Stewie said...

Whats with all the broken KA carbon booms lately, I just read on GPS Speedsurfing of Tony Whynhoven breaking another KA carbon boom. I also know of a couple of others recently that are quite new and hardly used and they have broken.

This is probably a better question to pose to KA, not a public forum.

Support the local bloke, don't bag him out. I'm sure he's aware of the problem with the booms and will sort it out with the manufacturer. But I doubt you will post about that and all people will remember is the dodgy batch.

Geez Stewie, having a pretty broad crack at KA mate, maybe give them a call as leech suggested instead of bagging in them in a public forum......many companies make booms, some are better than others, some are used more than others. I have broken three booms in my short windsufring career, none of the breakages were manufacturers fault! I simply flogged them!

Have Tony been breaking booms at 40kts? I do not think you can use Tony as a gauge for equipment reliability.

Some booms are stronger then others, but then again some booms are heavier then others. Like anything in our sport they need care, attention and maintenence to get most value.

Anywhere that wears needs to be maintained (the joint between your boom tube and clamp assembly, the extension mechanism, pulleys etc). Check all rivet holes (on an alloy boom) for expansion and movement. This is a fact of life, not poor quality control.

If a boom breaks in the middle it is either a quality issue, or the tubewall has been compromised. The boom will have probably been dropped onto something that damaged the tube. Because of the grip on the tube it may be impossible to see this damage until it is too late. Quality issues show up early in a products life, not suddenly "for no reason" after one year.

Check your gear regularly, especially if you use it in an extreme environment (waves, speed etc) nad you have the best chance of getting a long life out of it. Booms are not immune to wear or damage.

JB

i never forget a face or a name stewie. and i remeber your uninformed rants before on this forum

we can all read your posts on this forum by looking under your user name. you have posted a lot of negative crap on this forum about KA.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30626

here is your last attempt.

who do you represent? another manufacturuer? a shop? i would say that everything you write is dubious.

it doesn't take that long to click your username and see what you post mate.

the way you wirte is very subversive, you use lots of words with extremely negative conatations like the use of the words, small named, untested and extremely unreliable. how do you know that ka gear is not up to a good strong lasting standard, have you tested it in a laboritory or against all the other gear out there. where is your scientific fact! you've got nothin.

you also place inference that KA products are no good by making broad generalisations like,

the top battens break, or the luff is light, or they are built like protptypes etc. suggesting that they make inferior products.

how does KA possibly have anyhting thing to do with us aussies taking it up the back passage. they are an australian company with australian staff, testers and sales people. they are also an australian company exporting to other markets. if their gerar is made in australian factory overseas what has that got to do with it? so are all of the other manufacturers on the market.

for the record, i've sailed KA gear for over 6 years now. no i'm not sponsored and no i'm not part of the business. i have never broke anything accept for a pulley and i have used every sail they have made in that time. i also know guys that broke lots and lots of other brand wave booms and switched to ka without any breakages since.

i am sure people break gear. all gear breaks when you are pushing the limits. but from what i have seen of KA they are forward thinking and respond to the markets opinion without jepardising performance.

so again, who do you work for? it is clear you have aimed fire at KA on this forum and i would guess other forums too. what is your real motivation.

that was a quick change of tack

Ok, so you know how I feel about KA, but I'll leave it at that, I dont like upsetting people. I'm Stewie, I am a lover not a hater.

Well done Stewie. I must say that your creative editing has brought a smile to my dial this afternoon.

Now, just 30minutes before I can go home, pack up my gear and hit the water,

:-)

I feel sorry for those guys that got to sail today instead of spending the day at work and following this thread in all of it's incarnations...all they will see is the final mass edited version.

Poor souls.

edit: I reserve the right to not feel sorry for anyone that was on the water today.

In general KA have nailed the speed sailing sector so as a result many of the speed sailors use ka booms and ka sails. Agree?

As a result of the high speed crashes there is a higher risk of breaking them as well.

However in my experience we havent had too many broken booms come back...
In terms of carbon booms, check out the maui sails boom, I think its way better.,


Chad

Stewie , You would need to talk to Amac and ask him how many carbon booms have been broken . I am not aware that there has been an issue .
I am using a KA Carbon now and it seems really robust . I have broken 2 KA alloys though , but they get a tough time .
Regarding Tony's breaking booms. I,m not sure if you have seen him ,but he is a big boy and I mean big , and very fast . Him wiping out at 40 plus knots would break anything . I have seen alot of broken booms at Sandy Point , all brands but as the majority of Sandy Point regulars sail KA they are probably more represented when it comes to super high speed wipeouts.
But , give Amac a yell , he will give you a no BS straight answer as to whether there is any issue with the booms .