I installed an Air Breeze (supposedly the quieter offspring of the earlier Air-X) wind gen on my boat last year, after reading good things about it and getting a good price on one (significantly less $ than other wind gens out there). The Air Breeze is apparently a bit quieter than the Air-X, and has white blades as compared to the dark (black?) blades of the Air-X.

We were happy with it's performance last year on a cruise to Alaska, as our electrical power needs were minimal. Then, a few months ago, I came across an article by accomplished Australian sailor/adventurer Don McIntyre, one of the major supporters of Jessica Watson's solo RTW voyage, and an extremely accomplished sailor himself (BOC round the world racer, long distance cruiser, has been to Antarctica a few times, has managed major yacht refits, including Watson's S&S 34 PINK LADY, for which he recommended that she install an Air Breeze ("The Making of Pink Lady": http://www.tradeaboat.com.au/news-and-reviews/article/articleid/58540.aspx. Reading this reinforced my memory of deciding to buy the Breeze last year...another wise boat gear purchase, I thought to myself smugly! LOL!

The other day, though, I noticed that the edges of the blades are very easily bendable and deformable, as if the plastic has been chemically or UV degraded. The thing is, they're only a year old, and we were cruising up north --sure the hours of daylight were long, but it's not intense sun up there as in the tropics. What's up with this? Anyone else have an Air Breeze and have this problem with the blades? We used to have an old (25 year old!) Ampair, and its blades, though ancient, were in perfect condition when I gave up the unit, since the mechanism no longer worked. I'm puzzled why the edges of the Breeze blades could be so soft and easy to bend/deform.