Mike... the point is not... will masts break in 15 to 20 feet of water... (Of course they will)..

The point is definitely NOT has the boat been figured out by some people... (Yes it has)..

The point is... the boat is UNSTABLE so that BAD LUCK knocks out teams WHO DO KNOW HOW TO SAIL THE BEAST...

The key question... WHY would you want to use a boat that favors the lucky?

Take JC.... do you think he doesn't know how to sail the damn boat... or was he just unlucky?

Now... some teams were unlucky and then could not get a replacement mast... their game was over. (how many spare parts do you need to backstop a world event??? 5 masts were not enough so that is a legit issue.)

Some teams were unlucky and did time in the hospital.. (How lucky do you have to be to race N17s? ...Notice the number of helmets being worn... Wonder why this fleet is so much different then other beach cats...)

Mark Mendelblatt has done TWO Olympics in other boats... do you think he can't sail the damn boat... He opted to hit the beach!

Bill Roberts... the designer of the Supercats and RC 27s... and Goran Marstorm (Builder of Tornados) nailed the core philosophy...

You want a boat for the Olympics that is technically challenging to sail FAST...... a formula 1 like boat.. so that SAILING SKILL determines the gold medal.
You don't want to race the family car....Not enough refinement to test sailing skill... Luck is too much a factor in the race.
You also don't want a boat that is unstable .. and just an issue to SAIL pointy end up in standard conditions of a front passing through BAD LUCK using an unstable boat should not be part of the game.

I get it... Gen Xers disagreed with me when the N17s issues became apparent. ...They think its a skill thing... They were wrong. After 2 years of training on the boat...ALL of the international teams should have been racing hard... not half of them on the beach.

The only fair solution in the last two years of the quad is to lower the wind max.. You minimize the safety issues and take BAD LUCK (due to the boat) out of the competition as best you can.