Hey all you marine engineers out there...

I've observed that the great majority (all?) of the spinnaker poles that I've seen on beach cats have circular cross-sections. I've also noticed that booms tend to have other shapes (oval, teardrop, rectangular), especially on really big boats.

Wouldn't a rectangular shape make a stronger spinnaker pole? If so, why isn't anyone using this, is it simply an equation of risk/reward (cost savings)?

Mike