[Paddlewise] not a good morning

So last saturday I had an ugly start to the weekend.

I was headed to Norwalk Connecticut for the lighthouse to lighthouse
race - my current favorite race of the season.
Skippers meeting was 8:30 AM, with an estimated drive time of slightly
under 3 hours.   I left home at 5, driving my wife's Prius, picking up a
friend at 5:30.   On the roof was my Epic V12 Ultra and my paddling
partner had a borrowed Epic V8 Ultra.

At 6:00 we were in Framingham Mass, chugging along on the Mass Pike at
about 70 MPH.  I heard a slight thud, looked forward, then in the
rearview mirror and saw the sterns of the boats.   I hit the brakes and
pulled over, with another thump as I started to pull over.

The roof rack had come off the car, first the front rack , then with the
wind resistance the back rack was forced backwards, and peeled off as
the 'door hooks' left the door frame and went into the indent along the
windows behind the door.

About 75 yards back the boats and the rack were in the breakdown lane -
avoiding any impact with the few other cars, or large trucks, on the
road.  We jogged back down the road to see what happened.   The V8's
damage was a 1 to 2 inch chunk out of the gelcoat in the bow - all
gelcoat, the fabric wasn't even exposed.   The V12 didn't fare as well. 
>From the damage it looks like the boats flipped in the air, so that the
rack was above the boats, and the assembly ground into the pavement on
top of the bow on the V12 and the end of one roof rack bar.   As the
boats and rack slowed down there was a small scuff to the front of the
coaming, and behind the cockpit the deck line was severed, leaving a
minor scuff (amazing that a deck line avoided more damage) and then the
stern slapped into the guard rail.    There's structural damage to the
boat, in the final 2 feet of the stern.   

We gave up on going to the race, sniff, and drove home on back roads,
never getting about 50 MPH.

I've found a custom boat builder to do the repair work - his comment
after looking at it - "no big deal".

The V12 has no holes or handles and nothing to tie anything to outside
of the cockpit.   So after 12+ years of driving around with surf skis
which have no way to attach a bow tie down, I'll be finding a way...

$1500 damage to my wife's prius.  She's not happy with me...

Later on the ugly day, I took my Mako 6 out for a paddle in Essex MA.  
My paddling partner commented I was faster on the beat up mako 6 than I
was on the V12 (prior to damaging it).  Depending on the post repair
feel of the V12 I may sell it and return to being an Epic paddler.   For
the time being I've got an Epic V10L ultra on loan.    If anyone here
weighs less than 165 pounds and likes a lively boat the V10L is good
fun...  I'm a bit big/heavy for it at 6 foot and 172 pounds.

-- 
  Kirk Olsen
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