Once the Race Committee set the classes defining who was racing whom, the game was set. The F18's in question had a simple decision to follow the rules or not . It didn't matter if Mike was on a "T" or just a "Newbie" on a F18 ... he/they deserve to be treated w/ respect and the RRS's followed. You are trying to justify poor sportsmanship by some F18 racers just because Mike was not on a F18 but was officially in their class. Incidences like this do not reflect well on either the individual F18 sailors involved or of the F18 class

Harry Murphey