Maug/Tad,
Personally, I would never have loaned my boat out for an event like that. So, my hat is off to you right from the get go. That race is an extreme test of both man and machine. I think it was an extreme sport before the term was even coined. Even brand new boats break under those conditions. As someone else opinioned, the lead team's trials and tribulations get a lot more "press". I am sure some of the other teams have had just as many problems, if not more. It just doesn't get reported.
I cannot imagine that anyone is thinking you sent out a boat that was anything but as well prepared as you knew how to make it, and as I said before, I can't believe you let your boat out for that kind of abuse. <Grin>
Stephen
To tell you the truth, I don't know. I quite honestly getting a little tired of the focus on broken Ooohlaalaa parts. I don't mind if they break it and replace it, I just am feeling like people are thinking that I'm a **** that gave Mischa a crummy boat. The first two days I felt like a giant douche when basically the story was "ohh look how much water is in the hulls! And they STILL won!"
I don't want to go over the things I did to prepare the boat, but suffice to say, I never had water intrusion problems, the tiller arm crack was something that I could have never known about or else it would have been replaced, and I don't know what the deal is with the dagger. Neither of them showed ANY sign of cracks of any type when I sent the boat down. I'm not altogether happy with the amount of breakages to be honest, but as long as the boat makes and Mischa doesn't kill me tomorrow when I meet him, I'll be able to live with myself.
