I am pretty much a freeride sailor, I enjoy the big winds in Port Phillip and enjoy a jump or 2 but am certainly not a wave sailor. I also love speed on flat water as rare as flat water is in the bay with decent wind. In other words I don't abuse or bash my gear and I wash it in fresh water almost everytime.
In a year and a half I've:
- Dinged my board to pieces
- Ramed the 45cm fin into a reef and half pushed it out the top of the tuttle box
- replaced a window piece in my 6.5 and a few minor repairs $200
- broken a NP X3 and X6 mast
- broken the batton on my 8.5, replaced it then broke both cambers (now a camberless sail, unfixable)
- both larger sails cracked to pieces, one has tap holding a hole together
- broke a 2nd hand NP X6 boom, replaced with a X3, it broke in 2 months, was able to claim warranty and upgraded the diff in cost to X6 and that just broke just over a month later
I love windsurfing but I'm a student again, so the cost is killing me. I'm only 95kg, hardly a giant in terms of strain on gear.
Is all this breakage normal?? Remember I am not a wave sailor, just medium bay waves.
I hate to say it but I am seriously considering taking up kiting, because I hear it is cheaper.
I am having a serious whinge I know but I just want to know if I am having a stroke of bad luck or it is just part of the expected costs?
Thanks nobody,
Good to get some views on this. You said brand choice might play a part? Since most of my gear, 8.5 sail, masts, booms, extensions are neil pryde you think they are reknown for lack of durability?
Board is a starboard carve, and although bashed around I've incurred no costs with this due to self repair. It's the rig breakage that is so expensive.
Probably the only thing I do diff to the average sailor is I use gear size in about 3-4knots higher than most people because of both my weight and strength, if I didn't my wind range would be small.
Thanks for the info.
From what I hear of kiting, most of the gear is stuffed after a couple of years of reasonable use and losing your board is fairly common.
I broke a cam and batton on a NP RS6 basically because I did not know how to rig and unrig it properly. Thankfully Sam at Wind Surf and Snow showed me how to rig it right. You may be better off using some sort of one piece boom to minimise breakages.
I have found that the x3 x6 booms are very easy to bend break its well worth the money for the x9 full carbon, had mine for 2 years all wave sailing no dramas. With masts if you are sticking with NP i have the combat skinny 90% carbon and same deal not a problem and trust me i have tried to break it
Hope that helps
Superfreaks will probably outlast any other sail; as a second choice go the Ezzy. And if you get skinny masts you should be able to forget about breakages, if you are only doing freeride sailing.
95kg is kind of on the heavy side, you are putting lot more stress on the gear than a 65kg sailor would. But still, I personally think you're breaking too much gear - it's not supposed to break during use, only when you crash going fast and/or a wave gets you. Windsurf gear should last years and years - I know people with the same masts and booms they were using 5 to 10 years ago.
[}:)]
It depends on if you're getting service for these breakages, if you're buying gear, and it's breaking near new, and you have to pay for the replacements, I'd suggest shopping elsewhere.
It sounds like you do similar sailing to me, I had a patch recently similar to yours, and broke nearly everything I touched! Although I was somewhat compensated, I now won't buy a certain brand (I'll let you guess which brand that is, but to give you a hint, you mentioned it a few times.)
Change brands, and if you're not getting good backup service, change suppliers.....but whatever you do, stick with it, this sport is worth the few occasional setbacks!
Are you using a 'slimline grip' boom? If so then change to a thicker boom, they are a lot stronger (although slightly less comfy).
Skinnies are the shiznit when it comes to mast durability...
some points to consider! without making judgments.
As someone else suggested, are you using the booms on maximum extension? a sailor of 95kgs should use a boom on each sail that is no more than extended half the length of the extension piece. this will give you a more rigid boom, less flexing will increase the lifespan under the pressures of your size.
that is not to say they won't still break, perhaps the damage is done when you have a few stacks and the booms break later on. maybe they were weaked when you crashed you sails.
The new one piece arm booms are more rigid and seem to be lasting very well for all sailor sizes - the obvious downside is that if you break one side the whole boom is stuffed.
Cams don't generally just break. but if sailors try to use the sails in a fuller setting than recommended they can fail. perhaps some tuning advise may help.
Maybe it is worth a hour of tuition with a good instructor to help tune your stance, to accommodate your strength, and learn how to finesse the gear rather than muscle it. this may help lower the wear and tear. Contacting pros like tom hartman who is pretty tidy at freestyle and is around 95kgs may uncover some secrets to gear selection for the extra strength. it would be interesting to know how much gear, guys like that break.
You may be going thru a patch like many sailors do. Hopefully you can overcome this before moving to the dark side.
Stop buying expensive kit then (NP is 'top of the line' in cost and breakages!)
Why pay $1000 a sail, when get a good new one for maybe half that?
Try Gun or Loft, cheap, good durability and Loft are developing a great name in speed
www.windsurfingsales.com.au
sell em, where I get my gear from (no affiliation - nobody (haha) would pay me to sail for them)
This is coming from a uni student too!
[}:)]
Leman
Your breaking way to much gear man !!
You must be doing some seriously overpowered sailing. X6 NP booms are a tuff stiff boom (and heavy ) take some breaking though, As some one mentioned you may be over extending the tail piece and need a bigger boom to match your bigger sail !! Have you thought about dropping sail size when the wind starts honking ?? A controlled smaller sail is faster that an out of control over powered big sail (unless your Antoine Albeau)
95kg isn't that big !! shouldn't be a factor unless greatly over powered ! 
Go the Ezzy's if you sail in a strong wind location, Bullet proof easy to rig " set and forget" with the down-haul , then just tune the out-haul .
I say that and I use NP cause I live in a moderate wind location, need the Mono light and responsive, But while in Maui it's Ezzy's .
Gero WA , Ezzy's are very popular not only because of thier strength but thier awesome wind range in strong wind.
Powerex skinny's are good and are used by the hire outlets in Maui for their strength , and they rig nicely on most sails.
Having the right Equipment for the right conditions should see you maintain your gear for years .
All good points.
BOOM
RE: boom extension I use is 200-250 at +25cm on the big sail and +10cm on the smaller. I upgraded the size after my first 2nd hand one died. Ironic thing is the 2nd hand one at MAX extension which I got for $100 gave me a good 6 months. (go figure)
First new boom broke right between the handness line on a water start.
Second has cracked just beneath the plastic housing on the mast side. On the carbon not the plastic. I stopped sailing as soon as I saw and heard the crack.
None of the booms broke in any accident or jump, just cruising.
MAST
On the other hand one mast bent into the sand in a small shore break and snapped, (was pure bad luck). Didn't even get on the board that day.
But the other was perhaps my fault since it broke in 40knots on my last run for the day where I was simply survival sailing. I probably shouldn't have been out on that day. I didn't claim warranty on either of these.
As far as I know my booms are standard NP booms but they are skinnier than my el-cheapo hydro boom. So not sure if that is considered skinny.
One thing that you all seem to agree on is Ezzy or Loft/Gun for sails. I'll definately do this on next buy.
Someone mentioned skinny masts are stronger. Do you need a special sail to fit them??
Select to expand quote
As far as I know my booms are standard NP booms but they are skinnier than my el-cheapo hydro boom. So not sure if that is considered skinny.
Leman,
Not sure what model the el-cheapo Hydro boom is but probably is 32mm if it is thicker than the others.
32mm Booms are considerably stronger (~30% from memory) than 28 or 29mm which most brands are these days, including some Hydro models.
At 95kg I would not recommend any brand of alloy boom, simply accept the fact that only a Carbon Boom will hold up for any length of time with 95kg swinging off of it.
Skinny booms are really only for sailors up to about 80 kg, beyond that they get a real workout, especially when extended 60cm.
If you still want an alloy boom then find a brand that produce a 32mm, that's as good as it gets.
Unfortunately the shops can only recommend the brand & models they actually sell, so you need to do some homework & then you decide what's best.
BTW, you didn't say if the el-cheapo Hydro was also broken.
Dism's right on the money.
I used to break heaps of gear, now I run only Ezzy / Loft and couldn't be happier.
imo Paul Kelf at Hydrodynamix is a good bloke, knows what he's talking about, stands behind his product and won't pull the wool over your eyes. You could do a lot worse than asking him what he recommends... He told me to get a 32mm hydro boom a while ago and it seems to have lasted longer than any other brand I've tried.
My Hydro boom is still good but it was only just big enough for my 6.5 gaastra and didn't allow me to add any outhaul at all. Reason I got the 200-250 Np boom for both the 8.5 sail and the 6.5 with outhaul.
Even though my fatter hydro boom was cheap I can't complain so far except for the less comfy grip, but it hasn't had the same workout that my NP booms got yet.
I've been doing some research on the Ezzy and Loft sails, and I admit they look fantastic, especially for strength. When I came back into the sport I guess i was just sold by the shops of the mass produced super brands. Hard lesson. Without doubt my next new sail will be a Ezzy or Loft. The infinity looks like a great replacement for my 8.5. I think ou have an excellent point on the fatter booms too.
Thanks again.
If you go with an 8.5 Ezzy Freeride, you will get basically a cambered sail without the hassle of cams. The battens are naturally set in a deep curved shape which gives tons of stability and power, and can be adjusted to a huge wind range.
