Kurt

Caron poles are legal for F16, and should weigh about 2/3 that of a similr strength aluminium one.

Usually we just attach an eyestrap to each side of the pole for both the forward and mid pole bridle wires, for carbon you will need to bolt these on. Tape every fitting on the mast, diamonds, pole shrouds etc. that the spinnaker could possibly snag on, also make sure your battens are as short as you can get away with otherwise the halyard will get cought round the back of them.It also helps to route the halyard thru the spreaders to stop it flapping about so much.

You will need three patches and use the slippyest material you can get, and even then spray silican on the sail and the shute every time you go sailing.

Keep the pole as low as you can so that you can get the maximium luff length, unless you've already got the sail then you will need to measure from the mast down to where the pole needs to end up, distance from where the head of the sail reaches the mast to the end of the pole needs to be about 96% of the spinnaker luff length. Use about 4 inches of prebend in the pole.