Mary, these are definitely fair points. Agree this is not a race for inexperienced sailors, but is this not something that can be solved by very clear and explicit communication (e.g. on the notice of race - "ONLY for experienced catsailors / racers"). Communication goes a long way and is cheap - only it costs some effort. Are people not smart enough to make their own decisions and to stay away from race with very explicit warnings? And even if you keep the race small, nothing prevents from crazies to show up at the starting line either...we've seen this happening as well. The question may be more about selectiveness than about how many boats are at the start. We were looking to bring in sailors from all over. People traveling from Texas or NC for the Statue Race probably have a pretty good idea what they're signing up for. We saw first hand that these were very good sailors. The ones we have to worry about are the local crazies (and the large cats, which are easy to eliminate by setting a 20 ft limit).
Also...the Objective-100 was about more than getting x number of boats to start. It was about bringing a different level of organization and a different / better experience for participants - especially for those who traveled from far. That has nothing to do with harbor safety or fog. I agree the Statue Race cannot become a 400 boat event like Texel...of course not. But 100 boats is a reasonable goal and making it a GREAT race (great in every sense of the word) rather than a mediocre event was definitely an achievable goal.
People in 2006 had a fantastic time...it was great to be part of it and tons of participants SAW the difference and told us so.
Once the SHBCC race management changed in 2007, no one even bothered to check in and ask if we could help with the next Statue Race. Oh well...there will always be reasons to maintain the status quo, and some people are just very good at finding those reasons instead of finding answers. Everyone has their own little niche.