so i had a pretty good sesh tonight, powered up easterly was a good chance to try out my longer lines, which did seem to help my upwind performance.
however, i have sad face.
after about an hour of sailing i saw i had a large crack in the nose of my relatively new 123litre hawk. i'm not sure, but it likely happened when i grabbed the boom too far back during a duck and did a catapult.
the board is still hard around the crack and doesn't give any when i give it a good squeeze. strangely the top crack doesn't meet the dent at the nose which travels underneath the board.
my local isn't open tomorrow, but monday, i'm taking the battered girl in to get looked at. might have to dust off the flow if it blows tomorrow night...
Hi Trousers
That happened to me today. I did a big F.O. catipult when a gust hit me when offbalance. I now have a nice dent on the nose of my board (not cracked thank god).
I have ordered a "boom bra" from a local W/S shop. Collecting it before the next sesh will be the priority I reckon :). Do you have a boom bra ?
Ja
(no bee stings today)
Hey biscuit,
good to hear you're keeping away from those nasty stinging insects! 
i got a boom bra that just sits over the actual clamp. the irony of today is that i got new harness lines recently that are a lot longer than i usually sail, which meant the boom today was alot higher. if i was sailing my old lines, the boom clamp probably would have been the impact point.
that crack is from the mast methinks. i might need a boom-bra that covers the mast below the boom, which a mate showed me today. it may or may not have stopped the crack, i'll never know.
still, the lines were a great improvement, and these things happen. i was on my game today; my session had lots of high-speed planing, lots of good gybes and a sprinkling of chop hops. and at least i got another board to sail on in the meantime. so I'm not bitter.
cheers,
Crowded Trousers
Good work :). A while ago, I used gaffa tape and wrapped a whole bunch around the nose. I am going to start doing that again as well. It doesn't look cool, but it's an extra measure.
Was ready just in case, but the easterly didn't get to lake Jindabyne. Does it ever? Just checked the obs, I missed a beauty.
I'd just pack on a bit of Selleys knead it Trousers. The main thing is to be ready for tonight's easterly. Won't be any uglier than my Fanatic.
How you feeling Bristol? Can I tell the water police you said it was OK?
Yeh what's going on, watching the obs, doesn't look like it will get here. Might have to take the dog for a walk.
So you've got time for a better repair now. I'd had an even bigger split on the nose an old board, epoxied a bit of carbon cloth tape over it. Sailed many more miles, never gave any more trouble. Not pretty though, from a distance it passed as a GT stripe.
Trousers,
After close inspection of the photos, I can confirm that it is indeed a crack you have there.
Trousers,
If it's not the head of your boom that's making contact with the nose of the board but the mast a little lower down you could try and get hold of an old mast protector.
These were designed to wrap/clamp around the bottom of the mast just above the uni joint to prevent damage to the rails/deck of the board when the mast was dropped while sailing.
- Most new sails now have this extra/additional padding in the sail
A mate of ours kept taking the nose off his board this way despite having a boom bra.
We simply turned the old mast protector upside down and attached just below the boom on the front of the mast/sail... no more cracks... although he did mange to snap the nose clear off attempting a forward onto near dry reef (or so his story went 
)
Is it a green flow? and how many litres? I still ride one and love it (green 93 ltr)
