Gouge in Mast Ball

The mast step ball was a perfect sphere this spring. When I lowered it this last Monday it felt funny going down. A bit extra stiff, you might say. I tried going back to vertical and trying again but it still felt odd. It had to come down as Tropical Storm Tedi was on it's way so I kept going. Once off, I discovered a large gouge in the mast ball. Big enough that i will have to replace it. Pin was in during the process. Pretty sure I've always left it in.

Two Questions.

1. I assume the mast base wasn't sitting properly on the ball as I lowered it. Could something else have gone wrong though? I'd like to avoid this in the future.

2, Anyone know of a Canadian dealer for this part? I've found it on Murray's online but I've done a lot of searching and can't find a Canadian vendor. It should be cheap enough to avoid duty under the new limits so I don't mind ordering from Murrays. I just like supporting closer to home, if I can.

Thanks all.

These are Ontario dealers that mail parts (I ordered stuff from both in the past):
https://sailboatsales.com/
https://foghmarine.com/
This one returned after I put some PEI postal code into Hobie Find Dealer(https://www.hobie.com/dealers/) page(had no experience with them):
https://www.sextantmarine.com/

Thank you kindly for the links. I'll check them out.

I have had excellent service from both Fogh and Sextant.
Take your pick.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

Sorry to hear. We did the same thing to our brand new wave this year. I found that if I did not have the mast completely perpendicular to the boat AND the track completely facing down, there was resistance and that gouged our brand new ball and subsequently bent our brand new mast pin. The mast pin was bent back and the gouged mast ball is still doing okay - mast fits tightly on the ball.