...but I believe all the new boats come with 9" of an aluminum track extrusion at the top. Our older boats don't have that, we even have two masts without comp tips.
John
That alu bit is more for the boats that use the Aussie style halyard hook. It banged around and chipped away at the plastic track. The stock hook with the loose shackle didn't do that as much. The 16 luff track is currently all plastic.
As John C, said reefing mellows out the boat quite a bit and is good for teaching/ learning.
Hope that helps.
