Craig,
no direct ownership experience with the Triple Clamp FW boom. I've
been racing large gear since 99, so I've seen my share of boom
trouble; aluminum usually doesn't do the job for the big stuff. For
the Formula Experience class, they mandate aluminum as a cost savings
measure, and most of the racers I've talked grumble about that, as
their math works out to having to replace a boom that's half as
expensive as a decent carbon boom at least every two seasons
(meanwhile, at 210# and lots of use, I have an HPL carbon boom that's
been going strong for well over six seasons...).
Some general observations:
- Aluminum tends to gradually fatigue over time; carbon tends to go
strong for much longer but then if it fails, it fails in a somewhat
binary fashion (meaning something snaps all the way as opposed to
getting noodly first).
- Carbon booms and masts, if well treated (i.e., avoiding impact) can
last a really long time (there are exceptions, especially with race
masts where some manufacturers had issues with masts that were simply
under-spec'd given the amount of load and luff curve in their sails).
- Carbon booms tend to have a weak spot at the front end tube to boom
arm connection; if things break, that's usually the spot. This was
especially pronounced in the early Fiberspar booms (they've beefed up
since then; see Dan's comments on that, and do a google groups search
to find a lot of discussion on reinforcement techniques that can, with
the help of a bit of carbon wrapping, make even the original 99/00/01
Fiberspar front ends reasonably bomber)
Some slightly more specific observations:
- Almost all carbon booms on the market use a carbon front end (think
a u-shaped piece of carbon tubing) that's glued into the boom arms.
Then there's a front end attachment piece that's bolted onto that
front end tube and serves to attach the boom to the mast.
- Chinook went a different route - their boom arms attach to a molded
plastic front tube/triple clamp assembly. I don't know why they did,
but I believe that's why their booms, in formula sizes, are less stiff
than their competition (based on my subjective experience sailing one
and comparing it to my HPL and an older, pre-John Chao Gulftech I had
at the time). One could surmise that the flex from the front end
produces stress and point loads on the arms; one might also surmise
that it would reduce risk of failure at the joint (as the front end
might take the load in more forgiving ways). How the overall trade-off
works out can only be figured out by (a) getting a materials engineer
to do an analysis including destructive testing or (b) doing some
analysis on warranty claims. So on my part, that's all idle
speculation.
- I've been using HPL booms (both the older, slightly lighter design,
as well as the newer, slightly heavier/beefier one) with great success
and longevity. Haven't broken one of those yet (and I sail hard, and a
lot, and almost always overpowered). Your mileage may vary, but that
of my buddies who use the same booms doesn't seem to (they all have
about the same track record). So if you look at what an HPL will cost
you (http://www.sailworks.com/web/category.cfm?category=3),
and you
amortize that out over 7 or 8 seasons, it starts to look like one of
the more favorable investments in this sport once you've gotten over
the initial sticker shock. BTW, don't expect to find too many good
used booms around - because these things are pretty durable, most
racers keep theirs for a very long time and don't cycle through them
for periodic replacement the way they do with sails, boards, and even
masts.
- If you're hellbent on getting an aluminum boom, check with Bruce
Peterson at Sailworks; he's done a fair amount of testing on the big
Retros with alu booms (all as part of kitting out the US Juniors for
Formula Experience). I seem to remember that there was one of those
booms that stood out above the rest, but can't recall which one; he'll
probably tell you to go carbon, though, with pretty much the same
rationale I gave above.
Glad that you've been able to extract yourself from all of those
incidents without getting hypothermic. I had a boom break on me well
over a mile offshore when slalom sailing in January a couple years
ago, and while the temps were a bit more reasonable than what you
faced, it certainly was giving me pause.
Cheers,
-Andreas
http://g-42.blogspot.com
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