PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANCE OF TYING BOATS / ALIGNING CORRECTLY ON CAR ROOF AND IF NECESSARY STOP DRIVING AND RETIE WHEN IN STRONG WINDS……THIS MESSAGE RECEIVED TO GCU FROM A ROAD USER WHO HAS PADDLED / TRANSPORTED BOATS AND HAS SEEN BOATS BREAK ON CAR ROOFS:

A Little word of caution and a double check can save someone quite a bit of grief.

We were on the road on Sunday and I noticed a couple of probably sprint paddlers coming past with covered boats on their vehicles.

What was quite obvious is that some boats were not secured straight along the vehicle axis.

Only one boat on the vehicle and then the nose of the boat is almost past the mirror and the back of the boat is in the middle of the vehicle.

A boat covered in a bag is probably a carbon sprint boat, worth quite a bit of money.

However the boat may be very light, but sideways on a vehicle it creates a hell of a lot of drag at +120km an hour.

I do believe at that speed the forces on the boat, tie-downs, brackets, roof-racks and vehicle mountings just keep on adding.

I know of boats that have actually wrapped on the vehicle when a bad headwind was encountered.

I do not want to be behind such a vehicle when parts of a boat or mounting gear comes off.

Please a little caution to the paddlers to just make sure their boat is mounted straight along the vehicle, and to make sure all the mounting equipment is in sound working order. It will save many a tear to double check and to check your neighbour’s boat before you leave the event…