What's you experience when breaking Booms?
I totalled my NP Carbon Boom last week. At top of Nm run, about 200m into it at 33knts & climbing then zero knots. I hit something in the water and stopped dead. Fin fine. Board fine. Sail fine. Me fine too. But holy smokes Batman!! Boom is in 4 pieces. Broken at the head on starboard tack. Tail broken on Port & arms broken just behind back hand grip. Is it common for multi break points?

Good effort.......

I think that counts as a full send

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aeroegnr said..
I think that counts as a full send

I've foil crashed at 22knts and seen stars. Boom breakage was on a 20cm Delta. I still don't know how I stopped dead. I should have glided/bumped over what ever it was. No marks on the fin either.

61 kph to zero in <1 second. That would trigger an airbag in a car, and probably make a mess of the front of the car. Have you seen what a similar deceleration crash did to the Team NZ's foiling AC yacht?

Thats the best right off I've seen ,,,you should be proud ....looks like a new one for christmas .

my last one broke in two place .you done better .

Mate, top effort. All that momentum had to blow out somewhere in a dead stop. Be glad it wasn't a part of you!

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BSN101 said..

aeroegnr said..
I think that counts as a full send

I've foil crashed at 22knts and seen stars. Boom breakage was on a 20cm Delta. I still don't know how I stopped dead. I should have glided/bumped over what ever it was. No marks on the fin either.

I've done similar speed and crash on a foil and landed right on my hip at the thickest part of the boom and was bruised for a few weeks

Very unlucky, but better than breaking bones or neck
Do you mind if I ask how much you weigh
Looks like you have a spare boom head and up haul now

Better the equipment than you..

There wasn't any pro fishermen around was there.? I hit a net 2 weeks ago at full speed and it stopped me instantly with no marks on fin or damage. It had little floats along the top but sat about 150mm under the surface. Sudden and un expected catapult took me by complete surprise. Sounds similar.

Saw Byron hit a very large black stingray at Budgie years ago that stopped him dead. Luckily no damage to his gear but he did think he broke his leg......he was hurting bad. It turned out he bruised it and he managed to get back in on one leg. So maybe you had an encounter of the marine creature kind.

Did a similar boom break ended up with 5 pieces, did a number on me as well

Me too, had a couple of dead stops at same spot as BSN101. Shallow weedy speed runs do come with risk. Last time it ripped my harness clean off me (split the seat) and ripped the sail. Boom still going strong, but it is an Enigma Slalom.

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BSN101 said..
Tail broken on Port & arms broken just behind back hand grip. Is it common for multi break points?

Not quite sure of the purpose of this thread.

Had a massive crash and boom broke as expected with the forces involved.

Can't expect a boom to survive that force.

Lucky the boom broke and not your back.

Yes, I've broken a boom in one place .. but obviously all the variables were different in your situation.

Purpose of thread, um, summed up in my first sentence

Replacement here for a sesh today.

How is the patrik boom ? looks nice, solid looking boom head on it, did you get it from surf sail? How do you feel sailing after hitting something, I am paranoid now after hitting the fishing net, imagining all kinds of scenarios from plastic bags to turtles. It's always on my mind now when going fast can't shake it.

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BSN101 said..
Purpose of thread, um, summed up in my first sentence

What? .. they will ask break differently due to all the different forces and different designs of booms.

Is this just a fun discussion thread? There's obviously no valid technical comparison. But if it's just a fun laugh of different breakages, then I understand.

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mob dog said..
How is the patrik boom ? looks nice, solid looking boom head on it, did you get it from surf sail? How do you feel sailing after hitting something, I am paranoid now after hitting the fishing net, imagining all kinds of scenarios from plastic bags to turtles. It's always on my mind now when going fast can't shake it.

You need a fin that will let go before breaking anything. No one makes one as far as I know. It has to fall out gracefully while being retained by a tether. Not a difficult problem ...

Using a weed fin should slow reduce your deceleration.

Plenty of good ones around just do not go too small in size.

I hit some weed yesterday on the sandbank in the river which was below the water and catapulted forward.

I never go full speed across it anymore as the weed accumulates in the shallows.

It is very bad this year on the river and is in big clumps mostly.

I ride mostly small fin wave boards and I have hit plastic bags ,wooden planks with protruding rusty nails etc.. Onshore spots are most dangerous. Pollution is unavoidable. Better damage board than body. Nowadays with foiling things will get worse. Regarding turtles- I have noticed that they tend to feel danger and dive in the last moment. Thanks God, so far I haven't hit one. I can imagine hitting it with a foil full speed.. A few broken vertebrae if you are lucky to get away only with that...

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JakeNN said..

BSN101 said..
Tail broken on Port & arms broken just behind back hand grip. Is it common for multi break points?

Not quite sure of the purpose of this thread.

Had a massive crash and boom broke as expected with the forces involved.

Can't expect a boom to survive that force.

Lucky the boom broke and not your back.

Yes, I've broken a boom in one place .. but obviously all the variables were different in your situation.

Dude, whats your experience.

I broke 2 NEW Pro1 180 Carbon Chinook booms in the same session in 2022: Hit floating dead carp, stopped dead while riding 25-30kn, big send forward and boom cracked in 4 places. It broke mainly due to the fact I was still hooked, and my weight being launched forward just pulled too hard on the damn thing when hitting the water. But I noted that the Chinook carbon booms are a bit weak in larger sizes. Won't buy them again.
Now I ride Duotone Silver aluminum booms on sail size 7.2 and below, and a Race Carbon Duotone boom on bigger sails. That Duotone Carbon boom was expensive to buy but it's built like a tank!
Back to my new Duotone aluminum booms: It won't hurt my wallet as much if I break those again next spring.

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WhyNoWind said..
I broke 2 NEW Pro1 180 Carbon Chinook booms in the same session in 2022: Hit floating dead carp, stopped dead while riding 25-30kn, big send forward and boom cracked in 4 places. It broke mainly due to the fact I was still hooked, and my weight being launched forward just pulled too hard on the damn thing when hitting the water. But I noted that the Chinook carbon booms are a bit weak in larger sizes. Won't buy them again.
Now I ride Duotone Silver aluminum booms on sail size 7.2 and below, and a Race Carbon Duotone boom on bigger sails. That Duotone Carbon boom was expensive to buy but it's built like a tank!
Back to my new Duotone aluminum booms: It won't hurt my wallet as much if I break those again next spring.

I've got the medium sized chinook ones and it does feel less stiff than the Severne ones.

Here is something to think about that I have already learned in 1990s. Before that time only aluminum and epoxy masts existed and booms in aluminum, In 1990s carbon composites were introduced to fins, masts and booms mainly in racing or "premium" gear.
Obviously carbon technology (like many others) came from earlier Military applications.
I still remember the quote: "when a mechanic drops a spanner (or wrench) on a fighter jet carbon wing, that wing has to be replaced".
Carbon much superior to any other wing materials (e.g. aluminum) in distributed load has an "Achilles heel" in point load.

Learnings:
1) That is why so many racers broke 100% carbon masts with HPL original 2 straps booms. Point loading.
2) that is why some companies like Fiberspar were selling their masts in the bags with extra PVC tubing.
BTW: I bought one rig (with Fiberspar Boom & Mast) from Rick Murray in late 1990s. Mast came with PVC Tubing.

Conclusion for Booms:
Avoid point loading them. e.g. Don't toss them around or throw pointy or edgy object on them.

Did this a number of years ago, boom was only about a month old

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BSN101 said..

It's only a scratch, Mark could fix it .

With violent catapoolty action , Something has to give. Soft alloy booms are an easy way out at $300 a pop. I would hope it's harness lines . All my broken harness lines have been sailing in a straight line . Who knows ?

Chinook 180 .