Hi there,
My booms are getting near the end of their useful life and I am concerned because I have done some research on the net and have not found any booms that I want to buy! This is quiet scary because there are plenty of Windsurf Companies putting plenty of resources into boards and sails BUT to me there appears to be a lack of resources going into Booms which are a pretty important part of Windsurfing gear! (My sailing is flat water, lightwind, 11-25 knots)
Over the last few years I have used Hawaiian Proline Booms which I have been really happy with. The keys to a happy boom to me are:
1. Feels light in the hands
2. Feels like one piece in the hands
3. Easy front end attachment to the mast
4. Easy back end sail attachment with easy on-the-water adjustment.
I notice recent changes to the Hawaiian Proline booms have made them almost a Neil Pryde Boom which I consider have a lot of room for improvement.
Come on Neil Pryde, come up with a really innovative new boom design and I'll buy several of them!!
Cheers, I'd love to know what others think.........
For me the boom must be light,very light.
Putting a heavy big formula size boom on a slalom sail can radically change the feel of the sail.
Two booms the same size,but a few hundred grammes difference,i can feel the difference.
Some of the old fiberspar booms are very light and stiff but the adjustment is a pain and can slip after wear!
Lightest boom i've come across was a Neil Pryde X9 160-220cm.
I have a Aeron carbon boom 145-185cm,that i've added a chinook 65cm carbon extension to,boom now extends to 210cm.This is my favourite boom as it's so light.
Other consideration is slippage on the mast. Some front ends gradually slip unless heavy pressure is applied to the clamp.
There is a new front end that is supposed to reduce this clamp pressure but not tried it yet.
No way.
"Head uses surface area, flex of mast cup and friction for super friendly snug mast contact": no, it just uses friction. The "progressive vertical flex" concept is simply wrong: flex means that the farthest parts will not apply pressure, so only the central area of the cup will work.
Apart from that, the real nonsense in the Enigma boom concept is in the 'corner' in the planform: that means tension will concentrate there, making either for a weak point or for the need for extra reinforcement (= weight).
To me the Enigma boom looks like it's designed by schoolkids. Maybe 120 kg heavy, but still schoolkids. Sorry, but that is what I think.
That said, if I was looking for something superlight, then I'd look for the X-booms; and I would choose them with the most well thought, user friendly front end in the market, that is the Maui Sails. But actually I just want a no-nonsense, sturdy, reliable piece of equipment; and I am very happy with my Maui Sails booms.
The 190 - 240 I use with larger sails can hardly be considered 'light', but once you get used to it anything else will feel like a toy; I think it's not a matter of stiffness, but rather it's something like slow 'reflex' reaction that makes for that feel. I consider it a 'no-compromise' boom.
The 30 mm outer diameter 170 - 230 is the last one I bought, I like it up to 7.0 sails (but I am sure it can take the 7.6 perfectly as well, they do so in PWA), feels not as much stiff as the larger one, but combines still way more than enough stiffness with light weight and a comfortable grip. A very good choice for a well balanced "compromise" boom.
Thinking again at the original question.
Orange Whip, one has to consider that the most precious part of a (carbon, I guess) boom are its arms. Composites cure with age, while other parts (plastic head, clips, grip, ...) deteriorate with use. So if you are OK with your 'old' HPL's, consider that changing them would mean give away precious, well broken in and tested arms and get new unknown ones, only with 'new' parts attached. In my view your best choice would be that of 'refurbishing' your old carbon booms, fit them with Maui Sails front ends, put new clips and cleats, have them re-gripped, and be happy at a fraction of the cost of new booms.
I've just switch to a severne enigma and its the lightest stiffest boom I've ever used.
The new head design makes it so easy to rig, no more struggling trying to slide the clamp under the luff tube.
Minimum pressure needs to be applied to the clamp for maximum grip.
The new heads can be fitted on older booms and are really cheap.
So just replace the head every couple of years and the boom should last for ever
CJW,
what can I say, yes, the Maui Sails FE is not hinged, right ... now that you make me notice that I have to say you are right, BUT I had to think at it! I am using such FE since 2006, never had any problem because of it not being hinged, plastic does not fatigue, AND I also own an RRD boom with hinged FE and I can say I do prefer the Maui Sails solution by far because it's simply easier and faster to use. Really not a point there.
As for the Maui Sails FE being bulky, well I like that, don't know how much lighter it could be but I would not look for lightness there.
Subsonic,
I just looked quickly at the vid and read that 'progressive vertical flex' claim. I admit I didn't get the point. The idea of having a 'concave shaped' plastic clamp with the right amount of flex makes perfect sense to me and I think others should/will copy the idea.
Your house probably is NOT supposed to provide an ideal balance between stiffness, sturdiness and lightness as a carbon boom is instead. I bet that the people that designed and built your house never thought about making it light actually. As I said, tensions will concentrate in the 'corner' area; so either the Severne boom arms are extra reinforced around there, making it heavier than necessary, or failure will easier happen there. I think it's most probably the first case.
I am not 'promoting' the Maui Sails boom, actually my last suggestion was to refurbish Orange Whip's old booms. And, my first one was to look at the X-Booms! I simply don't like silly design and I think if everybody was to "broadside/put down", but I'd rather say "question and discuss", "someone elses innovations", evolution would be much faster and good products easier to find and own. If I wrote some words about the 170 and the 190 Maui Sails carbon booms was because Orange Whip was asking for a 'light' boom, and I think neither Maui Sails boom is; the larger one is extra sturdy, but the smaller one is a good compromise and could be considered in his case.
In the end: now I understand the Severne's "concave/flexy" clamp is an interesting design and probably a solution that will become a standard one (thanks for the explanations!); I still consider the 'corner' in the race Enigma's arms as utterly stupid from an engineering point of view, althought it could be a good one - for some? - when considering ergonomics; the plastic FE is not the place where I would look in order to shave weight off a boom; and, to be totally honest, I have to say that since a short time I am involved with Maui Sails' distribution here in Italy, so you can weight my words more accurately. I also have to say that it's not that "I like the brand because I sell it", but rather the other way around, in my case at least (and I do not make a living out of that).
Good looking system , looks similar but even better than the Aeron system , good to see manufacturers trying to look at better ways to improve hardware.
Italians need strong booms cause they're always crashing into people. Worse than Germans.
Hi, I am from Spain but I regularly read your forum with great interest.
If you have the chance (and the $$$...), I recommend trying one of these:
x-booms.com/
I recently purchased a Formula boom and they are in a completely different league... I have owned X9, Aeron and HP, but these ones are really something different.
High-end custom carbon build, the tail end is just a wonder piece of crafmanship, and the feel of the cork grip is actually really nice.
No intended publicity, and they do not sponsor me either! I think that these booms are by far the best ones out there.
Select to expand quote
i am biased - as i was part of the development process (testing and promo video ) but even so i am highly confident in stating that this is the most refined boom head on the market.
Heil?, what is the weight of the 140-190 2013 Severne boom?
thanks!
Is the New Enigma Boom Head available? I thought of tuning my Aeron booms, because even the new Aeron head is too soft and slip on the enigma mast because of the enigma diameter.
That said, I've upgraded one Aeron boom with the Maui front already and it is now a great boom, but the work to build up the front is bothersome. I've rather go windsurfing.
I have a passionate hatred for my streamline head ... Wish it would die a slow painful death
I like my new Maui Sails carbon slalom wave 170-230. Full Carbon and feels so good. Head is well designed, but flexing the back half of the head over the mast inside the luff pocket is a touch annoying.
I've used and seen all of them. Severne enigma is best feeling in hand. End of story.
Does anybody know how much the new enigma boom head cost and if it is usable with the Aeron booms?
Plus the fact the numbers on the boom end represent the actual length of the boom. Genius......... Obvious but genius
Actually, re the Maui Sails booms, the clamp attachment is better than I thought actually.
1. Close the clamp, with rope out of the cleat
2 simply place the clamp against the mast and push
3. Open clamp thread rope and close.
Much easier to attach to the mast when the boom clamp is closed than when it is open! 
Select to expand quotedan berry said..
I've used and seen all of them. Severne enigma is best feeling in hand. End of story.
for you, best feeling for you, i find the enigmas too small, as i have man claws, but thats just me
im pretty sure that if it works for the pro sailer im sure you could make it work for you, as you are buying a production item not custom.
Have to say that quite a few experienced racers here are putting MauiSails F/E's on their booms from other makes.
There must be some good in those.
Select to expand quotegeoITA said..
Have to say that quite a few experienced racers here are putting MauiSails F/E's on their booms from other makes.
There must be some good in those.
I've had a Maui Sails head on my cheap no brand carbon boom for about 6-7 years now and it's still going strong.
The thing I like most is that the head is oversized so spreads the load on the mast and you don't need much pressure for a firm lock. For the same reason I like the heads on my Np booms. One hassle is that, due to the length of the head, none of the rdm shims will fit these booms, I have to cut the lip of one end.
Another feature I've noticed for both boom heads is thet the clamp is just the right angle to more easily insert around the mast through the sail sleeve. I've had other booms which were a pain in the A.
Had a chance to look at the new enigma booms at the Green Island Nats, they look as good as the Mauis.
Need to try one on the water though.
Select to expand quotedan berry said..
Just buy the whole boom. The best bit is the arm diameter in my opinion.
Did you go for the 29mm or 33mm? Do you notice the parallel grip position much, compared to other booms?
I'm to much of a tightarse to buy a nice carbon boom so I'm using a neil pryde X6. It's an okay boom but in conditions like today(gusty westerly land breeze) with an R4 9.6 that I Sometimes I find myself standing in no wind and then suddenly with a ton of pressure to deal with and trying to get hooked up and strapping without getting back slammed or catapulted. It's in these conditions that the flexing of the X6 is most inconvenient as the last thing I want is more gut in the sail when I'm already fighting with it. I also use the same 200-250 X6 on my 7.8 and 7 metre and on these sails it's perfectly fine as the extensions are a lot further in and the boom stiffens up as a result. On my smaller sails I use an neil pryde X3 ally and it's perfectly fine for what I do with it, although a strong wave sailor would probably snap it pretty quickly it does the job fine for me.
So I guess what I'm saying is for bigger sails 8.0 metres and up I think a full carbon boom is worth it if you have the cash.
Re: boom ends, I prefer mechanical over rope. The rope adjustment on my booms ****s me to tears.
