Late to this conversation, but agree that personal attacks should not be part of the forum. As for "brand loyalty" I think these issues needed to be outed, as well as, how the manufacture responded.

I had a couple of early Armstrong A-Wings, 3.5 & 4.5, the bag on the 3.5 ripped, I contacted Armstrong, they took care of it right away, and then sent me a T-shirt, and straps for my trouble. The neutral handle ripped at the seams on the 4.5 twice. The first time it happened, the local Armstrong dealer was told to give me a new wing in exchange. That ripped again and it was repaired by the local sail maker at Armstrong's expense. The V2 A-wings now has a beefed up handle and stitching (Likely due to my and other early customers' feedback).

Because of Armstrong's quick and decisive customer service, they've since gotten thousands of dollars of business from me. That's how "brand loyalty" develops.

JonathanC said..
Personal attacks questioning other forum members intelligence..hmm. All credibility goes straight out the window at that point. I love the fact that SeaBreeze has become more international but hate the fact that the Aussie banter seems to have sometimes turned into something more aggressive and personal.

IMO as soon as that personal attack happens the post needs to be stopped and the individual behaving that way blocked. I am here for entertainment, sharing of information, camaraderie and meeting like minded people. Really don't need that ****. Hilly is Hilly, huge long term forum contributor, sometimes a little forthright . He won't back down but we do NOT need his or anyone else's intelligence questioned in a mocking patronizing fashion. Take your passive aggressive crap somewhere else.

I take it you don't own a SWX...

Man! I'm totally knackered after reading all this after my wing ding session today! Haaa!
On a more serious note, valid points by everyone on a public forum.
And thanks to proneorwingit for making us all aware of the stress location of the wing. Good to hear pronorwingit say that he wasn't degrading the manufacturer or its product. The fact is there was a fault that the manufacturer will now have to answer to before any of the public pay out their hard earned money to buy more of these products. I would hate to see thousands or more of these wings sold that would eventually give the buyers & manufacturer & sellers big headaches when it comes to a recall of this product.
In my view I would have to agree with what the windsurfing guys have said about reinforcing the stitching with tape or whatever.
Yes, I do not agree in shutting anyone down on their legitimate comments on the products they've bought.
And I certainly don't agree with any business being protected from continuously being able to sell inferior products that they would be well aware of.
I'm sure this product will continue to sell once sorted.
An impressive wing from what I've heard & seen on this site.

proneorwingit said..
Aloha guys, gonna make it brief lord knows all the retarded responses I'll get if I lay out all of the details. Long story short, I was warranteed on the defective wing. If you want to know the details pm me and I'll let you know what to look out for. With so many negative responses on this forum from guys who wouldn't even think of spending $1600 on a wing I don't even want to deal with it.

Was there supposed to be reinforcement in the seam that was left out? Or was the seam designed without reinforcement? QC issue or design issue?

I think this is helpful info for anybody considering this wing.

thanks

Gonna point out that there are a lot of these out there. Haven't seen a flood of reports so I'd say it's a one off. This thread and other forums would be lit up.