Got stuck out at Coal pt last night when the wind turned offshore & dropped..eventually managed to sail in after about an hour..? ( felt like it )
..but at one stage I decided to lay the rig over the board ,lie on it & paddle in..Yeah.looks ok on paper..It was dead flat & no wind & I made so little headway it was useless.[}:)].125ltre board + 6.6m sail dragging in the H20.I'd hate to try it in a wind..I didnt take the rig out of the board..are you supposed to? I'm glad I didnt as I went back to 'sailing' and the wind turned back very light crossshore & I got in. If Id taken the rig out ( assuming I could) I wouldnt have been able to get it back in..
Turned me off short boards in iffy conditions..
Not a nice feeling hey.
I've had that happen before, tried all variations of sidestroke, backstroke, freestyle, but as you say it's useless to lie on the board, you've got to be swimming in.
Apparently what some people do is pack up their rig in the water, and then they can paddle the board back, not sure how I'd go trying that idea!
Living in Trinidad with fluky winds and dodgy equipment has given me lots of swimming experience!
Using the rig to body drag in is generally easier than swimming if there is still some wind but this only works if the wind is cross / onshore as you need to bear off teh wind to make progress.
If there is really no wind you can release the UJ from your board and lie on the board between the sail and boom with your upper body poking out the bottom of the sail. The boom (and uphaul rope) helps keep the sail clear of the water , it is still really awkward though.
If its still windy but you have a snapped mast its possible to sail in by turning the upper portion upside down and sticking it into the broken lower portion and improvising a small sail to sail/body drag back to shore.
If your UJ goes you can use the down haul rope to tie your mast foot to the board and sail in.
If its a long swim and your safety is in doubt the only way to go is to jettison the sail, even a small wave board swims really well once the rig is gone.
Make sure you have your phone number and name on the sail to avoid a search and rescue operation later.
Derig the sail in the water,
lay everything on the board,
lie on top and paddle in.
Very hard work and uncomfortable but doable.
Haven't had to do it myself but I have seen it done.
Many years ago whilst wave sailing by myself out from main jetty at Lancelin, webbing slipped through mast tip cap (which went missing) and sail slipped down mast. Managed to paddle back to beach near jetty, took me around two hours to get in! Easier to do with 4.7 wave sail and 8'6'' wave board, one hand paddling under body whilst holding onto mast below boom with other hand, swapping hands regularly.
The day previous, I had left Esperance at around 4pm where there had been no sailable wind for more than a week (in Dec/Jan!) and driven for 11 hours to Lancelin (with stopover at Wave Rock) just to get a few days of wave sailing before returning to work, so when you're desperate and determined you can do almost anything!
Know the feeling to well, you never really get use to it, even as a wave sailor living in Qld. Agree with the volume comment, my smallest board these days is a 90l gun for big days; a dog in anything but good swell but it still floats me when the wind drops out.
Got drilled a couple of years ago on the outgoing tide on the Caloundra bar, 3m+ and shredded the sail so no hope of dredging in. After abut 20mins of going nowhere but out to sea while watching the sun getting ever closer to the horizon then being ignored by some friendly jet ski types, I ditched the sail, fed the two parts of the mast through the front foot straps & tied the boom tail to the back strap. Loosened and spun my harness so I could lay down to paddle or kneel, worked a treat. Lost a two year old sail but lived to tell the story
Slide the boom as low as it will go and put into a position that it is resting on the nose of the board. Spin your harness around and lay on the back of the board and start paddleing fin first. This is much more difficult with the short length of new style boards, but with older longer boards it worked a treat. this way much of the sail was clear of the water making it a bit easier to paddle and kept the sail and board in a ok position should you get cleaned up by a wave on the way in. I have used this method a few times many years ago.
Otherwise derig as much as you can and swim. Have had to resort to this in the past as well.
I also know it well. 600m offshore at the Greenhead break with only one arm and late in the day. Hard call to derig or just drift and get one of the boys to send a boat out. Scary stuff
I saw a great article on self rescue in a WS magazine a few years ago that had great tips for bringing somebody else's rig in while they paddle, how to jury rig a broken boom, how to derig in the water without losing anything etc. It was a ripper.
If anyone knows of it online.......?
If there is still a gentle breeze, I can sail along quite happily sitting on my board. Beats paddling any day!
1. Set your rig up for a waterstart as normal with the rig flying.
2. Put your front hand on the mast about halfway between the board and the boom.
3. Reach as far along the foot of the sail with back hand and grab on.
4. With hands in this position and not much wind the rig will be about halfway to the upright position.
5. Slide your back leg over the board so that your calf is lying on deck of the board about halfway between the front straps and the mast base.
6. Much like a waterstart, push the rig upright(and beyond) and then slide your bum up onto the deck so that you are straddling the board. It doesn't matter if your legs are dangling either side of the board and in fact can help for stability.
7. Settle everything down, then lift your legs up onto the board with your feet resting near the nose of the board.
8. Important to trim the board fore and aft, and have found that to get best steering get the nose down as low as possible without overdoing it and nose-diving.
9. Sheet in and steer by leaning. You will find you can actually sail a fair way upwind as the whole rail of the board is working for you
10. If the wind picks up again, it is very easy from this position to haul yourself to your feet without overbalancing.
Have done this in about 5 knots of breeze on a board that would be impossible for me to stand on with no rig without sinking.
It sounds a bit weird but actually works well and is easier to do than you think. But like everything, best practiced first in controlled conditions before you need it in a more serious predicament.
The easiest thing in light winds conditions is to tie your uphaul to your harness and tow the rig and board behind you while you swim in.
Pop all the cams and/or battens downwards so they make a shallow hull out of the sail. The board and the hollowness of the sail keeps the sail afloat. You just swim along with a gentle breast stroke and get yourself to the beach.
Three other points:
- Don't go out further than you are prepared to swim in. Unless there's a bommie or something really good there's no point going a long way out. You can sail 100km right next to the shore (and it's a hoot if you're working upwind then charging back with the swell). There's no great skill or achievement from sailing out in the middle of nowhere.
- Always go out with an escape route in mind if things go wrong. Generally cross onshore conditions will blow you ashore eventually. Make sure you have a landing option downwind. Maybe wear booties if you expect to come in over rocks.
- When it comes down to it, gear is expendable.
Strap some flippers to your board, the tow in surfers are starting to do this now, would help in a long swim 
One I,ve used a few times, is derig and use the down haul rope to tie everything to the board. Leave the mast base attached as it will anchor gear to the board. Have the boom end at the nose and tie the out haul rope to your wet suit cord. This will allow you to swim quite normally and is good if its windy and choppy. Or leave the sail rigged and slide the boom down so it sits on the tail and push or paddle the board home. Good for no wind and flat water or if you think the wind might come back
Can't find that article anywhere. So from memory
Firstly always have a spare 2m of downhaul rope on the boom arm or in harness pocket.
(1) let off downhaul and separate extension and rig (extn says in mast track)
(2) straddle board and sit up with rig floating.
(3) let off outhaul, paddle around to other side of rig and remove boom from mast. Slide off boom. place on board then sit up on board again. Now the boom and extn can't go anywhere.
(4) remove mast and slide one half into each of the front footstraps under your bum so they form a vee at the nose of the board. Tie your outhaul to the two forward sections of the mast. You could keep one half of the mast to use like a canoe paddle if you wish but that's asking to lose it and the paddle will not be long enough to need to do that (we hope)
(5) roll sail and use your spare 2m of rope to tie the downhaul pulley and around sail so it can't unroll, then tie to outhal and where mast halves meet up near the nose
(6) remove extn from mast track and tie downhaul rope to clew grommet in sail and tie that to footstrap.
Now even if you tip it all over you can't lose anything and go paddle!
The other good tip is to recover another sailor's rig. BUT it requires decent wind strength for the waterstart. Lie your rig in water and lie their sail on it upside down / reversed - so u insert their rig under your boom mast tip first, and use the spare bit of your downhaul to tie the tip if their mast to your extension. Then use the leftover outhaul length to tie their boom to your mast tip (will be about a metre betwene them so not always possible.. Water start and sail back in. You can actually still plane like that. They can then paddle their board easily
If you sail in the ocean I reckon it's pretty important to know how to de-rig and stash your gear so you can paddle in. I've had to do it 3 times so far, broken masts, broken boom and a broken uni; it's surprisingly easy once you know how.
The last time I had to do it I actually put the mast, sail, everything though the boom and lashed it all together (much like if you had to carry it all up the beach) and then used the uphaul rope to tie that to the rear foot strap. I then lay on the board and the boom etc towed along behind me, worked well. Much more comfy paddling than lying on top of sails/booms etc.
I paddled in once in flat water. 103 litre Bic Electric Rock and a single piece mast (early 90's?) I found it very difficult to paddle when on top of the rolled up sail, mast and boom - kept falling off in flat water. Had to sit on it and paddle with the mast in very quick short strokes.
If I was in real danger, I wouldn't hesitate to ditch the rig and harness and paddle in. It might be a good idea to have the spare rope tied to a velcro ankle leash, or have a longboard leash if having to paddle in a long way through waves.
A board is probably more visible than a rig.
Ducati said:
check this out alsohttp://www.calema.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3
This method is the one I learnt years ago and it does work in the waves or on flat water. Used it once or twice when masts broke or wind dropped to nil. A paddle to the nearest land or a swim doing side stroke both work. If the wind is/was offshore it makes it that bit more difficult. Also the tide at a beach venue can cause extra worries.
Practice on dry land first to get the idea of what the order of derigging should be.
Try it. Then if it does happens on the water you will not panic. PANIC is the biggest hinderence to self rescue. 
If all else fails, then you can ditch the rig and paddle the board back to the nearest land or pray that there is a vigilant jet skier or boatie not far away.
for short distances ya swim in the water grab ya mast imbetween the boom and board with one hand , lay on ya side . kick and paddle with other hand . quite comfortanble and doesnt wear u out very quick
was I stiff the next day! I think the big cambered sail was the main issue this time..
