On Sun, 9 Mar 2008 14:01:55 -0700 (PDT), terry
wrote:

b) To avoid having a metal 'loop' around the boat that 'might' affect
radio direction finding, if used, on the now old fashioned lower
frequencies, such as coastal beacons in the 'Long Wave' band or
broadcasting stations in the 'Medium Wave' or 'Broadcast; band.

That was always my understanding. My old Westerly 28 had the same
arrangement circa 1968. There's no reason not to go with turnbuckles
that I know of.