Ok my first 10 months of windsurfing 1 snapped mast and 1 trashed sail ( from getting catipulted)just wondering if its normal to keep breaking stuff or does it get less the better you get
hmm.. it depends on your attitude and sailing style I guess. If you're the kind of sailor who likes to try stuff then I would say you're going to go through a bit of stuff honing your skills. I once broke a mast halfway between the uni and the boom. Put my knee clean through it. It's worth breaking a bit of gear to pull off cool stuff and have a blast. Just use old gear if you know you are going to do stuff like that.
Yea I didn't break anything for two years and then broke a carbon boom, an ally boom, 2011 skate, 2012 skate and my mast is looking like its cracking at the join,
Personally I think fanatics/north poor quality due to not enough resin in they're prepreg
I find it comes in Waves. You go for ages and ages without breaking anything then all of a sudden it all goes to s..t. I am having one of those patches at the moment.
I did 5 alloy and 1 carbon boom in 1 year, plus sheared a UJ in a stack that I also smashed the rail on my board with my heel.
Since then only a few little dings in boards a harness hook through a sail and a bent harness hook and thats it.
Its normal Mate !
I just finished my 4 year windsurfing apprenticeship !! Broke 3 booms about 5 sails snapped 1 board Hit a sandbar with another and cracked it and broke harness line nearly ripping finbox out !. ! Its all apart of learning. I take it a bit easier now Think bundy is one quick speed sailor rigs off the rictorscale and jnsfok can be seen doing forwards loops and going out in 45 knotts in winterstorms !Think when your at that level gear breakage would be common!
Have gone to wave gear instead of free-ride race gear cause its as hard as nails and break less! I ride mainly jump and bump in Safety bay area. People must look at us weird haha, Not the quickest stuff on the water but heavy and hard wearing.
It seem to jibe easier on it cause you can turn sharper without the back of the sail hitting the water,.
I usually purchase reasonable second hand gear but i think that im at the level where i could purchase a new sails and keep them in good condition. You don't mind ripping a cheapish secondhand sail learning to jibe.
Depends how heavy you are and how close you sail to your limits.
I've broken more stuff blasting than I have wave sailing, mind you 1/2 mast is about my limit these days.
Sail most days it's windy and in the last 5 years only broke one front end of a boom after hitting the sandbank,and broke 2 battens.
And one other repair to nose of a board after again hitting sandbank.
Perhaps i'm not pushing hard enough to penetrate.
Breaking gear used to be my main concern, not any more after a catapult at Shearwater on the GC in 35 knts.
I could have bought some nice gear for the cost of fixing my broken hand in Oct and just got back on the water last week
If it was made of aluminium, yep, I've broken it. Booms, many times, luckily, only when sailing out, so sailing back with what is laft is easy. Masts, af few times. When the invisible internal corrosion got them, they'd break with an almighty crack with razor sharp, luff-slashing edges. Thank goodness, or technology, for carbon. Except when it's carbon mast vs wave + sand. Otherwise, I don't break much stuff these days. Seems the heavier guys seem to break a lot more stuff than (us) lighter guys.
perhaps we should discuss what we have not broken or lost?
i have NOT broken a mast extension nor boom - the rest - bin there, dunn that
for body parts - have seen broken hand up close due to boom hit @ catapult
saw video where catapult broke wrist - believe it was here & gross
i have been lucky in the body part department on water, butt
broke my shoulder windsurfing on ice - causing 3 missed windsurf sessions
oh yeah - DID break a boom on ice too
so - the only thing safe in my quiver so far is the mast extension !!!
we can consider ourselves lucky - windsurfers DO die on the water
take chances , heart attacks , etc
BE SAFE - wear a helmet
I've been generally very lucky on the gear front, but I have started to notice mates having more bad luck than what I would generally consider normal.
If you remember back 10 to 20 years ago flat water sailors hardly ever broke gear. I know the gear is lighter but think about how many wally windsurfer booms are still going after about 1000 catapults and 30 years and those fibreglass masts were lightish and still going. Does anyone remember those yellow gastra masts they just kept going forever and delivered many happy days sailing.
I remember most guys had epoxy slalom boards for ten years they just kept going forever. remember booms were regripped because they lasted ages you never see this anymore, and you would sell them (epoxy slalom boards)for $800 after 10 years of use. Man things have changed..