OK Wouter, given what has been said that you could not build a stiff enough mast with a tip weight below 5KG (my sources suggest that it might be possible to go to around 4.5KG. Please can you explain why we should not remove this rule.

As far as I understand it the following reasons have been given so far for keeping the rule.

1, Carbon masts would be built too light and so would break. I believe John P and others have refuted this already. In order to build a stiff enough mast, a certain amount of cloth is required, thus a certain weight of mast is inevitible. And from a commercial point of view, it would be insane to build the masts too light and get the reputatation for having fragile masts which did not perform properly (when a stiff mast is required).

2, To allow Alu masts to compete directly with carbon. I would be very interested to hear what the tip weight of a (say) Blade Alu mast is.


Please could you also explain the serious consequences for removing the rule ?



I would really like to understand the reason we have a rule that limits the people who can sail the boat, and force mast makers to make masts heavyier then they need to be (or add correctors).

Afterall, if we have a boat with a lighter mast, more carbon can be added in other places and so make a stronger boat.



I am interested to understand why we have this rule.