Hi

I passed the catapult phase but still happens sometimes before getting into foot straps if the sea is very choppy and wind is gusty. I had cracked the paint of both of my boards from relatively slow hits. I use SunFix to cover them to avoid water getting in, it gets the job done and very easy to apply. But this reduces the resale price and doesn't look good with scars. It makes me feel so bad to crack a new board.

I'm thinking to get some protection done, can't decide between three options:
- First is Ions board protector which wraps the mast. This looks ok, but i heard it doesn't protect well and increase the drag, reduce performance quite a lot.
- Second is mast base apparatus from Surfbent.de. This looks like it will make waterstarts problematic because it will tilt the board sideways. I need to get a new deckplate (i heard it doesn't fit with severne). Looks like it would apply too much upward pressure on mastbase, may damage the mastbase if i have a strong catapult. No more foot protection and it looks huge, less place to place my foot when not planing.
- I can cut some thick plates matt and stick them with silicone. This looks really bad and i won't be able to see if there is any crack.

I am leaning towards the first option. Can you share your experience about these options, and give me suggestions please.

Sorry to open a new topic but most of them are old and one is on foiling page.

Cheers