wave faces and snare passing kiters ?
