I sailed a borrowed FX 1 quite a few times. Youre right though, that mast is a beast. It's the same extrusion as the Hobie Tiger but shortened. I'd look for a good F18 (wing) mast and cut it down. Or an F16. You're going to be racing Portsmouth anyway, so who cares about Hobie Class rules. That boat was a rocket up wind solo in 20 plus knots with my 250 lbs on it. Stuffing the bows wasn't that hard to recover from either. I actually was entertaining the thought of finding a Fox (FX1's big brother) to replace my N20 with. I loved the way the FX drove and handled. Got the way better set up now though with the F20C.