Hi,
Im about to bust out my newly bought 103 litre mistral syncro.
it has a lot of nose rocker and im trying to come up with some protection for the nose and forward rails for the board while I learn to waterstart, and also gybe at speed.
Ive got myself a pfd for learning to waterstart as i know im going to spend a heap of time swimming around, but I also want to protect the front nose and rails of the board from the mast and especially boom.
so far my ideas are:
1. gaffa tape some closed cell foam plumbing pipe insulation around the nose and front rails, each sesh. (1st 12" of rail)
2. buy a cheap yoga mat and custom trim it to fit just over the nose and on top of the rails. just use a drop of standard sealing silicone here and there to fit
if you have any other ideas id be really greatfull 
and if all else fails:
I weigh 94 kilos, board is 103 litres, with 430/ 460cm carbon mast, light NP alloy boom and sails from 4-6.1m, will i be able to uphaul if all else fails?
Many thanks for any advice
Nasi
I just gaff taped a halfed pool noodle to nose.
Best way to fix the problem is technique, sure it takes some nose dings to learn, but repairing them yourself especially (or paying a pro heaps to fix it not so much) quickly makes you learn better technique.
Don't catapult (read the wind, front foot first, then back foot, then harness). When you are catapulting - stay calm, keep hooked it and holding boom, don't let go and it won't hit nose. You normally safely end up past nose on the other side, still clipped in (in almost reverse waterstart). Ideally when feel a catapult going, try sheet in quickly with back hand for even better/more spectacular nose save.
Pool noodle will work.
You can also go to your local surf shop and buy a tail kick pad.
Spin it round and cut the raised kicker pad off the rest of the pad.
Stick the raised kicker around the front of the nose on the top.
Clean the board fist with some metho or turps and it will stick like ** to a blanket
I'd stay in the shallows until you're confident waterstarting (it shouldn't take long). At 94 kg on a 103 board you might find uphauling a bit of a challenge.
