Oh Happy Day!
For a year and a half I've been downhauling with a backup tool...a cleat screwed to a bit of broom handle...drill a hole for your line and there you go...but I've been beating myself up for losing my beloved downhaul cleat (can you tell I've not been getting any water time?) The downhaul cleat I bought in 1992, the very first piece of windsurfing equipment that I bought new. That after 18 years of faithful service I'd somehow left at Napeague.
I was digging around behid the panel of the back door of the van a few days ago when I spotted the orange line peeking out. Oh Happy Day!
(Photo: Check out how the metal sides of the cleat are bent in from decades of being squeezed by hand. When I first bought it I was advised to tie a bright line to it "to make it easier to find". That line ultimately did its job!)
u do need it baaaaaaaad.
Posted by: scott k. | July 27, 2011 at 12:39 PM
I lost one Sunday 2 weeks ago in Heckscher,
during my rigfest, it really sucks.
Posted by: george | July 27, 2011 at 04:19 PM
I can see a lot of "hurry up before the wind dies" adrenalin squeezes in that poor cleat. Rode hard an' put away wet.
Posted by: michael jamieson | July 28, 2011 at 09:18 PM
A dear friend found again :) I use my harness bar.
Posted by: Bunty | July 29, 2011 at 01:27 PM
i use my mast base,wrap it around the pin twice then over itself & around one more time. its always there (it better be )& it fits in the hand good.
Posted by: scott k. | July 30, 2011 at 07:27 AM
You know it's a slow news day when it gets to writing about downhaul cleats. (Or a windless season.) But this answered a mystery or two as to why my downhaul cleat is similarly squished to the point I can barely get a line in.
I had assumed I had crushed it or sat on it. But I prefer your explanation.
Mind you at my current weight (94 liters) squishing a downhaul cleat is a distinct possibility. (94 x 2.2= xxx lbs.)
Posted by: Phil | August 21, 2011 at 09:00 PM