I am getting ready to make the sail for the same Taipan 4.9 project for the carbon mast. I have a Hydra with the old school high angle, heavy duty boom. It has the big batton at the very bottom of the sail and I love it. I seem to really do a great job of down wind trim with that sucker. Can someone who has sailed the older Tornadoes or similar and then gone to the no batton loose foot tell me the difference? Would I be crazy to put a batton at the bottom fo the new sail?