SINTRIX®: The Success Story

When I received the first prototype blanks rolled from SINTRIX® material in late 2009 I was shocked. I’ve held and flexed literally thousands of rod blanks over the years, and when I held the 9ft #10 saltwater rod, I was immediately taken aback at the lack of weight for a #10 – it just instantly felt ‘right’. Our early work on the material with our sister company Hardy Advanced Composites had indicated considerable increases in compressive strength and impact resistance where possible, but even our material engineers were not prepared for the results. Following the first day of testing, we even asked the manufacturer of our compressive strength tester to re-calibrate the machine as the results it had produced were, to quote one of our testers, “nonsense”. There was nothing wrong with the testing machine, the blanks netted out at close to 60% stronger than our calculations suggested they ought to be, and from that point on the entire team focused on the development of what became the Zenith and Proaxis series of rods and the refinement of what was to become SINTRIX® technology. I could tell you about the testing trips to the Florida Keys fishing for sharks with medium-weight Trout rods, or the actual fist fight that took place on the dockside between two guides over a test rod, but I think some of these quotes from icons and pioneers in the sport tell the impact that SINTRIX® actually made far better than I could.

Howard Croston, Hardy Product Manager and England International.