Teaching myself to windsurf with fair success on old tired kit and waterlogged Naish Kailua 230L, can't quite pull the trigger on US$3500+ setup so stuck coping with what I have.
The latest problem is the boom clamp is slipping, because I am so tall, about 198 CM the boom is at the top of the sleeve cutout and rakes back downhill to the clue, this is causing the clamp to only contact the mast at the top of the clamp. Most kits I see have this setup but apparently their boom heads flex and stay fully clamped.
The boom is an aluminum windsurfing Hawaii of unknown vintage, when gearing up it clamps very tightly, not sure I could get it tighter without breaking the old yellow epoxy mast or snapping the plastic clamp. But when I bend the boom down to attach the clue it starts to clamp unevenly.
Is this a problem with the setup of this old gear or something else I am missing?
Aloha
old rubbishy gear is exactly that - old and rubbishy.
you don't need to get new gear, just newer gear.
you should be able to get on modern second hand kit for about $1k i reckon.
or just persist with the old junk and learn to live with it
You could try to put something around the mast where you connect the boom to stop it slipping. Some companies sell boom shims that snap onto the mast. I have not tried it but perhaps even using a bit of newspaper or anything that creates a bit of friction and packing where the boom clamps onto the mast could help reduce the boom slippage.
If you are using an old yellow epoxy mast (Rotho?) and the boom is point loading it I am surprised it has not broken already. It is really not good!
You can resolve this with about $100 for a secondhand carbon mast (go for roughly 30% carbon, not 100%) and a recent ish alloy boom for same price. Pretty much any alloy boom from last 3yrs ish will have an articulating head.
Then the rest of the gear doesn't matter, you will have fun and be assured your mast is not going to fail and leave you with a 1km swim.
The board is ideal, just a bit old. Doe sit have any areas where the skin has gone soft if you stand on it? If you have a couple of months where you will not be sailing it is worth getting the water out.... google it, there's many methods available
I have 3 carbon booms from 15 to 3 years old, and they all slip.
Yesterday i adjusted my 15 year old North carbon boom up the way,around 10-15 times in 2 hours.
The newer standard diameter masts are narrower and slip more than before.
I use a shim on two of my reduced diameter masts,it helps but slips eventually.
My rdm x6 370 mast with shim is the only one that never slips.
Thinking, going to try my rdm shim on my sdm.....may be the solution.
OK articulating head, I get it, perhaps I can create some shims from sheet rubber and glue it to the boom clamp.
I would really like to get some good used gear but I live on Kauai and nobody windsurfs here just a few oldtimers so nothing is available, just the old type junk I scavenged. People only windsurf on Maui, I was able to convince a school there to sell me a board real cheap and they sent it over on the barge but I have not had any luck dealing with private parties. The board was only US$100 but it weighs about 23KG! not sure it can take on any more water! soft spots all over dripping water in the sun, it's a lost cause but someone already wants to buy it when I'm done with it!
I just need to make this rubbish hold together for a little while longer to progress and prove to myself I want to stick with it and figure out what my new setup will be, but that's a whole other topic for another day.
What's the windsurfing like there? People seem to head straight to Maui and ignore the other islands.
Kauai is not a particularity windy place however we do have steady tradewinds nearly always less than 20 knots and usually less than 15.
There are a few points where it is windier and these spots have waves and kitesurfers but it's nothing like Maui or even the big island.
Surfing is what it's all about here but I am trying to get away from the crowds, drama and conflict between the SUP's and crawlers. I just want to go do my own thing. I'm just going to need some sort of special light wind setup.
There are light wind set ups around, we get our best wave sailing here in 12 to 15kts at the start of the seabreeze season, later in the season as the winds get stronger the swell decreases. So a lot of guys here have floaty boards, (15 to 20 litres more than they weigh).
This afternoon I tried some shims but it wasn't working, it seems the mast is a bit fat.
Then I got the brilliant idea to bend the boom arms down so the clamp could sit straight, well it bent nicely but then I tried to bend it a bit more and it snapped.
So I'm looking for a new boom now.
I have to plan it to fit with my future lightwind gear. Looks like the biggest 9.5M Ezzy sails take a 250 boom and their 6.5M takes a 198, that would probably be my range of sails so a 200 to 250 boom should work.
Maui Sails aluminum 200-250 for US$240
Aeron Carbon 200-250 on sale for US$610
Do I really need to go carbon?
I appreciate everyone's opinions
At your stage and with your equipment, a carbon boom really won't make much difference.
Save your money and get an aluminium one.
There I fixed it! A piece of copper tubing fit exactly inside the broken aluminum tubing as a ferrule, a couple of screws and I'm back in business.
The boom arms bend down to the clue now and the head clamps on the mast straight so it shouldn't slip.
I still need new gear but I think I just bought some time.
Thanks Nebian, the only reason I consider carbon is because of the large sails and my large size but as you say at my ability level and the low wind I am hardly taxing the equipment.
