diff --git a/arangod/Agency/AgencyCommon.h b/arangod/Agency/AgencyCommon.h
index 9bc47fbd8e..9020a107d9 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/AgencyCommon.h
+++ b/arangod/Agency/AgencyCommon.h
@@ -103,11 +103,13 @@ struct AgentConfiguration {
   std::string end_point_persist;
   bool notify;
   bool sanity_check;
+  bool wait_for_sync;
   AgentConfiguration () : id(0), min_ping(.15), max_ping(.3f), notify(false) {};
   AgentConfiguration (uint32_t i, double min_p, double max_p, std::string ep,
-                      std::vector<std::string> const& eps, bool n = false, bool s = false) :
+                      std::vector<std::string> const& eps, bool n = false,
+                      bool s = false, bool w = true) :
     id(i), min_ping(min_p), max_ping(max_p), end_point(ep), end_points(eps),
-    notify(n), sanity_check(s) {
+    notify(n), sanity_check(s), wait_for_sync(w) {
     end_point_persist = end_points[id]; 
   }
   inline size_t size() const {return end_points.size();}
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/Agent.cpp b/arangod/Agency/Agent.cpp
index f5e3161ce3..6981613803 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/Agent.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Agency/Agent.cpp
@@ -299,7 +299,8 @@ bool Agent::load () {
   _vocbase = vocbase;
 
   LOG_TOPIC(INFO, Logger::AGENCY) << "Loading persistent state.";
-  if (!_state.loadCollections(_vocbase, _applicationV8, _queryRegistry)) {
+  if (!_state.loadCollections(_vocbase, _applicationV8, _queryRegistry,
+                              _config.wait_for_sync)) {
     LOG_TOPIC(WARN, Logger::AGENCY)
       << "Failed to load persistent state on statup.";
   }
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.cpp b/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.cpp
index 9c7ab5882d..4bd27a8ec5 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ ApplicationAgency::ApplicationAgency(
     _agent_id((std::numeric_limits<uint32_t>::max)()), 
     _endpointServer(aes), 
     _applicationV8(applicationV8), 
-    _queryRegistry(queryRegistry) {
+    _queryRegistry(queryRegistry),
+    _wait_for_sync(true) {
 }
 
 
@@ -75,7 +76,9 @@ void ApplicationAgency::setupOptions(
      "to the minumum election timeout")
     ("agency.notify", &_notify, "Notify others")
     ("agency.sanity-check", &_sanity_check,
-     "Perform arangodb cluster sanity checking");
+     "Perform arangodb cluster sanity checking")
+    ("agency.wait-for-sync", &_wait_for_sync,
+     "Wait for hard disk syncs on every persistence call (Must for production)");
   
 }
 
@@ -152,8 +155,8 @@ bool ApplicationAgency::prepare() {
     new agent_t(
       _server, arangodb::consensus::config_t(
         _agent_id, _min_election_timeout, _max_election_timeout,
-        endpoint, _agency_endpoints, _notify, _sanity_check), _applicationV8,
-      _queryRegistry));
+        endpoint, _agency_endpoints, _notify, _sanity_check, _wait_for_sync),
+      _applicationV8, _queryRegistry));
   
   return true;
   
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.h b/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.h
index a5f3fea89b..55630eed62 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.h
+++ b/arangod/Agency/ApplicationAgency.h
@@ -117,6 +117,8 @@ class ApplicationAgency : virtual public arangodb::rest::ApplicationFeature {
   ApplicationV8* _applicationV8;
   aql::QueryRegistry* _queryRegistry;
 
+  bool     _wait_for_sync;
+
 };
 }
 }
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/Constituent.cpp b/arangod/Agency/Constituent.cpp
index 0ea68ca8d8..b41fe81ed7 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/Constituent.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Agency/Constituent.cpp
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ config_t const& Constituent::config () const {
   return _agent->config();
 }
 
+// Wait for sync
+bool Constituent::waitForSync() const {
+  return _agent->config().wait_for_sync;
+}
+
 // Random sleep times in election process
 duration_t Constituent::sleepFor (double min_t, double max_t) {
   dist_t dis(min_t, max_t);
@@ -132,7 +137,7 @@ void Constituent::term(term_t t) {
     }
     
     OperationOptions options;
-    options.waitForSync = true; 
+    options.waitForSync = waitForSync(); 
     options.silent = true;
     
     OperationResult result = trx.insert("election", body.slice(), options);
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/Constituent.h b/arangod/Agency/Constituent.h
index 714df335f6..933086f152 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/Constituent.h
+++ b/arangod/Agency/Constituent.h
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ private:
   /// @brief Count my votes
   void countVotes();
 
+  /// @brief Wait for sync
+  bool waitForSync () const;
+
   /// @brief Notify everyone, that we are good to go.
   ///        This is the task of the last process starting up.
   ///        Will be taken care of by gossip
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/State.cpp b/arangod/Agency/State.cpp
index 9e75c996c9..5c1a4533c1 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/State.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Agency/State.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ using namespace arangodb::velocypack;
 using namespace arangodb::rest;
 using namespace arangodb;
 
+bool State::waitForSync () const {
+  return _wait_for_sync;
+}
+
 State::State(std::string const& end_point)
     : _vocbase(nullptr),
       _applicationV8(nullptr),
@@ -87,7 +91,7 @@ bool State::persist(index_t index, term_t term, id_t lid,
   }
   
   OperationOptions options;
-  options.waitForSync = true; 
+  options.waitForSync = waitForSync();
   options.silent = true;
 
   OperationResult result = trx.insert("log", body.slice(), options);
@@ -221,10 +225,11 @@ bool State::createCollection(std::string const& name) {
 }
 
 bool State::loadCollections(TRI_vocbase_t* vocbase, ApplicationV8* applicationV8, 
-                            aql::QueryRegistry* queryRegistry) {
+                            aql::QueryRegistry* queryRegistry, bool waitForSync) {
   _vocbase = vocbase;
   _applicationV8 = applicationV8;
   _queryRegistry = queryRegistry;
+  _wait_for_sync = waitForSync;
   return loadCollection("log");
 }
 
diff --git a/arangod/Agency/State.h b/arangod/Agency/State.h
index 17263ac8e1..b1d069126a 100644
--- a/arangod/Agency/State.h
+++ b/arangod/Agency/State.h
@@ -98,12 +98,17 @@ public:
   log_t const& lastLog () const;
 
 
+  /// @brief Wait for sync?
+  bool waitForSync () const;
+
+  
   /// @brief Set endpoint
   bool setEndPoint (std::string const&);
 
 
   /// @brief Load persisted data from above or start with empty log
-  bool loadCollections (TRI_vocbase_t*, ApplicationV8*, aql::QueryRegistry*);
+  bool loadCollections (TRI_vocbase_t*, ApplicationV8*,
+                        aql::QueryRegistry*, bool);
 
   /// @brief Pipe to ostream
   friend std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& os, State const& s) {
@@ -149,6 +154,7 @@ private:
   std::string _end_point;            /**< @brief persistence end point */
   bool _collections_checked;                 /**< @brief Collections checked */
   bool _collections_loaded;
+  bool _wait_for_sync;
   
 };
 
diff --git a/scripts/startLocalCluster.sh b/scripts/startLocalCluster.sh
index 723fb77c4f..cf641fedeb 100755
--- a/scripts/startLocalCluster.sh
+++ b/scripts/startLocalCluster.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ build/bin/arangod -c etc/relative/arangod.conf \
   --agency.size 1 \
   --server.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:4001 \
   --agency.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:4001 \
+  --agency.wait-for-sync false \
   --database.directory cluster/data4001 \
   --agency.id 0 \
   --log.file cluster/4001.log \