Whisker Pole - Downwind Saling

I've been researching spinnakers and gennakers mostly just to educate myself on their purpose, setup, and trimming. While doing this research I came across the Whisker Pole. I had never heard of one before and it intrigued me as a less expensive way to increase speed and head sail control while running with the wind.

Here's a sailboat with a whisker pole deployed:



Here's a video of a whisker pole being used:

Click Here to see the video

Basically, a whisker pole allows you to sail wing-on-wing more effectively. Here's some links that provide useful information:

Forespar Website
JSI Website 1
JSI Website 2
Mauri Website:

The whisker pole interests me because of it's a relatively low cost solution for increasing down wind performance and control which isn't a strength of the Hunter 430 with its standard rigging.

Any experience or thoughts about the whisker pole?

Ken