I have raced 4.9s sloop a bit in the past and also competed as crew on a Sloop Taipan with kite at the first AUS F16 event about 6 years ago at Kurnell.

I have thrown the question about front beams to the Taipan guys on the AUS catsailor forum and yahoo group hoping to here from the guys who have experienced the beam failures and find out what caused them.