Jim,
5. Ease of use. Using arms vs legs. Here, I think there is a good case for saying the center-mounted pole is better, or at least that Gary's claim is a bit stretched.
a) I think Solo-Right mounted at water level goes underwater as boat is righted, reducing buoyancy of body weight.
b) as body weight goes underwater, tension must be maintained on righting line, using *arms*.
So, if you look at sequence of pictures on his site
http://www.geocities.com/hobiegary/SRMystere.htmlyou can see that constant pulling on rope to topside of boat is required. As Gary's body goes underwater, you can see he is maintaining tension on the line. I don't agree that "all work is done by your legs." I think it's actually the case that at the end, you are pulling on rope, not even standing on the oar or paddle.
I can assure you that my claims are not stretched. If you talk to people who have actually used a SoloRight, you will find your false conclusions to be in error.
I will address your concerns in what you labeled "5a" and "5b."
a) The only portion of the sailor's body that submerges, up until the boat is tilted toward his favor, are the lower portions of his legs. That portion of the body's weight is not hardly affected by buoyancy.
b) As the boat rolls over toward the sailor, he needs to hand walk up the righing line to maintain his body's vertical posture. At first, the handwalk being done up the righting line requires just enough tension to keep himself from laying down backards in the water which would indeed reduce the effectiveness of his weight on the SoloRight. Then you transition (like shifting gears) from being far away, to moving closer in to pull from a more direct angle once the hard part has been accomplished by standing on the lever. Basically, you start out with your body far from where you would be if you were using only a common righting line. As the boat comes up, you must bring yourself closer in.
To say that all the work is done with the legs and none is done with the arms would be a stretch indeed. But as you can see in pictures or by listening to users' descriptions, the SoloRighters are not having to work as hard with their arms as they have had to do when using other righting methods.
I can appreciate the advantages of your method in racing if in fact it would allow a solo sailor to right. The SoloRight is designed specifically for solo righting and is not inteded for racing use, except as an emergency tool. To my knowlege, use of righting aids in a race will draw a protest. But I'm not a racer and really don't care if someone protests the fact that I can right my boat all by myself.
Are you able to use your righting pole in a race? I think that it is probably a bit faster to stow after use.
One of my early test models was never made available. It allowed me to right the Hobie 18 in barely more than just 2 minutes time. That was depolyment, righting, re-stowage or SoloRight, and righting line, all inclusive. I have movies of it. I suppose if I cared about racing and it was allowed in racing, I might have offered it. Not being a racer, I consider a 5-10 minute capsize recovery to be more than satisfactory.
GARY
