I have to agree with Pat.

Paul is a personal friend of mine. He can be stubborn, demanding and a pain in the butt sometimes. However, I attribute the excellence and progressiveness of our class' race management to his unwillingness to compromise the class' standards. How many other classes were running courses with gates ten years ago?

I don't think he feels "threatened" by anybody. I have seen him go out of his way to accomodate sailors at an event - only to have them turn on him when they don't even realize what has been done. He takes a lot of crap for stuff beyond his control.

I don't think anybody would argue (except maybe Sam Evans) that PU runs nearly perfect courses that take exactly the amount of time he intends them to.

I'm looking forward to sailing in the PU run H-17 / Tiger NA's two weeks from now. I'll know that the start line will be appropriately favored, the marks will be where they should be, and each race will last just about 45 minutes - no matter what the wind strength.

In the evenings, I'll enjoy sharing sailing stories and a bottle of excellent wine with my friend, whom I haven't seen in nearly a year.