stay adjuster covers

Jeesh, what happened to the Manatee? Did you kill it?

d i went into the stay adjuster with my right arm removing about 2 square inches of skin. ouch!

some call that a shark bite

Edited by MN3 on Feb 26, 2015 - 03:37 PM.

Last summer I had a guy rent a Getaway that was missing the starbord side stay adujuster cover, didnt think a thing of it. He got about 400 yds off shore and a big gust promptly capsized him...normally no big deal. I hop on the JetSki to make sure he could get the boat righted. When I got out to him, he was laying on top of the starboard hull, the one not in the ocean. I asked him if he was ok...he screamed "NOOOOO!!!". I noticed blood..he had ignored the righting line and tried to grab the stay to right the boat....hand slipped and somehow he managed to get the ringding all the way through his finger like it was a clevis pin :-O . Looked really gnarley, I had to pull out my leatherman, climb up there and remove the ringding, while the entire time he was cursing at me (it was my fault of course) and his 8 yo son was sobbing....

ALWAYS HAVE COVERS ON YOUR STAY ADJUSTERS! I keep about 6 extra in my toolbox because of that day.

si_beachcats wrote:
ALWAYS HAVE COVERS ON YOUR STAY ADJUSTERS! I keep about 6 extra in my toolbox because of that day.

And tape all clevis pin rings on standing rigging. :top:

I asked, what happened to the Manatee?

http://myfwc.com/education/wildlife/manatee/for-boaters/

Did you call the number on the website?

Are you a responsible boater?

Here is the picture. If you think it looks bad in the pic... you should under the band-aids. It's really gross.

OK, I got it. You were so concerned about you, that you failed to see what you did the the Manatee? Actually, there are probably more on here that want to know about the Manatee over seeing your wounds. To put it more bluntly, there is a reason Hobie supplied rubber shields for the shroud adjusters. So glad you are getting wisdom that Hobie had when he designed the boat!

If you do hit a manatee while boating
Call the Wildlife Alert number:
1-888-404-FWCC (3922)
Cellular phone *FWC or #FWC
[url] http://www.myfwc.com/contact/report/wildlife-alert/ [url]
It is important that you obtain immediate help for the animal!
The sooner the animal is located and its condition is assessed, the better its chances for survival.
Please be responsible for your actions while on the waterways and take immediate action if something does occur.

Edited by goodsailing on Feb 26, 2015 - 06:25 PM.

The guy was injured badly, learned his lesson.... no need to beat him up about it. I'm sure his only concern at the time was worrying about a 1300 pound sea cow as he bled out into the water hoping he could make it back to shore before the sharks picked up the scent.

Edited by fxloop on Feb 26, 2015 - 09:47 PM.

FYI the manatee is neither endangered nor going extinct. here are the numbers, 45 years ago when the state of Florida started counting them the number was 600. today the number has increased over the years to 5,000. the numbers speak for themselves.
it would be highly unusual for a 400 lb. beach cat to inflict injury or death to a 1300 lb animal. in my home waters they are invisible before, or after an encounter.
in this case manatee 1, marcs2 0

Edited by marcs2 on Feb 27, 2015 - 05:32 AM.

yes that looks like it hurt. glad it wasn't worse

I asked a friend of mine about calling Fwcc - he works with many local mammal sea life rescues, and is a cat sailor and he said "Yes. You call FWC and report it, They may call in a response team as the Manatee may have internal injuries."

I never heard that before

Marcs2 is correct when he says "in my home waters they are invisible". When you see the images of the sea cows on TV it was taken at a spring where the water is clear. They only show up at the springs on very cold days because the water temp of the spring water. No food source for them really at the spring. They live down stream and the water here is not clear at all. Under great conditions(sun angle perfect, no wind) and you were standing on a dock you might see the shape of a manatee a couple of feet below the surface. Unlike our alligators who often have their head on the surface manatees only break the surface to breath. When they rescue a sea cow they have cover it because they can set a bad sun burn. So spotting one while sailing is about the same odds as getting a shark bite in Florida. It only happens a few times a year.

here in "clearwater" florida - you can see pretty well into the water - depending on the time of year - mid and later summer the waters are filled with algae, red tide, and other bacteria that reduce viability

sitting on the deck of a beach cat (basically at water level) you can't see squat, but on a flats boat with a 3' stool, you can see a lot more. I often stand up on my cat and watch dolphin swim and play and even the tarpon when they are running

Having "spare" adjuster covers is easy. Buy a length of PVC pipe that is big enough to go around the adjuster and cable loop and cut them long enough to cover the entire adjuster. Who doesn't have enough room in their cat box or tool box to keep a couple pieces of PVC pipe stored?

PVC covers might move around during a capsize- at the least i would drill small holes and secure them to the shroud adjuster so even upside down they don't slide away - crew (and skipper) can find them self in odd places after pitch poles, capsizes, and cartwheelin'

klozhald wrote: Having "spare" adjuster covers is easy. Buy a length of PVC pipe that is big enough to go around the adjuster and cable loop and cut them long enough to cover the entire adjuster. Who doesn't have enough room in their cat box or tool box to keep a couple pieces of PVC pipe stored?

in my home waters they are invisible before, or after an encounter.
in this case manatee 1, marcs2 0

Sorry you got hurt. Most of my boating/ diving experience in FL, has been from Jacksonville to Key West and has been in clear water. Hence, I didn't think that anyone would be sailing in murky wide open water that could contain submerged animals that couldn't be seen. It's understandable that you might not even know what you hit, really, if the water was so murky. No reporting necessary.
In my home murky waters, it's crab pots, sand bars, rock jetty's, bridge pilings, logs, vertical banks-no beach, thunderstorms, drunk guys in motor boats-only in summer. I sail mostly when it's windy and usually that's when it's cold outside. There's hardly anyone else in the water at that time and I find I'm mostly alone, and in some cases pretty exposed- no one watching, no one coming to rescue, in a boat that's seen better days, so consequently I prepare for self rescue and in the event that is not possible I carry appropriate communications radio with me. I wear a helmet. I have a lot of fun out there. But like you, anything can happen that no matter how your prepare, you could get snagged.

Hope you feel better soon. Thanks for sharing your experience.