Wishbone broken

[Jean-Marc]

By comparison, this is how an all-aluminum boom (North Silver) is flexing under load while windsurfing in real life :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcEP0cJjrEA

The boom is way softer all over the arm tubes (especially when pumping the sail) than a carbon boom. Pretty obvious about how an all-carbon and an all-aluminum boom do flex in real life as compared to lab test results...

Cheers !

JM

[Farlo]

Sure, after trying a North Platinum and a Nautix Jumbo (supposedly very stiff as well) it's pretty obvious that the rig feels more nervous with the carbon boom. Now is the flex such a bad thing, as long as it doesn't affect the profile of the sail too much? You may appreciate it after long hours/long distances. Masts of various carbon content have the same static flex but different dynamics. Is it the same for booms (i.e. combination of static/dynamic flex)?

PS: the NXtrem tested in German Surf Magazine is the regular alu version, not the hybrid one. That's why it sits between the NS Silver and NP X3. I wonder why Nautix discontinued the hybrid version. Will ask them at the next Salon Nautique.

[Farlo]

Yesterday I was in Stuttgart. Next hall was a trade show on composite materials. During a break I could discuss with some of the guys. They told me that demand from China and South America notably is putting extreme pressure on all manufacturers. They also said that raw material (PAN) but also resins and other oil based stuff involved in carbon fiber processing have seen an increase of 30% last year. One added that it generates much more pollution than let's say metal work (admittedly you must consider the full product life cycle). Anyway it looks like high prices are here to stay.