Ok...Your planer board has flipped; what would you do?

[Skip]

When I was first designing my boards - played around with various designs.

Some pulled really tight on calm days but went nuts in a chop. A lot of trail and errors - many errors , came upon a decent set.

One day off Solomons - it was really snotty. Had waves up over bow of my Grady a few times. My dad was with me and said - let's see how rough they'll handle before going over.

Had the boards fly off waves a few times - easily 2 feet off water. Looked like a tuna jumping waves. They never flipped so left design as is.

A few guys have managed to flip my boards but often in really bad waves. One thing that seems to help them ride better is getting first line just about to the board. I think it acts similar to the tail on a kite.

[garlien]

Skip,

I think you should get the patent on the "self righting" planar boards...

Watching that happen once was amazing, seeing it happen twice was just short of impossible...

And the best part is, even though the boards flipped, the flags still stayed in the boards....



Mike

[drichitt]

Originally Posted by Skip

One thing that seems to help them ride better is getting first line just about to the board. I think it acts similar to the tail on a kite.

Skip - A fishing buddy of mine, Dan, told me that an old charter boat captain told him that when it gets rough he should attach a couple of heavy (20-24oz) inline sinkers to the all-tread bolts between the outer and middle board. Ever hear of this?

[Skip]

Don , when boards first came out - some guys put a heavy sinker on a 12 inch piece of mono on back of outside board.

Idea was to counter weight the pull from tow line.

I've seen some guys put a plate across front facing upwards to help prevent diving / flipping.

[Rivercat09]

Originally Posted by drichitt

Yesterday was my first experience with a flipped board. I use boards built by Skip and they have been great boards, but even well built boards have their limit.

Holey moley! I've had mine get completely airborne, and dive like a submarine and come out of the water like a porpose, but I've never had one flip (yet). I guess that I'm lucky.

I would put it in neutral, retrieve everything and pray for no major tangles. I'm going to have to put my name and number on mine. Just another thing to be wary of along with tangles, snotty weather, and getting cut off by clueless boaters...