2 more issues:
1) exclusion zone - Its virtually impossible to assure as you aproach the 1st mark on what is usually a tight reach that you don't violate an imaginary line from the beach to that mark, but with a gps and these 4 0r 5 waypoints, you can be very sure to make sure you round each one, and that is what the rule should be. we missed the first on last year due to our own gps error, and took a penalty, as did two boats this year. Mischa would have won even with an extra hour of penalty, however, he did get a pretty good advantage on missing the first mark, so if you wanted to construct the "perfect" penalty that wouldn't outright disqualify, but would properly penalize, I would propose taking the estimated time of the "benefit" by using the gps tracks of the penalizer and comparing them to the person who is closest in time to them at the current stage of the race (In this case Steve or JC) and then add that time(i.e. if Mischa had travelled the extra x mile at Steve's speed), PLUS a time penalty, 20, 40, min or whatever, it may be more "fair" and increase compliance. That being said, the first mark is a shipping channel, and so when you are approaching it, you think its not part of the exclusion zone and thats why we skipped it last year and likely why Mischa did this year. ( I know, we shoulda read the SI better). We should all try better however to be compliant as a group effort and eliminate this constant point of contention in the race.

2) I-20 vs F-18. They each have their strong spots and weak spots. I would personally eliminate the handicap and let the fastest boat win!