**** and its grand tail.
The NZ black boat is the best characterisation of this.. the other syndicates obviously took the power of the colour very seriously and many took the darker base and went with it. Every boat that went dark lessened the power of the orginal boat... I am sure this was done on purpose.

If five sailors are put off just a little bit by a boats visual presence then that is valid reasons to do it. In the end though it is the skippers who don't give a damn who you still have to beat over the line.

sail fast