Miracle Chinook boom!

On March 10th I broke my mast whilst surfing between the islands of Texel and Vlieland. In the water I tried to de-rig and bundle all the rig components on my board and to paddle to the sandbars between the islands. But the very  strong current was pulling the sail under water and me out the channel into the open sea. The water was still very cold, so I was also losing precious warmth trying to de-rig in the water.  So I decided to just let go of the whole rig alltogether and to paddle to the sandbars on only my board. After about 1,5 hours luckily I was spotted and the coastguard rescued me from the sandbar and took me to Texel. Puh! Boy, was I glad to be back. It did cost me a new sail, the new mast (broken), extension and  a new Chinook Pro 1 carbon boom, but it was a wise and best call to just let the whole rig go.

On May 12th Joost and I were surfing the same waters (2 months later)...and I spotted something sticking out of a shallow patch of water near the sandbars between Texel and Vlieland. Could it be? Yep: it was my Chinook Pro 1 boom! The back was attached to the outhaul of the sail and the sail was totally emerged under the sand under water holding the boom down in a vertical position with the boomhead just above the water. I had to dive a couple of times to unscrew the outhaul pulley to free the boom from the sail. With the boom around my neck I surfed back to Texel.

Chinook Pro 1 carbon boom after 2 months in seawater 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

I cleaned it and on May 21st I gave the boom a go again! The boom had been in the water for 2 months, continiously held down at the backend by the sail in the sand and pounded by currents and waves....! And it's still fine. How about that?