Carbon mast MUCH stiffer than the Al ones, but his mainsail is still cut for the bend of the Al mast ie to much luff round, (no time to have a new sail cut for the carbon mast) so it was expected that he would suffer a bit particularly to windward. the "snuffer" extends onto the tramp to accomodate primarily a spinnaker that has only two retrieval points (instead of the usual three)