Wouter and Sjon,

Thanks for the great input.

It's amazing how much better a well rigged boat feels and sails than one that's not set up as carefully. Although I like rigging and have completely re-rigged boats in the past, I'd rather spend my time sailing. There's a lot of value added to having a boat well rigged from day one by the manufacturer so things won't have to be substantially changed by every user. Although it's true that some things are a matter of personal taste, its also true that some things work reasonably well for most people and others work poorly for nearly everyone so I'd hope that these excellent boats are set up more in line with the former. Having well designed line handling systems that are accessible from the right part of the boat, that keep excess line out of the way (ie, via bungee return), that are fast to rig and takedown, and that don't get tangled and/or fall overboard let you enjoy the boat more and keep your head out of the boat. Especially when singlehanding I can imagine that the spi hoist/douse system is cruicial. Why make eveyone reinvent the wheel? I think what I'd really like to see is a few different rigging options for critical systems (based on the collective experience of what works well) at the time of a new boat purchase - although some implementations would be more expensive I'm sure that many people would opt for them if that's what they really wanted since it would still be less expensive in the long term compared to paying for things to be rigged one way and then paying again (in time and materials) to redo it. And that's not counting the time and money spent on experimentation...

Jerry