Why do you think they chose that size? it seems awfully big/expensive - from construction to maintenance to shipping to storage; won't it preclude some teams from competing due to expense? It seems they could have gone smaller and made the event more accessible to more teams.
Any ideas? Is it so that spectators can see them more easily from shore? Is it because that is more comparable to the ocean racing multi's and good designs are already present?
The size, cost and date are all deliberate to keep the field small. This gives home team has a signficant advantage which of course is by design. Keep in mind this is and always has been just a game between the hyper rich and their toys.
