Booms in the test - 2011
Testing booms until your fingers crack - this surf test was real "manual labour". However, it wasn't the practical days on Lake Garda and the North and Baltic Seas that ruined the trained tester's hands, but the laboratory test for the stiffness measurement. 2400 kilos were weighed up and down again. Holding 20-kilo discs with one hand in a pincer grip leaves a feeling in the finger joints like after three days of rock climbing in an overhang. Afterwards, we were able to directly compare the previously collected practical impressions with laboratory measurements for the first time. Three things were astonishing: that even laboratory differences of just five per cent could actually be felt by the testers beforehand. That the boom has an incredibly large influence on the overall feel of the sail, and also that not only the spar stiffness, but also the position of the boom on the mast and the stiffness in the back end have a strong influence on the subjective feeling when surfing. We split the practical test into two: One team tested different fork types in freestyle and in the waves, while the other team pumped and heated the long parts on Lake Garda.
The test results for these 31 booms are available below as a PDF download:
Aeron MCT 29
Aeron OS Slalom
Aeron V-Grip
AL 360 Ergal Mono
AL 360 E3 Slalom Carbon
Ascan Boom
Gaastra Blue Tapered Carbon
Gaastra Green Line
Gaastra Red Line
Gun Sails Cross
Guns Sails Expert
Gun Sails Select
Nautix X-Fly
Neilpryde X3
Neilpryde X6
Neilpryce X9
North Sails Gold RS
North Sails Platinum
North Sails Silver HD
Prolimit Assault V-Grip
Prolimit Black Predator
Prolimit Hybrid
Prolimit Pro
Prolimit ROG Team C100
Severne Alu Race
Severne Blue Line
Severne Enigma
Unifibre Alu Universal
Unifibre aluminium ROG monocoque
Vandal Freeride
Waterman Cyber Pro
Suitable RDM adapters for clicking in are available from several manufacturers.
It won't change your life, but fasteners that are easy to use with one hand (try them out in the shop) are simply quicker and more comfortable to adjust - on land and in the water.
