Hi Gary

That sheds a bit of light on your perspective…I am sure you would like to swap boats with this guy for a few races and see just how much of it is the boat, and how much is his sailing ability…and yes I can see where one could feel like they are sailing an upwind battle against someone who, all other things being equal, is a “shoe in” to win, even if it was purely psychological.

That has to taint his victories a bit as well… No matter how confident he projects himself as the ultimate sailor in that class. It is kind of sad for him, because if I understand you correctly, the guy has a lot of sailing talent, and he will never know if it is his talent or his boat…and of course… his competitors will always attribute it to his boat.

You could drive yourself nuts trying to close all the loopholes a bottomless pocket sailor could exploit. Even in strict one design, he/she could buy a new boat or at least a new set of sails every race if they wanted to. In trying to “reign in” one of these types we could close off a lot of positive exploration within the class.

Bob