There is no question that MW screwed up royally. Considering the aggressive direction he was taking with the race, he should have had a plan B, or at least made something up when it was clear that the race would not happen in the form he had advertised. Though the race bore his name, it belonged equally to the sailing community. Just throwing in the towel was stupid and cheated us all out of a great legacy. But was it a premeditated fraud? No.

The W1000 was the premier catamaran race in the world, rivaling the Round' Texal in prestige. It was his name and it was his life and both of those things are gone. Any credibility he had in the sailing community is lost forever and his chances at some other business career are greatly in jeopardy. It's a very long way to fall. Would anyone do that to themselves for a lousy $180,000? To call him a criminal is unjust. Was he a bad businessman? Did he have incredibly poor judgement? Absolutely, and he is suffering the consequences. But to accuse him of a premeditated criminal act and hurl cruel accusations at him is unfair. MW will suffer the consequences of his poor judgement for the rest of his life. He's lost his livelihood and his entire family is dealing with the loss of their good name. The sailors in the race lost $5,000. Get on with the lawsuit and collect what you can, but stop the public stoning.