That is interesting, because I would have thought that the reason for starting to have throwouts would be to keep the less experienced (or less serious and committed) sailors from becoming discouraged and dropping out because of a bad race or an equipment breakdown. Sort of like a branch to cling to when you are sinking in quicksand.

So I guess I must be wrong about my original assumption about why throwouts (discards) started in the first place.

I still would love to see the discussions on this topic that must have been had within IYRU back when. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />