Bill: I dont know about the quality control on the Marstrøm masts, but generally Marstrøm has _very_ good quality control. As I know Gøran, he has done his best to get mast extrusions with identical physical properties. Gøran seems to be doing quite good business supplying alu. masts. 500K EUR is real money spent on masts since the new rig.

Regarding sanding the proposed carbon mast: There are a whole new regime of measurements to be taken with regards to stiffness. These rules are designed to weed out masts with differen properties than the one design mast.

As Mr. Granfield wrote, the RYA has developed a propetiary alu mast that measures in under the current rule. This mast is used by the very succesful british team. He wrote quite a lot about why he was not happy to spend money buying a new alu. mast.

Interresting times...