Hi Mary

I believe Sturarts point is that the Last boat may be privately OK with their spot in the pecking order, eg last ... However... If they feel like they are not part of the group they will stop participating. He wants to emphasize that the essential job of a fleet is to make sure that all members are valued. Once you loose the last boat from the group... you have a NEW last boat in the fleet. The social and personal dyanmics change and you may loose someone else.

His point about managing the game was a gear change for the conversation. Stuart's point was addressed to the fleet leaders who control how the game is played. (rules... equipment equity, amount of money spent) and the events that you participate in. His point is that if you run half assed events that don't respect the competition then you will deliver the message that the competition itself is not valuable to compete for. His point is that great events requirie planning ON THESE POINTS about "competition, groups, resentment".

Mary and Scooby
With respect to your points about helping the back of the fleet. I think Stuart would say that to a large extent, the back of the fleet is not competing with the front of the fleet and these people do NOT view each other as competitors in the same way as someone you are battling with every mark rounding. Certainly, I don't look at Johny and Charlie, or Robbie and Mike on Tornado's as competitors in anything but name only.... They are competing on the world stage... while my competitors are regional. I don't believe that Robbie and Johnny deconstruct a race together on the beach. Stuarts point was that competitors do not want to hear what they did wrong and YOU did right to kick their butt from YOU... a coach .. OK. So, its a touchy thing to manage in a group.