You are right about the development class raising safety concerns. But people who are concerned about their own safety aren't going to do the Worrell 1000 on any boat.

And if a development boat isn't going to be able to make it through the whole race, that will certainly become apparent during the early legs along the Florida coast.

And, as Randy Smyth told me, even the Hobie 16's used to break up in this race.

And, people have a lot more safety and communications equipment with them on the boats now than they did back in the 1980's.

You are right that building a development boat can be expensive, but the only people who would do it are the people who can afford it -- and/or who feel a calling to design a better boat.

A development boat built today would undoubtedly be much safer and stronger than some of the concoctions we saw back in the 1980's, because construction and rigging technology has made so many advances -- and we have a much greater pool of knowledge about what works and what doesn't.

Having a development class for the Worrell will give people incentive to experiment with new (and old) ideas -- not necessarily with the goal of winning the race, but just to see whether the ideas will work.

A development boat does not necessarily mean a whole new boat built from scratch -- it can be a production platform with a different type of rig.

Development boats attract a lot more spectators to the beach just to look at the different designs and ideas -- and also make the race more interesting for the media, too.

And, tied in with the safety concern, having a development class might result in somebody coming up with the perfect boat for this kind of race -- fast, strong, light, hard to capsize and easy to right, and, most of all, a boat that loves going in and out through surf and sliding up onto beaches.

The "dream boat" won't happen unless we open an avenue and give some incentive and motivation for experimentation. In my opinion, the Worrell is the perfect avenue and the perfect showcase.