Rick White's Magnificent Pole

I recently aquired the Rick White Super Power Righting kit in the mail and was a bit confused as to how it is going to work.

The universal 3 axis joint for the pole seems to be free in all 3 axis. I assume the writing force is being taken by the line running to the "beam loops" rather than the pole. Is this correct?

If so what stops the line from running free ( or just slacking) and the pole from pivoting downards? Is it just the small stopped knot in the line? Are you then not able to dynamically adjust the angle of the pole since it is determiend by where the knot in the line is?

Is the righting line a single loop, starting tied off to one end of the pole, traveling through a beam loop, then across the cross beam, through the 2nd beam loop and then comming back to tie off on the pole again?

Any picture or even beter a schematic of the system would be a huge help. The pictures on catsailor are a bit hard to see exactly how everything is rigged.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I used to have one of these on an I-17R.



Yes.




The knot keeps tension on the line, and the pole angle is - as you said - predetermined by the knot location. I think my instructions said to tie a big knot, like a figure 16 or something.




This is exactly how mine worked.


One word of advice: when using this system be careful with your fore-aft movement, or you can pinch the pole against your dolphin striker.

Geoff

This was exactly the help I needed. Thanks!

From my experience the rope is a triangle shape and should always be nice and tight and the stopper knots should be where they hold the pole at a comfortable angle above your head when righting. When you release the pole and it retracts it should miss the top hull even with the stopper knot in or you have set it too high and risk damaging the hull. The stopper knot will never slip with weight on it
regards

Geoff, do you recommend the pole? Is there a real advantage over using the conventional rope?

It worked beautifully before I screwed up and pinched it against my dolphin striker. It is not stayed fore-aft, so you have to keep control of this axis yourself. The pole that came with my kit was (I think) a carbon windsurfer mast, and it collapsed at the point of contact. Totally my fault - I am an idiot. The pole is a great system, but my recommendation would probably be to start with a waterbag and see if that worked for you before considering the pole.

Geoff

I have a Hobie 18 Magnum and I weigh 170 lbs. I was able to right the boat myself. The small limiter line is scary, but it does work. As far as the fore/aft problem, there is a limiter that you should have attached to the rear crossbar and it is held taut with a bungee line.

Wyatt