Mike,

it has to be election time in the US jugding from the lack of reading comprehension and quick attempts to stamp everybody with a different opinion as whiners and similar.

From my post it should be blindingly obvious that I am indeed aware that "mast abeam" left the ruleset sometime in the late 80s.

I have studied and followed the RRS since 2001. I still think the rules are complex compared to other team and individual sports I have taken part in. From the discussions that pop up all the time I find it a statement worthy of Comical Ali to say "it is the situations that are complex, not the RRS".

If you try to apply your arguments to the tax rules in the USA instead of the RRS you might agree with me that sometimes comittee work by experts might result in complexity instead of real world applicability.