jsnfok said...Dom said...
Not only is the Severne an Australian brand, it's world leading in sail development. Great product!! Just moved over this year from NP.
super products, awesome stuff i love using severne but 3 brand new masts (sdm) broken in three session, i would like to see if you're still happy

i know its not severnes fault with the masts, due to the factory cutting costs(like maybe leaving out the resin

) , but it doenst instil confidence when you want to sail offshore.....
Just to set the record straight:
That was last season - there was a batch issue on the Enigmas - all were replaced under warranty , lots of free sail repairs were done ,lots of lower percentage Blue line masts were lent out to keep customers on the water and the masts were all replaced with the air freighted (cost a fortune) replacements (that actually met the original requested specs)
This has been discussed on the forum and at many beaches at length over the last 7 months or so
Still would have much preferred to have the correct spec masts in the first place - would have avoided so much inconvenience for Severne customers
If you go back through history you will find that Severne arent the only brand to have had a problem like this on high spec race masts - how many other brands did free sail repairs and lent out masts to riders while replacements were flown in ?
It was a bugger of a situation - i believe you will find the effort to correct the problem response is historically unmatched in Australia by any brand ever. The whole exercise cost a lot of money but was warranted. The focus was to - as much as possible - keep riders on the water - and sort out sail repairs.
If there have been new masts broken recently they are yet to come to the warranty department's attention.
The replacements are holding up well and breakage rate has gone back to the statistical "background" rate you would expect from masts used in racing situations(yes racers do break masts - check how many are pinged on the PWA - in fact 2 years ago many racers were carrying Severne masts as spares as they had a great rep for durability )
So i guess a good thing to come out of the whole schmozzle is that there is now a fantastic Enigma mast out there to be had.
Another was that quite a few riders didnt too much mind the difference going to a lower spec mast (the Blue line) -which have a great durability performance
Personally i would like to see more lower % masts (maybe 90) used as most average sailors cannot sustain the breakage "investment" that many PWA racers are willing to make to gain that extra 3 metres on a race course and perhaps the difference between 4th and 5th in a heat.