I thought that I'm not a big fan of the skinny type /guess you know what I mean /, but maybe I am after all! At least when it comes to windsurfing rig components. It have been the skinny masts first that I fell in love with right away and now the booms!
So yesterday I tried for the very first time my brand new 26mm boom-RRD MR T9 140-200 /aluminum/ and boy, what a difference compared to my old 29 mm one. The session itself was pathetic- the gusty wind, underpowered most of the time /my fault/ and water and air temps just above freezing. Usually after such struggle my hands would have been calloused with the old boom, but not this time and I don't think my arms got really fatigued either /in contras to my legs/.
So now I have this feeling of: it's just too good to be true. Is it all rainbows and unicorns with these skinny booms or am I up for some bad surprise?

my very personal experience with booms led me to the following conclusion:
aluminum booms - skinny feels stiffer and more connected to the sail, gets my fingers more of a rub than the palms of my hands.
carbon booms - skinny feels harsh, I think it is just as stiff as the regular sized carbon boom, but the area of contact with my palms is smaller, thus it feels like it is hitting it harder, when it comes to larger sail sizes I prefer regular sized carbon booms, for this big solid feel, besides I have big hands

$260 price tag makes the RRD very comparable to Chinook Pro-alloy Booms that I use.

hey ady, i have that exact boom, and I love it.

I've always only had 1 boom for my quiver ( 4.5-7m). My previous was a carbon boom (fiberspar) that lasted 10 years! That boom was fantastic, it was light, and bombproof, but it did develop a crack at the head about 2 years ago. New carbon booms were (are) ridiculously expensive ($900 for what I wanted), and so i decided on this aluminum boom (paid about $200 or so from isthmus). I like the stiffness of the boom, and it has a great rotating head. It is definately heavier than my carbon boom, but I don't feel it(the extra weight) at all on the water. Great value. I would rather own another sail or two with the price difference between carbon/aluminum booms.

BTW, my rrd boom end , always gets stuck from sand ( after releasing the pins, the boom is still stuck together and can't be adjusted). This happens on almost every sesh when on lake michigan.

I have found a very easy technique to release it when it gets stuck.

You need to 'twist' the boom end slightly ,and the boom will release.

I usually find a skinny pole somewhere by the rigging area (could be a fence), and then place the boom end over the 'pole' , then twist the boom GENTLY, and only slightly (like a half an inch or so), back and forth a a few times while pulling, and the boom always releases. You can wrap a towel/shirt around the pole to protect the boom while doing this. Only takes 5 seconds to release. Before I learned this technique, I was pulling on the boom like a madman (with boom end on the pole too), but without the twisting action, and it was tiring, and took forever. Just twist it!

BTW, my fiberspar carbon boom, never got a stuck boom end. So it was a new problem for me. But, it really isn't a problem now.

Alan, your boom is probably bent a little bit from your body crashing over it in the waves. My old one developed the same stickiness after I crashed a few times... and cracked my ribs in the process. A carbon boom won't bend, but it may break-which is the worst outcome.
Have you tried stepping with your stronger foot inside the arm bend , holding the boom up with your body being between the arms pretty much. Then pulling up both boom arms while pushing them together and pulling tem apart at the same time? Thats my remedy.