Fibrespar were one of the first companies to build carbon booms, releasing their first in 1988 and have a reputation for quality, and prices to match.

The clamp is absolutely beautiful, well engineered from high quality plastic. It features a split wraparound system, that grips the mast equally all the way around. It requires a collar on skinny masts, but you don’t need to cut it down, and the fit on both mast types is suberb, even when not done up that tight. The tube is continuous, with the clamp fixed to it and allows articulation. A couple of very minor niggles; the hole for attaching the uphaul is absurdly difficult to use, and some people with small hands found it hard to open the clamp (there’s a technique that you need to learn).

The carbon boom arms are a very nice, narrow diameter and with a long lasting grip that’s soft on the hands. The adjustment is via a twist lock system with a couple of advantages over the more standard pin locks of other booms. Because it involves screwing down the collar, it doesn’t allow any movement between the boom arms and the tail piece, and there’s no holes drilled in the carbon, so no points of weakness. However, it’s not particularly easy to operate, especially when the boom is already on a sail, and the collar is fragile, so be careful when taking the boom apart to change harness lines. Fiberspar recommend leaving the twist locks over the locking rings as much as possible to prevent the teeth from being stressed outwards and possibly breaking. Fortunately it is very easy to change any of the components should they wear out or break.

PROS: Suberbly engineered, outstanding boom to mast connection and incredibly stiff, even at maximum extension.
CONS: Fiddly and fragile adjustment system.

OVERALL

If you’ve got the money, and can live with the adjustment system, we feel this is the best boom out there right now.

Price: £459

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