OK, Kevin and Sail7Seas definitely know more about the engineering than I do.

Bill- Again you got it right and again you didn't even know it!

Different weight crews want different flex characteristics -- but that is no different from today. The difference is that today they have to spend a lot of money buying masts and get lucky to find a particularly stiff or soft one.

Wouldn't it be an improvement to just get a mast / sail combo that is right for your weight? Just think how many more teams could sail the boat that way. A softer rig allows lighter crews to compete. Look at the A-cat where I am told there is a very wide range of competitive crew weights.

My wife and I sail an 18HT. We are about 40-70# lighter than a lot of the teams. We have our main cut for us which helps, but we sail with the stock rig because that is all that is available. If we were really serious (or if we had had a choice when we got the boat) we would have a softer rig (but we are strictly weekend warriors now).

The ability to engineer the flex is not necessarily bad for the weekend warriors, and it could in fact broaden the appeal of the class. And like a carbon epoxy boat, it is probably cheaper in the long run.

But you need to understand that flex characteristics of the individual spar matter to elite sailors whether aluminum cr_p-shoot or carbon repeatability. They need the right mast for their weight, and sailing style. It may not matter to you and me Bill, but it does to the top guys.