Praying the wind gods to bring 13kn in the middle of August, is like asking my son to shower everyday before going to bed - it just doesn't happen! So while I'm waiting for the impossible, I decided to fix the occasional dings that I inflicted on my 3-month old board. ...Electrical tape over the cracks is just no long term fix.
I bought a tub of Solarez epoxy, sanded and cleaned the affected areas, masked and poured some, then a little time under the sun to cure. Sanded dry with 120, then wet with 400, 800 and some polishing compound and off it goes. 2 beers and a couple of hours of work later, the foam block is waterproof again!
...hope the gods will appreciate!






Above: EU mast base making its mark on the pristine deck. Bummer


Above: crack? Looks pretty bad but it is superficial. Tried a little acrylic paint but a darker shade and it looks deeper than it actually is...

Battle scars
It's amazing how careful are some guys with the equipment, barely a scratch after years of use . Me on the other hand-terrible. This year especially exceeded even my highest achievements and we still have half of the season ahead. The damage toll so far: punctured sail; brocken mast; 3!!! cracks in the board /cracks! not scratches/ and a badly asphalt-bruised boom -thats more then anything I've trashed in previous years combined!

impressive achievements! You should get a contract with a manufacturer to test their products for durability and resilience.

On my side, I went sailing this afternoon and tried my new 8.5 Ezzy Lion3 in 14kn for about an hour. The sail is really awesome to rig. On the water it is super-smooth - maybe too much? A tad slower than the 8.5 Gaastra Savage to get the board planning, but the Ezzy offers a nicer and more progressive power ramp-up. This gives plenty of time to adjust stance without having to "wrestle" with the rig before getting in the straps. In offering more control than the Gaastra, I think the Ezzy is a more effective engine for sailors with skills like mine. The best part is that the Ezzy pushes the board through the lulls totally effortlessly and also absorbs gusts in such a smooth and dependable way. *****

Awesome! You wrestled the Savage just because it was too big for you and now that you have the equivalent of an 8.0 no-cam I would run back to Isthmus if I were you and replace the others for a 7.0 and 6.0 Cheetahs because there will be too much overlapping. Or better yet 7.0 Cheeatah and 6.3 Tiger so you'll have a sail for your future next board down as well...but what do I know.

Ha! You might be right but I can't do that. I've been a demanding customer and the guys at Isthmus will start throwing stones at me! Actually, if Ezzy's came in a 9.0, I would have gone there: 9.0 - 7.5 - 6.5. But it doesn't.
Also, the 8.6 Gaastra Savage wasn't too big for me, it was just very reactive, powerful with fast acceleration. I had to be on my toes and had to react more rapidly than with the Ezzy which is as powerful but more forgiving, smoother to sail. I try to maximize my opportunities to sail in 13 kn days and the 8.5 is the minimum that will let me do that without getting on and off planning repetitively. I started getting overpower with the Gaastra 8.6 at around 16kn and started being overpowered with the 7.5 at 19kn. I'll see during fall if the Ezzy's are giving me similar range or not...
Anyhow, I appreciate your advice but I need to live with my choice for a little while to really see whether a tighter size gap works for me or not. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it, so I'm sure I'll learn something out of that experience.

Got it. One question keeps popping up in my mind-how come they didnt provide you with the right masts for the Gaastras? Not something I would expect from Isthmus.

Ha! Good question. Not sure. I think they are trying to sort things out with their mast supplier out in Europe. At one point, they also tried to get me Gaastra 75% masts directly from Gaastra but one of the sizes was out of stock with availability later in the year. So this prompted the swap. They certainly tried everything they could to help. This situation caught everyone by surprise I think.