Andrew I completely agree with you, sailing wiht the kite is the bomb! but the 5.8 is really not the boat for it.

the newer lighter boats (1550+) are not strong enough to take the loads. a number of them have had bulkhead failures from the kite loads.

Jeffs the newer masts are truck loads lighter, but you will need to buy a boat later then 2003, sail no about 1620. I got one of the first masts off the new die in 03, but it was still heavy compared with the taipan 5.7 mast.