my guess is most of the 6mm bolts bent because they are made from cheap ass low grade stainless steal made in China with lots of impurities.
Just look at the sorry excuse of stainless steal that comes with many $1200+ carbon booms. I have seen plenty of them rust within a few weeks of salt water exposure.
I think the issue is that a lot of boom manufacturers think that 316 SS is adequate for prolonged use in a marine environment... it's not.
I've yet to see a boom with stainless steel parts which didn't have some corrosion on them.
^^^ Dunno if they do.
Just that my Simmer, with what looks like same head, makes a bit of a squeak. It is where the hinged part (that goes around the rear of the mast) meets the front part. As it is tightened the two bits juussttt overlap and rub together.
It is not all the time, only when swinging my weight off it a lot and it's choppy.
Just annoying as I thought it was a fixing coming loose on a new boom.... until I figured it out
I used a pre production boom head of this on the older Severne boom slalom sailing in Maui for over 2 months this year, and competing in the Maui Race Series. I still use it today with no issues.
The boom head itself has been tested in solid Maui 35 knots, mostly with a 6.2, rough as guts water, and sailing over oncoming waves and ramps going out the lagoon, open ocean and thousands of gybes without fail. It was my boom of choice over the Aerons and Chinook.
It got such a flogging i actually tore my 4 month old uni tendon with a week to go !!
One day it was nuclear and i broke my boom rope on the Aeron and so i just changed back to the Severne ENIGMA boom and the difference in control and stiffness was amazing. I then enjoyed my sail so much better for the rest of the avo :)
Now instead of the 6mm bolt bending the 8MM will remain stiff and instead the plastic boom head will shatter into multiple pieces, something has to give
I have one of this and is the best boom I had but at 1350 a pop I never dared to import them, exuse me the germanz.
What about just puting some decent bloody cord on their booms that doesn't jam in the cleat or fray in a week, that would be a major improvements 
Ps. We all know what we want in a boom. Why does the industry keep popping out all these booms that have all these querks. For example all wave sailors use rdms why do they still make the majority for sdm and then suPply a shim?!?!
The Severne boom head comes in SDM (which you can use a shim with) or dedicated RDM (the only way to fly for us wavesailors)
I actually started windsurfing when you had to tie the boom on and then crank it down 90 degrees - that was scary!!
When Nautix released some of the first clamp on booms i thought all my christmases had come at once.
I would be happy with a boom that does not break with \in one year . The quality in Aluminium has dimminished big time since the 90 s , they may be cheaper but they just dont inspire confidence when you go out to sail . The only solution I find is to change booms every twelve months .
Same think happened to nuts and bolts from your local hardware store ,
your very strong Sidchrome set could twist the nuttss off the soft metal of cheap ( Chinnese ) other imports !!
The problem I see with the shock absorbing boom is that the energy that is absorbed has to somewhere. I bet the area which absorbs the downward force will eventually snap off.
I remember reading an engineering report a few years back where the university of Munich tested the downward forces on booms when landing a chop hop on a lake. The result was a downward force of a factor 10x body weight. No imagine a season where someone does a few hundred jumps. It's surprising the boom heads last as long as they do.
I think bolts normally bend when you pull directly down on the boom on some landings. The previous Aeron/severne head whichis probably much like the Naish/prolimit heads have bolts that are easy to bend. And regarding a preferred failure point, I would rather the force be taken up in the boom arms, keep the head rock solid.
But yeah, there's a high number of people who never realised most booms just suck. I still see people with those Pryde twist lock things, replaced ten times, they never complain. There's some folk using booms with large diameter grip and rusty cleats who would prefer to buy a new pink Gath helmet rather than a new boom. There's uphauls tied around the arm 'cause there's nowhere else to tie it. Some people have been getting the same cut on their finger from that same sharp bit on the clamp for ten years without faulting the boom. And Z-booms. These people are proof that not everyone knows what's what regarding booms.
HAI BARN! 
As said before the only good feature on a Pryde boom is the larger vertical contact area, other than that they are complete rubbish (coming from someone who has broken 4 Pryde booms). Engineering wise it makes sense to spread that contact load over a larger area, good to see someone else doing it too; larger bolt diameter is also a good idea, bent plenty of those.
I'm with barn on the flex at the head, it has to be minimal, these flexing boom heads are a stupid idea. It might be okay if you just sail back and forth all day but if you do anything remotely serious on a windsurfing they are a pain in a sport where direct control of the rig is everything. I had one of those North booms with the flex head for a short period. Needless to say I tightened it up so it had the minimal amount of flex possible...lasted about 3 months them the boom head exploded 
As Stehs says the force has to go somewhere, complicate things, **** goes south.
The only bad thing about the Severne booms, the Enigma anyway, is it truly lives up to its name....you can't get one, I've been waiting probably 18 months for one.
Why does the clamp need a longer handle for better leverage if it needs less clamping force?
Certainly not a revolution, evolution perhaps.
That looks a lot like my 16 year old northsails clamp on boom head.
It cost a bomb way back when , and is still going strong today.
I like my Np and Maui sails boom heads due to the large surface area of the mast cup. In fact its so big that most RDM shims dont fit in them, ive needed to remove the nodules on the shim at one end to make them fit.
These heads provide a secure attachment without too much clamp pressure. Nothing revolutionary but they work. The othe aspect i like, and this is more so on the NP boom is that it easy to get on the mast when rigging. The clamp part that attaches to the rope seems to be just the right length so it pops out of the sail sleeve to get the rope on. I've had boom heads that are just totally fiddly and a pain to rig.
BTW, for the non pryde haters, I've been using pryde booms for a long while and don't remember breaking one, I do retire my alu booms after 3 to 4 yrs. I've had the plastic coating crack but it wasn't structural and it was replaced under warranty.
The thing that does peeve me off is the cheap stainless on the boom end clips, after a couple of seasons the rust cracks the clips and your up for $30 or so for replacements. It almost peeves me of as much as board bag zippers that corrode after a couple of seasons.
and i'm hoping it lasts a while
lockjaw
