I bought a Severne "Metal" wave boom in November.
5th time out, flat water 18kts and a tame catapult.
Never bent a boom before.










What is the point in having a fancy 'lockjaw' clamp at the end that apparently has a warranty if the bit that it holds on to appears to be as strong as chocolate.

Not again, back to Chinook which has withstood far harsher punishment

I've been persevering with ally booms for a while now and they keep snapping off at the clamp end. The thought of spending over a grand on a carbon boom horrified me for a long time but even my senior moment maths could see that the so called cost savings of ally booms wasn't adding up as they were breaking way to often. And in addition I hate being off the water due to broken gear as it is inevitably windy while waiting for new gear to arrive.

The main problem with ally booms as I see it is the move to 28 mm tubing, especially at the mast clamp end. This slight reduction in size makes a big difference to the strength of the boom. Personally I don't think 28 mm tube is a good idea on ally booms. Neil Pryde booms attack this problem by expanding the tube diameter at the clamp end which helps but I have still managed to break a couple at the clamp end.

So I said to myself it's time to bite the bullet and just get some decent booms so I lashed out on a Severne enigma 210-260 and a Pryde X9 220-160. I Think it is very possibly the best money I have ever spent on gear. I felt a bit of an idiot actually as it never really dawned on me what a vital part of the rig the boom is. I can now sail a bit over powered without fear of breakage and I can rip into it when I get a gust instead of sheeting out and then bringing it back on slowly. The whole rig is just better and I can generate more power than is possible with an ally boom.

Sell your family members, sell your body, kill who you need to just get a carbon boom you won't regret it. They are worth every penny.

On the subject of Severne booms, I am very, very happy with the enigma I bought. It's a beautiful masterpiece of engineering and I love everything about it. The Pryde X9's are really nice and I like them a lot but the enigma is on another level of quality, ingenuity and function and is a few hundred bucks cheaper as well.

I feel I also have to mention Sam and the guys at Windsurfnsnow as I only budgeted for one boom but thanks to a nice discount I was able to sneak the second one in.

My severne boom bent first time I used it. To its credit it still kicking a year later. Have the new pryde Ali which is heavier but much stiffer and feels great. Outer Diameter is the same I think but my guess would be it has greater wall thickness.

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windsurftom said..

I bought a Severne "Metal" wave boom in November.
5th time out, flat water 18kts and a tame catapult.
Never bent a boom before.

What is the point in having a fancy 'lockjaw' clamp at the end that apparently has a warranty if the bit that it holds on to appears to be as strong as chocolate.

Not again, back to Chinook which has withstood far harsher punishment

I like Chinook alloy booms, but I've bent/destroyed a couple of those too. After the last one, which saw me stranded 2ks out to sea, I bought a carbon replacement. I feel much safer and there is a performance and feel improvement too.

Hi Tom (I assume),
Never good to hear of someone with gear failure especially when new. Just an FYI for people, I have this boom, have had it for 1.5 seasons, thrash it a lot in waves and always over-rig so it is under pressure. At this stage it is still going strong.

I believe that there were two "metal" booms, one smaller which has has a recommended weight of sailor below 90kgs (or was it 80kgs?).

Anyway, hope you get some sort of warranty if it is justified.

Enjoy the carbon - I'd love one but is out of my price range!
Cheers

Bent, broken plenty of alloy booms from jumps, hitting sandbars, catapults etc. Being heavy does not help so went carbon and 12 years on my most used one is still going strong even after hitting a sand bar and breaking a line in the process.

Looking at the top pic, your harness line placement with nil or little spread usually increases the point load on the arm. This load is increased more so when one is catapulted etc, and hence the heavier you are the more force/load/fatigue and likelihood you are going to bend/break the arm.

So unless freestyling or wave sailing where you use more of the boom, your probably better off with them spaced apart a bit to spread the load.

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BenKirk said...
Hi Tom (I assume),
Never good to hear of someone with gear failure especially when new. Just an FYI for people, I have this boom, have had it for 1.5 seasons, thrash it a lot in waves and always over-rig so it is under pressure. At this stage it is still going strong.

I believe that there were two "metal" booms, one smaller which has has a recommended weight of sailor below 90kgs (or was it 80kgs?).

Anyway, hope you get some sort of warranty if it is justified.

Enjoy the carbon - I'd love one but is out of my price range!
Cheers

I'm 67kgs. I think it is the small diameter.

Warranty doesn't cover the metal in the 'metal', apparently it bends. I'm disappointed as it just seems underspecced for normal use. I have a chinook pro alloy I've used far harder for 5 years that's still going . I only bought the severne for my girlfriend to learn with. Guess I shouldn't have borrowed it.

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Spotty said..

Bent, broken plenty of alloy booms from jumps, hitting sandbars, catapults etc. Being heavy does not help so went carbon and 12 years on my most used one is still going strong even after hitting a sand bar and breaking a line in the process.

Looking at the top pic, your harness line placement with nil or little spread usually increases the point load on the arm. This load is increased more so when one is catapulted etc, and hence the heavier you are the more force/load/fatigue and likelihood you are going to bend/break the arm.

So unless freestyling or wave sailing where you use more of the boom, your probably better off with them spaced apart a bit to spread the load.

This was the same advice I got from Steve at Windforce. I had heard tips from some of the pro coaches suggesting a fist distance between lines. But these guys get new kit every year heavily subsidised. They don't really need to consider gear longevity. My lines will now always be a reasonable distance apart.

I thought the Severne Metals had 26mm diameter tubing? I thought Chinook's Pro 1 was the smallest at 28 or 29mm.

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KevinD002 said..

I thought the Severne Metals had 26mm diameter tubing? I thought Chinook's Pro 1 was the smallest at 28 or 29mm.

Just checked on the interweb, they have Metal for lighter riders at 26mm and Blueline for heavier sailors at 29mm.

windsurftom. Thanks for heads up. I agree, that's pretty crap to hear about your bad experience. I am approx 70kg and never had issues with aluminium monocoque booms and at your weight (as you weight less than me), I would think you shouldn't need a carbon monocoque boom solely for strength (handling a different matter).

I remember the German surf magazine did a test a few years beck where they measured the stress on boom arms during jumps. They measured forces as high as 900 kgs on the boom arms for 80kg windsurfers landing a jump. I would assume the forces during a catapult, even a mild one, would be a lot more.

Not great when a boom bends but I even managed to bend chinook alloy booms in the past which were considered unbreakable.

Get a carbon boom. It's well worth the money.

2012/13 Season i bent 3 booms
Decided to get a stronger boom and went for the Aeron V-grip 160-220mm
I'm 90 kegs and this boom remained unscathed all season
From harness-line-snapping catapaults to forwards (attempts) it's seen me through
Can not fault it and at 1/4 of the price of a carbon was money well spent
Actually thinking of getting another one 140-190mm
They're good

just to shatter your Aeron V Grip illusion, I thought they were so good I got 2!...loved it...but..they bend too!

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stehsegler said..
I remember the German surf magazine did a test a few years beck where they measured the stress on boom arms during jumps. They measured forces as high as 900 kgs on the boom arms for 80kg windsurfers landing a jump. I would assume the forces during a catapult, even a mild one, would be a lot more.

Not great when a boom bends but I even managed to bend chinook alloy booms in the past which were considered unbreakable.

Get a carbon boom. It's well worth the money.

buhahahaha....

lose weight fatties

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jn1 said..

lose weight fatties

you wont be laughing when i sit on you, ive had both and broken both

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LoginName said..

Get a carbon boom. It's well worth the money.

buhahahaha....

I'll take it you never actually used a carbon boom.

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JonesySail said...




just to shatter your Aeron V Grip illusion, I thought they were so good I got 2!...loved it...but..they bend too!

Think I forgot to add what I did to the 2nd Aeron V Grip recently...looks ,like I will have to go Carbon,...or just stay with the stings?! Did I mention windsurfing is way more expensive than kite surfing!

Wow, how did you get the boom to bend like that?! And why two harness lines on both sides?

This was my wave boom, The other lines were in place for wave sailing (waist harness, tad shorter) , stuck the longer go fast lines on the rear till next boom was sorted. I have a tendency to wander off downwind in freerace events and form close relationships with bits of shallow water,
actually this one was just a very slow speed tap, nothing serious at all, was really surprised at the level of damage, the first Aeron boom was at top speed and was a bit nasty.
The ironic thing is I have gone through way more gear doing 1 x season of flat water freeracing than 10 years of ocean/wave free sailing!

At least the head section seems strong on the Aeron Alloy Booms!