So does that mean you have a carbon pole you want to sell me Bob? Actually, it did not break because of the center point connection for topper and guy, it broke as a result of surfing down a wave causing the spinnaker to collapse. When it filled, the pressure pulled the topping lift out of the cleat on the mast and dropped the pole, slamming it into the headstay in about 25 knots on a beam reach. It also sheared off my outboard lifeline stanchion. The issue was not the center point. Issue was that I either need two cleats for the topper, or I need to run it back to a cleat on the deck and not have faith that one cleat on the mast will hold. Oh well. Lesson learned. I also could have taken the sail down about 15 minutes earlier...but we were having too much fun going 10+ sustained with a top speed of 12.9!