Carbon Topmast for the Radial

Undoubtedly a carbon topmast would be better than the existing alloy mast, but I would be against the introduction of this on the Laser Radial for the following reasons:

1. More than any other class, the Laser promotes itself as a strict one-design. It is therefore never going to be at the forefront of technology. Anyone who buys a Laser must surely accept this fact. Tens of thousands of people would need to splash out to update their kit and remain competitive, which wouldn't be popular.

2. Carbon masts are easy to sand down and/or build up to change the bend charecteristics. There would be a great temptation on the Olympic hopefuls to do this, to optimise the mast for their own body weight/prevailiong wind conditions etc. Obviously this goes completely against the OD ethos, but would be difficult to police as the masts are hidden under the luff sleave.

3. Just because the IOC have selected the wrong boat for the Olympics, this is not the fault of the average club sailor. Why change the boat to suit the Olympians, who make up a tiny fraction of Radial users.

4. If you want a Laser type boat with a carbon mast, get a Byte!

Having said that, I have been toying with the idea of sticking a windsurfer rig on my Laser!