I also had a F18 mast delivered with a crease in the middle of it. The shipping tube it came in was really heavy, and I wonder if it was picked up from the ends only by the shipper and the weight of the tube caused the crease in the middle of the mast?

Nacra did send a replacement extrusion and the dealer had to switch the hardware over, but in the end everything was eventually taken care of by Performance and the dealer.