Jake, Why do you think it is good for the sport?

When you see gran prix skiers... going like hell.... you say... wow... that is some Hill and those guys are great skiers for doing that.... It is never about the skis. The universe of skiers grows as skiers take on the challenge of increasingly bigger hills.. It's about the hill and the skill to dominate it.

When you see other boats..... they are sailing in a seaman link way... Boats don't routinely pop wheelies! I think the public says... wow... look at that crazy boat.... those guys are intense. Sailing is now an extreme sport... That may be good for the 20 secs of TV time... but I don't see extreme sports growing in popularity... they remain small niches for the adrenalin junkie. Sailors look at those pics and say... That boat is just not right.. It should not do that time and time again... just for the benefit of sailing photographers and photo editors.. They ask... How is that fast... I thought the game was racing the other guys as fast as you can...


(I say... Fix the damn boat)

Nacraman, The old pros insisted that the Marstrom Tornado was the best two man cat package on the water... Easy to sail... a true challenge to sail well, a boat suitable for the olympics.. The Marstrom 20 raised the bar by cutting weight and updating the design for a Windward Leeward racer.... The N17 is the culmination of the fiasco that demanded mixed teams and not open.. and locked multihulls into mixed competition (not open) forever. This selection process is the result of compromise... The N17 looks like its harder to sail and obviously a true challenge to sail flat and well. Fix the boat so that its easy to sail, aka a good boat, and it will remain an Olympic boat... (Hell.... the venerable laser is the Olympic boat and so the point is... the equipment is not determinative)