Hey Kelly -

Thanks for the compliments to the team. We plan to be back for next year, although the debate over the second half continues. As cited by others, missing over two weeks of work is tough. Both of our sailors run their own businesses. And I don't mean that they make a couple of calls to employees and foremen from a desk - when I spoke to them yesterday they were both on tractors moving dirt. In the past, it has been a struggle to keep them focused on the event without losing them to a series of protracted work sessions in the evening when I thought they should be resting. I think they were both relieved that they could still participate with a lesser investment of time.

Jake - I've managed teams on both ends of the spectrum now. From me and two sailors in a motorhome to me and two sailors, 9 ground crew, a motorhome, a truck, two trailers (one huge), three hotel rooms all the way, live internet updates and GPS tracking, coordinating interviews and a photographer. More people does not mean less work. The more hands you have, the more you want to do, and the day fills up quick. Over the three years, my role has become one of "floating" from task to task to make sure stuff is rolling along ok. Its been pretty easy with the team I'm on now - they're all really fun people that aren't on vacation. "Floating," though, has greatly diminished my sense of accomplishment and contribution. It's tough to maintain the sense of family, and with more and more going on, you risk seeing less and less of the event. If you're lucky, like I've been, just about everything seems to get done by itself, keeping the sponsor happy and making it appear that you're completely in control and cool. That's not really what's going on though. I've been in the middle of a team meltdown (not with TB) and it was really a drag.

The best thing you can do is bring together a team that gets along well - if you've got some good chemistry and can eliminate feelings of resentment ("How come I have to rinse out the gear while THEY'RE in the pool with drinks??") the rest will come together just fine.

Ok, I'll put the pom-poms down now.