hmm.. it depends on your attitude and sailing style I guess. If you're the kind of sailor who likes to try stuff then I would say you're going to go through a bit of stuff honing your skills. I once broke a mast halfway between the uni and the boom. Put my knee clean through it. It's worth breaking a bit of gear to pull off cool stuff and have a blast. Just use old gear if you know you are going to do stuff like that.

Yea I didn't break anything for two years and then broke a carbon boom, an ally boom, 2011 skate, 2012 skate and my mast is looking like its cracking at the join,

Personally I think fanatics/north poor quality due to not enough resin in they're prepreg

I find it comes in Waves. You go for ages and ages without breaking anything then all of a sudden it all goes to s..t. I am having one of those patches at the moment.

Its normal Mate !

I just finished my 4 year windsurfing apprenticeship !! Broke 3 booms about 5 sails snapped 1 board Hit a sandbar with another and cracked it and broke harness line nearly ripping finbox out !. ! Its all apart of learning. I take it a bit easier now Think bundy is one quick speed sailor rigs off the rictorscale and jnsfok can be seen doing forwards loops and going out in 45 knotts in winterstorms !Think when your at that level gear breakage would be common!

Have gone to wave gear instead of free-ride race gear cause its as hard as nails and break less! I ride mainly jump and bump in Safety bay area. People must look at us weird haha, Not the quickest stuff on the water but heavy and hard wearing.
It seem to jibe easier on it cause you can turn sharper without the back of the sail hitting the water,.
I usually purchase reasonable second hand gear but i think that im at the level where i could purchase a new sails and keep them in good condition. You don't mind ripping a cheapish secondhand sail learning to jibe.

kpb said...

Ok my first 10 months of windsurfing 1 snapped mast and 1 trashed sail ( from getting catipulted)just wondering if its normal to keep breaking stuff or does it get less the better you get

Sounds normal, except you're missing smashed nose on the board, so you've got that to look forward to. It definitely keeps getting better. If you then get into waves/freestyle/etc, you'll go through a similar cycle again.

Depends how heavy you are and how close you sail to your limits.

I've broken more stuff blasting than I have wave sailing, mind you 1/2 mast is about my limit these days.

evlPanda said...
Missed a great day of sailing today. One broken heart.

Mate it was blowing here. I popped 2 batten tensioners and broke a boom near the goose neck. I Bodgied up the boom this evening, just gotta fix those pesky battens tomorrow morning and it's on again tomorrow.

take heart, chances of wind tomorrow extremely good indeed.

Breaking gear used to be my main concern, not any more after a catapult at Shearwater on the GC in 35 knts.

I could have bought some nice gear for the cost of fixing my broken hand in Oct and just got back on the water last week

Qlandr said...
Breaking gear used to be my main concern, not any more after a catapult at Shearwater on the GC in 35 knts.

I could have bought some nice gear for the cost of fixing my broken hand in Oct and just got back on the water last week

Yep the worst kind of gear to break, body parts!

This season, Broke my pinkie and damaged a knee, yet again!

perhaps we should discuss what we have not broken or lost?
i have NOT broken a mast extension nor boom - the rest - bin there, dunn that

for body parts - have seen broken hand up close due to boom hit @ catapult
saw video where catapult broke wrist - believe it was here & gross
i have been lucky in the body part department on water, butt
broke my shoulder windsurfing on ice - causing 3 missed windsurf sessions
oh yeah - DID break a boom on ice too
so - the only thing safe in my quiver so far is the mast extension !!!

we can consider ourselves lucky - windsurfers DO die on the water
take chances , heart attacks , etc
BE SAFE - wear a helmet