This has been also a key factor in the advance of composite rigging for the big superyacht. Their owners have demanded more performance and that means getting huge amounts of weight out of the rig, while maintaining and even improving the enormous strength needed to keep their towering rigs aloft. Composites have provided a large part of that answer.

But there are other advantages to composite rigging than performance. Reduced stress on the mast and its components; more strength than an equivalent diameter wire or rod rigging and no rusting problems, especially against wire rigging where rust can often be hidden.

The inherent dampening effects of synthetic fibres help to reduce shock loading, which further reduces the effective load on all rigging components including the deck and mast connections.

Until recently composite rigging has been the domain of the big superyacht or ocean racing machine, which have bigger budgets and the enthusiasm to try new technologies.

UK company Future Fibres has led the way in technology in this field and continues to develop the most advanced rigs for the big yacht market.

So with all these advantages, why is composite rigging still a rare sight on regular sailing boats around our coasts?

For the smaller yachts, composite rigging has been impractical due to difficulties in termination and its high cost, despite the benefits. The problem has been selfgenerating because the smaller market in yachts under 18m has meant few companies have developed options for them, so the only answer was to use special or custom made equipment, thereby keeping the price high and the market small.

The key to expansion in the market has been the provision of a retrofit option, learning to use what fittings are already available and making it easy to fit any yacht.

Global BSI is now working with the US company Applied Fibre as the exclusive European distributor for its Powerlite rigging product. Priced at a more affordable level it is available to most yachts by using spreader adaptors and retrofit terminations in both continuous and discontinuous fibre rigging.

Life expectancy In the past, life expectancy has been a strong consideration in paying the premium for composite rigging but the Global BSI Powerlite product is delivered with a four year "no quibble" warranty, which can even be extended to six years at a small additional cost.

This has been achieved by extensive theoretical modelling and analysis, coupled with accelerated life testing in the USA, which has produced a high level of confidence in the product.

Development of the interface between rigging and hull has been as important as lightening the weight of the cable. To achieve the cost reductions needed to qualify composite rigging for the mass yacht market, fittings needed to be varied to meet the requirements of most yachts.

Global BSI has achieved this with its parent company, the Danish group BSI, which is one of the world's largest manufacturers of rig fittings. The Powerlite composite technology can now use products from the standard BSI range making a composite rig a viable option in smaller craft.

In the USA, Applied Fiber composite products are used in a variety of industries and approval has been achieved from the US Military, NASA, the medical and automotive industries so the company has a strong background in quality and technical applications.