Of course, that brings up another question: Would you have opened up your front hatch to get the spare drive out in those conditions?

YakHawaii wrote:
Bob... do you carry your mirage plugs with you when you sail? How about you Maui Mark?I haven't carried the plug on my AI, but started carrying one on my TI for solo or of a drive breaks. I haven't carried the spare drive on the TI, because it has two. The TI (as far as I know) is the only Hobie boat that can carry a spare Mirage drive in it's closed front hatch without some dis assembly. The best would be to remove a pedal... if they were removable.

I used to bring parts for the Mirage Drive out with me, but finally decided to just bring a spare Mirage Drive. Working on the drive in the conditions you were in didn't work for me. Too easy to loose little parts (nuts, rings, pins, etc) out the Mirage or daggerboard holes. Now, when a drive breaks (which isn't very often) it only takes about 30 seconds to retrieve the spare from it's leash place, back near the rudder and pop it in. Later I put the damaged drive back away (in calmer conditions) or I'd bungee it up near the front hatch and aka x-brace (AI) if too wild. I does seem to break at just the wrong time and under poor conditions.

I've broken the drive less with the newer V2 drive, and since I stopped landing with the drive in. I pull the drive out before entering the shore break and paddle the last few feet in.

I usually run 2 lines and often tangle them together if I stop for too long or turn more that 30 degrees at a time. I have the best luck not tangling, by keeping one line at the surface and the other deeper with a good sized weight (6-8oz) before the leader. Also one longer and one shorter seems to help.

Of course all this advice would be more meaningful if I was catching fish more regularly.