Looking into upgrading my rig, have been reviewing different brands for booms, masts and sails..... this isn't an easy process... the American and UK magazines are useful with weights, sizes and basic condition testing, however I wouldn't say they are terribly critical in their reviews, obviously all the brands advertise in their magazines, so you aren't going to say I don't like this brand over this brand.... and then there are SB user reviews which can be really useful, in fact more useful than some of the magazine reviews.... however you do see that some people just like a brand and every other brand is no good to them, or they broke one piece of gear and now that brand is mud to them, so a bit hard to take some opinions as gospel..... I've broken a mast, powerex (fell on it, lol) and can't blame powerex... I was fully planning and through some Stephen Hawkins explanation landed on it.... anything would have broken.... (been eating lots of pies)....

Is new kit really all that different from brand to brand? Is a North carbon boom any worse or better than a Chinook or Enigma? Or does brand loyalty override opinions? I think its fair to say windsurfers are very loyal to their brands, almost religious in same cases and move around only very occasionally.....

Sails are no doubt different in design, shape, and composition, but are they are really all that different? Some are even made in the same factory? So workmanship can't be all that different?

I'm mostly a bump and jump (trying to be) sailor, and would like some waves exposure, though nothing shipstern like, more 2-3 foot..... and possibly once a month on the waves at best..... want to move to RDM's, light strong boom and probably a 5m and 6m sail..... possibly a 5 and 5.5..... not sure... just want to enjoy my sailing more with gear that feels great, I have used some gear that is rigged with the right mast for the sail and a nice boom, and its quite a nice feeling....

I'm 85 kg, boards 85,92,105.... I like long walks along the beach and am a Sagittarian lol....

If you were in that situation, what would you go for and why?

Not trying to outsource my thinking, but appreciate if anyone has a good approach to how they would go about investigationing, or they have been down this road before themselves and what they ended up doing.

Thanks in advance!