I was primarily trying to be humorous, but if we are to believe the armchair speculation of one or more design weaknesses costing them a chance at the win, there's a saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight that comes to mind.
These events can be notoriously brutal on boats, and racing is always a risk/reward equation, especially when launching through surf is involved.
I applaud Bret and JC for trying the boat in this event, and would love to hear from them about whether or not they'd use that design for the next distance race.
