Hi all,
The “Taming” in the title is likely a bit strong, but it seemed to fit my intent if not perfectly the result. Too many of us cruisers, in my observation and experience, are wary of our whisker pole and do not use them at all or rarely. This is a shame as they can be extremely useful. I would hope the following to be of use to those who shudder with apprehension when they think “This would be a good time to deploy the pole”.
As always, please come back with questions or comments.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

UK sailors wishing to make a whisker pole similar to Dick 's can find a suitable tube athttps://www.carbonfibreprofiles.com/. They sell tubes of 60mm and 80mm diameter, in both CFRP and GRP, up to 6 metres in length. These contain mostly longitudinal pultruded fibres, but also have an appreciable diagonal fibre content. This makes them very robust and resistant to the kind of abuse that Professor Murphy will subject them to, when he decides to lend a hand on the foredeck. I use the GRP tubes as battens and yard in my junk rig.