Thanks, guys, for your feedback. Good points all.
I had forgotten about your carbon rig, Gary, sorry!
Wouter, you got at one of the issues I was hoping someone would address, which is that I suspected that carbon rigs may have a slightly more limited range even if they can be more precisely tuned for one specific set of conditions.
But I'm not sure if that necessarily has to be true. Even though I'm under the impression that carbon overall is stiffer than aluminum in general, I would think that the overall characteristics of the aluminum mast (range) could be duplicated in carbon, but maybe the cost would negate the benefit of the lighter weight. Specifically, I'm thinking in terms of wall architecture, not only fiber thickness/direction but also reinformcents/ribbing etc analagous to what was done on the aluminum extrusion.

It's interesting that in windsurfing, where virtually all the masts are carbon, the entry level models are 50% or 75% carbon whereas the premium masts are 100%. The best racing masts are 100% prepreg. The lower carbon content masts are good, but you can feel a difference in the higher end masts, both in weight (especially for really big sails) but also in "dynamic response", ie, twisting off of the tip in gusts or when pumping for example.

My last question is: if a one were to buy a carbon mast tuned for one's weight, when sailing it vs an aluminum mast, what would one feel as the key differences; especially, how would the two rigs compare a) as wind strength increased and one needed to depower, and b) in very gusty weather?

Jerry