It is, as many have said before, and adventure race. Like R2K and EC, I don't see a particular reason to grant redress for anything not directly under the PRO's control (like a screw up). The only thing a PRO could do is cancel or postpone a leg if conditions are (1) known with 90% accuracy or better (2) to cause significant attrition or injury.. Like a tropical storm approach or something.

Afternoon T-storms are hit/miss. Yes, some can be severe. It would be awesome to have some sort of warning system so that all sailors would be updated on an impending approach. Weather VHS, some sort of signal sent to Spot trackers...something (not sure what technology is out there) but ultimately it is up to the teams to read conditions and plan accordingly. It ain't all about going fast.

"To finish first, first you must finish" (don't know who to attribute that saying to....). If that means pulling ashore and waiting vs. sailing through in the hopes you don't end up snapping a mast (or worse), I'd wager on the former strategy paying off rather than the latter.

What was the "secret sauce" for the winners? I believe they all had to deal with the same conditions (weather, equipment failures, routing, etc). Was it only that those teams had higher boatspeed? I would doubt that.

But now is the opportunity for both RO and sailors individually to reflect "what would I do next time to make it better (race, team performance, logistics, etc)"?

Put all those thoughts together, weed out the typical whining (unfortunately, not everyone gets a trophy in life) and ideas that aren't feasible (like 24 hour drone coverage), select the top concerns of those that are left and focus on that for improving next edition.

You won't get to all the issues, but continual improvement will go quite far in increasing popularity & participation.

I'd like to offer my very limited abilities if you think it would help... On the other hand, too many chefs spoil the soup...