The good news is that in many ways, choosing a boom is the easiest equipment selection to make. The decision can be based on objective criteria, because booms are not nearly so style-specific (nor mysterious) as boards, sails, or even harnesses. You can actually make the best choice in a boom without first trying it out!
Except...the hard part might be getting all that objective criteria. Here we’re mostly thinking of stiffness specs from the manufacturers. Basically, they don’t exist, because there is neither a standard nor common method of measurement. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
The right boom for you depends on what size sails you’ll be using it on, your size, whether you’re easy or hard on equipment, the kind of sailing you do, the priority you place on easy adjustment, and of course, budget. Big sails and heavy sailors need stiffer booms, meaning carbon or, in most cases, thicker-diameter aluminum. But the larger the diameter, the harder the boom is to grip. Wherein begins a technical challenge that boom manufacturers have been grappling with for years.
Let’s get real, first. The first thing many people look at in a boom is price. The degree of importance of the boom to the stability of the rig is not fully appreciated by sailors—nor even fully understood by manufacturers, yet. It’s so difficult to measure. How much does a boom flex, and how much does that flex affect control and handling? Um, most likely, a lot. Even getting at an empirical answer is complicated, because so many other technical factors come into play. But this much is known: when a boom flexes in a gust, it bows; when it bows, it gets shorter; when it gets shorter, the outhaul is reduced; when the outhaul is reduced, the sail gets fuller; and when a sail is fuller it delivers more power, more drag, and a rearward draft. None of which you want in a gust. So there’s your best argument for carbon. As Fiberspar’s Nevin Sayre says, “A boom should be absolutely as stiff as possible. No question, carbon is the right material, if you can afford it."
As for the price of booms, the range is huge. Short aluminum booms can go for $100, while big carbon booms can run nearly five times that. It would be ideal to have the lightest and stiffest boom with each rig, but it might not be a wise allocation of your budget. What else might you get with that money that you need more, or will enhance your sailing more? As always, priorities rule. Juggling them advantageously—judging them correctly—is the trick.
Boom-makers continue to make refinements in aluminum models that improve durability and ease of use, while holding the line on price. Meanwhile, their carbon departments are wrestling with design and production problems. It’s not easy to make a good carbon boom, let alone at a price people are willing to pay. Fiberspar, for example, generally recognized as the leader in carbon technology (e.g., a sophisticated $200,000 machine measures loads, deflection and response time of booms), has spent nearly 11 years developing its carbon boom, and had to raise prices 25 percent this year—not out of greed, but merely to justify continuing to make them. The fact that there’s been no drop in sales may be an indication that (a) the economy still soars, (b) windsurfing is picking up the pace of its rebound, or (c )...could it actually be...sailors recognize the importance of quality and are willing to pay for it?
Ah, but there are limits. Back to the business about allocating budget, and getting the most for your money. Does “carbon boom" mean including carbon extensions, front-end and tail? Or just a carbon body? A carbon front-end is very problematic to manufacture, and increases the cost significantly—Fiberspar sells that piece alone for $149, as a retrofit for its older carbon booms. So, in the interest of buyability, some carbon booms have aluminum or molded nylon components. It’s a compromise, for understandable business reasons: a buyer still gets (and we are making these numbers up), say, 90 percent of the effectiveness of carbon, for 70 percent of the price. The aluminum front end on a carbon boom may be the weak link, and it will break or wear out first. But if you don’t sail every day in summer, it might last for years, and there’s not that much lost in stiffness. It’s a reasonable way to save a few bucks.
Chinook addresses the problem of flex vs. price another way. The Competition boom-front on carbon booms is made of durable molded nylon, whose inherent flexibility is compensated for by an extremely close positioning of the front ends of the boom tubes. They’re 1/8’’ apart, limiting the boom-front flex area to that small space. Chinook has experimented with a carbon front-end, but ruled it out, for now, as impractical for a number of reasons.
A word on innovation. Carbon is where it’s at, of course, and continuous-loop carbon booms will be the Next Big Thing. If Fiberspar and Chinook have their own solutions to flex in the front-end, Windsurfing Hawaii’s solution is to throw out the piece altogether—or at least eliminate the connection of boom tubes. The new WH carbon boom is an unbroken, unbonded loop around the front of the boom, with an articulating front-end that, because its only job is to clamp the boom to the mast, isn’t subject to flex. When this boom begins appearing in shops, any day now, you’ll find that the Dynafiber looks remarkably similar. That’s because there was a merging of talents and resources along the path of production. The design itself came from the hands of Bob Craig, formerly of Dynafiber, and Larry Stanley, who partnered Windsurfing Hawaii out of his garage 25 years ago. Stanley is known for inventing the harness and lines, footstraps, adjustable booms and adjustable bases. He’s since sold his interest in Windsurfing Hawaii, which has relocated to Hood River, but still designs and consults for them. “The well isn’t dry yet," he laughs, during this, the summer of his 25th anniversary as a pioneer of windsurfing parts. When Bob Craig sold his interest in Dynafiber, Brian Dalby of Windsurfing Works (Dynafiber’s distributor) took over the design and ran with it to Slovakia, where Thermal Laminates makes Seatrend boards and Dynafiber booms. After Dalby’s execution and development, Dynafiber calls its version of the boom a “monocoque," applying a term commonly used to describe racing car chassis.
There’s already been some delay in getting the boom out, due to changes that needed to be made to the early version, by both Windsurfing Hawaii and Dynafiber. And it’s too soon to pronounce either boom a winner, as is. But the concept can’t be denied. Witness North Sails, which has also recently introduced a continuous-loop carbon boom.
We weren't able to try a North Sails carbon boom in Islamorada, but we did get on the water with one back in the Gorge, and we were very impressed. It was designed by Larry Herbig, better known for his careful crafting of sails at North Sails. Solid and no-nonsense is how the boom struck us; strong, smooth, simple, but mostly uncompromising. The RacePro boom has a clear presence that says it was well thought-out. The proven plastic/nylon head has a scarcely visible seam where it's bonded over the carbon loop, and features a toothy padded clamp on the mast, tensioned by one line with cleat. The body features a narrowed grip area, and a length-adjustment system that snap-locks with the solid feel of an expensive car door shutting. Its single pin per side fits into sealed indentations, so the extension tube isn't drilled and is thus stronger. Finally, there's a beautifully functional carbon tailpiece whose lacing system is unified, not attached. There are three brass rollers, or, for rigging in a flash, there's a simpler grooved system on top that North Sails calls “loop-loop" which doesn't need threading, and is also used with the in-flight outhaul. We had a great day using a 6.1 WindWing with this stiff, strong, light, user-loving boom.
Another word here, on tube diameter. Presently, the description “narrow grip" is being used, without precise definition. Commonly, booms have tube diameters of 1 1/16” (27 mm), 1 1/8” (28.6 mm) and 1 1/4” (31.75 mm)—or all three, in a taper—but the diameter isn’t always clearly stated there in the shop. Chinook is a nice exception. Its product-line brochure, available at dealerships, reveals ‘99 boom details, including, notably, a new Alcoa alloy with a .005" thicker wall in the 29-mm (1 1/8") booms. As a result of the thicker wall, warranty claims at Chinook have dropped to nearly zero this year.
Which raises an interesting dilemma. The previous 29-mm Chinook aluminum booms were breaking only in the hands of heavier sailors (more than 160 pounds), for whom the Chinook 32-mm (1 1/4’’) booms were recommended, something which Chinook communicated to its dealers. But if the 29-mm booms are in the showroom, and a 180-pound sailor wants one because he’s read how much easier and less tiring they are to hang onto, how many dealers (especially in recent years’ lean times) are self-disciplined enough to risk an easy sale? And how do you make a warranty apply to body weight? A line in the ‘99 Chinook pamphlet settles the issue with the exclamation, “1 1/8’’ is no longer limited to lightweights!"
Advances in aluminum and difficulties with carbon design and production notwithstanding, there are more carbon booms than ever this year; carbon is technological progress, after all. During our Islamorada clinic, we tried out carbon booms from Fiberspar, Neil Pryde (made by Fiberspar), Chinook and Windsurfing Hawaii, as well as aluminum booms from Chinook, Windsurfing Hawaii, Gulftech, Hawaiian Pro Line, Naish and North Sails. The observations within this report were provided by Ken Winner, who evaluated the booms.
Click on the manufacturers listed to find reviews and see the booms. |
