Hi All,
I can´t read it all because the google translation has some weird outcomes.
I will try to explain my version of the story.
There were some misunderstandings with Louis. Louis had a relatively small damage to the nose of his board which he thinks should not have happened. There was a lot of email conversation which I could all just publish here but I´ll try to make it short. Louis was threatening to make a bad image for Witchcraft on the forums. I told him he can if he speaks the truth and the whole story. Off course it would have been easy to say, OK, we repair it for free if you don´t put it on the forums. But that is not me. I know Louis has been making promotion for Witchcraft. He did that out of his own free will, like many of our customers do, like pretty much any one does over any product if he is happy with it. And any one can speak bad about any product as well, as long as he speaks the truth, backed up with facts and does not leave stuff out. That is what forums are for and a big improvement over pre-internet times as we don´t have enough marketing budget to pay magazines. And it is you, the end user that is paying for ALL marketing. I hope anyone does the same over any brand and treat them the same way when they have a fairly small damage to the nose.
Louis was thinking that damages caused by impact were also covered by garantee. Which off course is not the case. Because it simply can´t be avoided at all times.
In the garantee it says:
Witchcraft boards are of the Highest standard in construction in the industry, However as windsurfing is an extreme sport Which Involves Risks to Sailor and equipment as Mentioned above under part 1 it is not feasible to AVOID at all times alldamages even if we do try to Avoid the Most Common damages as much as reasonably is possible, Including Those That are not covered by Normally guarantee Any Such as damages from impacts.Louis was mislead by the word "normally". I was meaning to say that no brands cover damages by impact and in some cases make areas like the nose extra weak so they don´t last as long. Believe me we´ve seen enough boards like this. Who else has even thought about claiming a damaged nose from a catapult with any brand? Louis says the catapult was when non planing. But if the sail gets wind, it can still hit with great speed. Just try it on the beach. A complete rig weighs 8kgs and has more swing weight, speed and leverage than a hammer. Louis says it was just a light hit. I believe him that he believes that. But I am sure that what ever he was doing at that moment, for sure he was not measuring the force of the impact. So he does not really know. Like many people we get in with repairs with any brand, say. And I believe them, they have no reason to lie but they simply were very busy with something else at the moment they crashed.
The comparison with a car is very relevant, a car bumper is there to try to prevent damage, just like Dyneema. But no one even thinks about claiming damage to a car bumper if he´s hit a tree.
The occurrence of superficial cracks in the deck is something else. They can be from impact/heavy compression so if there is one crack, this can be the case, if they appear more often, it can also be that the laminate was too dry, in which case it is garantee. I´ve had one myself and I´ve kept on sailing with it for over a year till there was time to repair it. Which is very easy because they are just in the finish layer.
I have had a german guy with a 3 year old board who had such a superficial crack in the deck and wanted garantee. So I started hitting the board every where as hard as I could. He went: NO NO NO NO STOP!! but there was not a mark on the board. So then he knew how hard the board must have been hit to get this damage. And he could keep on sailing, it was still rock hard. If they would have appeared he would have gotten garantee because it should not happen. Which is why I said to Louis to hit the board with a hammer to see what would happen. I admit the use of the word "normally" was unfortunate and could cause some people to think that we do give garantee, even if it does not explicitely say so. If it was technically possible to avoid damage by impact at all times, and as a result could give garantee, we surely would make a much bigger point of this. Any way, the text was improved some time ago after the discussion with Louis.
This is a similar case, I think Louis´ board was not as bad. I assure that with a hammer you would not be able to do such damage in one hit. And many other boards would have been split open or even the complete nose missing. I am sure most of you will have seen such damages.
In such a case it does need some care before keeping on sailing. It needs drying because with such heavy blow, the Dyneema may have delaminated and water may get through the fibres. The Dyneema will have protected the sandwich, which is also watertight in most places (we do need to make a few cuts to bend it around the nose) so mostly water will not be able to get into the EPS, just between Dyneema and sandwich, usually no more than 1 cc. To quickly laminate and seal the Dyneema once it is dry, it is enough to apply some superglue. Later on when there is some time, it is advicable to do a proper repair, heating up the dent to get it back out (the sandwich we use has memory and come back to it´s old shape over 80°C), inject some resin underneath the Dyneema and replace the broken glass. But there have been cases where people have been sailing on for over a year. This is all explained in our manual as well or contact me if you are in doubt. Why don´t we supply superglue with the boards? Well do you get sandwich, glass fibre and resin with other brands?
In another example, last year a guy from Galicia had 2 cracked heels on both his boards from a too dry laminate. Both were easily repairable because it was only the outside carbon that has cracked, the inside was still fully hard and there was no water intake. We replaced both boards as heels are always covered by garantee. This july, in Punta Blanca, he landed a back loop with the nose in the reef. The damage was small, a dent, a small superficial crack. Some superglue and done. Because the damage was only small he tried again, hitting exactly the same spot, causing bigger damage this time. Still the repair was fairly easy because the Dyneema had prevented bigger damage and water intake. Off course this was not garantee.
So what does our garantee cover? Anything that happens when wavesailing, with both feet in the straps (when jumping) and without impact from anything else than water. Deck or bottom soft? Garantee. Crack in the bottom or deck from flat landing? Garantee. Delamination? Garantee. Delamination from overheating? No garantee. Mastbox area soft? Garantee. Finbox broken sideways? Garantee. Finbox broken backwards (obviously from hitting the bottom)? No garantee. Gybing area soft? Garantee. Etc. Just use common sense.
If anyone has any more questions, please ask.
ce que je vais faire demain !
) à moyen terme l'achat d'une WC HDD 77... ça fait réfléchir 