My opinion on masts, for what it is worth:
I get the feeling that the mast is now sensible to buy from a mast specialist. As foil design converges (in theory, or for now), this is probably the place where there is the most benefit to be gained for a mid level foiler - both in performance and flexibility. It is also the place where there is the most obvious variance in pure performance.
Building a good mast clearly requires some real depth of engineering across two very significant components:
- foil selection/design/creation - impacting drag, ventilation, speed, agility
- materials science and composite design - stiffness trading off against thickness, taper, notches, thickness variation, etc
It is also the most sensible opportunity for a “standard” - where you can buy a mast, and interchange the foil/plane setup, and keep the mast, avoiding vendor lock-in. Standards also enables foil specialists to build foils without needing to overcome the challenge, economic and technical, of building a mast.
Exciting times