Bendy masts rule?

Bendy masts like the Needlespar and Selden C Sleeved have not been in vogue for a while now, though I do sail against a couple of Solos at my club that use the Selden C Sleeved mast and they do rather well. But in the championships it always seems to be a shoot-out between the Superspars M2 and the Selden D+, with Superspars having the edge recently.

But at the 2024 Nationals my digging around suggests that the winner - Pim van Vugt from the Netherlands - was using a bendy mast. The Solo Register says his boat had a Selden Zeta, which I think was a development of the C Sleeved. It is certainly lighter, bendier and has a more round section than the D+ (see my masts spreadsheet here).

In my last post I was musing about trying a more bendy mast - so maybe I am finally on trend 🤔. Though I am sure someone is about to point out that this year's Nationals was really windy and so a bit of an outlier. We'll see ⛵