Well... if someone steps their mast by an overhead wire, a CompTip may not save them. The body of the main halyard pully is AL. The majority of the halyard is stainless steel along with the rigging. Halyard hits electrical source. Makes contact with the mast or other conductive peice of the boat and wah-laa. Common sense, not CompTips, save lives.

I think the CompTip is more of a saftey hazard. I have seen 7-10 Hobie masts fill up with water and turtle because of a poorly installed tip. If Hobie thought a little harder, they would have made a covering for the mast and replaced the halyard with an insulated one. There are non-conductive, commerical, spray-on coatings that work very well and are frequently used in crane power systems. One gallon will run Joe Nobody about $55 and will cover atleast 15 mast tips. How much does it cost to make a cast fiberglass tip?

Some of the things boat builders come up with and boat owners end up doing are just idiotic. I could go on (non-conductive hiking sticks, H16 design, rudder systems, mast rotators, etc...)