Good grief, David. I didn't mean the SAILORS abuse the boats. It is the ocean, the beaches, the race itself that abuses the boats. Even if there is no boat damage, the time on the water alone is more than most boats do in a whole year.

Also, in my humble opinion, the I-20 seems like a much sturdier boat than the 18HT. I know there was a lot of concern at the time, rightly or wrongly, that the 18HT was not strong enough for a race like the Worrell. I guess we will never know.

But I always kind of wondered whether this concern played any role in the cancellation of the race. Does anybody know whether Bimare backed out on supplying the boats? Or did the boats not get shipped because Mike did not pay Bimare? If Mike was not actually buying the boats from Bimare, and if the boats were not pre-sold, it might have looked like a risky venture to Bimare.

Does anybody (besides Mike) know what the deal with Bimare actually was?

It would be nice if Mike would get on this forum and explain to everybody what happened. More than anything else, it is his silence that makes him look guilty. Maybe for some reason he is protecting the mystery "sponsor" that did not come through for him at the last minute. (Or maybe the sponsor never existed.)

No matter what the reasons or extenuating circumstances, of course, he still has to repay the sailors. But we all still want to know what happened.