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From Bob Kiernan
What can we do to nurture talent in this way? America should look to the pro sports such as Baseball and American Football and how they recruit the farm teams if you will. American Little League and Pop Warner respectively are the beginning stages for the pro's. Our yacht clubs have work shops and summer sessions for the youths but that is a drop in the bucket compared to what the New Zealand youth have available.

Private is a way but few children from the rank in file and those that may come from the neighbourhoods that don't often see a sail boat haven't a chance. They would if they could! We think highly of our sport but the powers that be (mainly the politicians, the good o'l boys) don't see the sport as worth the time to invite the youth of America to try out much like the other supported sports. It will change! The dollars being spent in the sport now will be diverted in that direction it just takes more people willing to do the time. Call on me. I for one have and will continue to move in that direction as long as I am alive.

From K Connolly
Have you sailed the 29er - hit or miss for you? I sailed a 29er for the first time today, and I loved it. It's hard to get used to it at first, but once you start to get the hang of it you realise how much fun it is to sail. But just because its a simpler design than a 49er doesn't mean its easy; its actually going to be more of a challenge than i thought. Don't underestimate the boat, its fast and its gonna be big.

From Andrew Banks
What do you think the finish order will be and why? It seems rather too early to write the Djuice team off, placing them near the back of the fleet. They have a highly experienced crew, and were the first team to launch their new boats. - The fact they have been testing two identical new boats longer than anyone would suggest they will arrive at the start with possibly the most refined rig and foil package of anyone.

Also, it seems premature to write off the Davidson designs at this early stage; the fact they were beaten in the Runt Gotland is not really an accurate indication of the pace of the boats. As I remember, a lot of people were ready to write off the EF Team last time around following the replacement of Laurie Smith by Paul Cayard, because he lacked the established credentials. Possibly some pundits are doing this again, but this time from a design point of view. As for Grant Dalton, he has yet to win this race when up against significant competition. His win the 1993 race was against a defeatist Pierre Fehlmann, who effectively gave up early on in the race, and a crew of French postman, which was augmented by the late Eric Tabarly when they failed to shine. However, a somewhat dramatic change in approach, not to mention a strong after-guard may help things along this time, although it might be some way into the race before they really start to come good.

Illbruck have got to be a favourite in anyone's book, -they started before the last race finished, they've been training longer than anyone, and have a depth of talent. They didn't win in either the Sydney Hobart or the Fastnet, but if you take both results together; overall they did better than their rivals. The fact that they only built one new boat may hurt them in terms of refining their Rig/foil configuration, but time will tell.

Finally, Assa Abloy has got to be worth a punt for four reasons; firstly they have a strong crew with some very talented individuals aboard. Secondly they have two new, superbly built, boats launched in time to tune them effectively. Thirdly probably any campaign would have made room for Neal MacDonald, but he chose to join Assa Abloy and you have to respect his insight; finally Grant Dalton asked Bruce Farr which of his designs he would chose, his answer 'Assa Abloy'. That's good enough for me.

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