From the feedback - 15/05/01

Is holding a transatlatic race for 21footers irresponsible? I do because of the legal problems race organizers might face. 20 feet crossing an ocean is asking too much of boat and crew. Food and water supplies will be stretched. Boats will capsize-who will right them?? Who bears the expense of rescuing them;and they will! This is really dumb.

From A Harris
Is holding a transatlantic race for 21footers irresponsible? No way! It should be up to the potential competitors to assess their risk tolerance level. Of course the organizers should require appropriate safety equipment given the size of the vessels...

From Darren
Mark Heeley - an unstoppable force? Dear Editor If one's opinion is derived from the coverage in this website alone then for sure the "Mighty Heeley Boat" will be unstoppable! If however you are better informed either by witnessing the racing first hand or simply by perusing the results you would know how open the class is. Nothing should be taken away from the GBR 25 team who sailed very conservatively and consistently to win the Lymington event by the narrowest of margins. They also did a fine job in yesterdays race but not as your headline reads. The only thing worse than biased coverage is factually incorrect biased coverage!

From Alex Davies
RS Sailing - Great racing or commercial hype? It's easy to be cynical, but why would LDC and the RS class association not hype up a well sponsored (thank you to GUL) circuit that is jam packed with excellent sailors, superb venues, quality socials and fantastic boats. OK I'm an RS600 sailor and I'm bound to say this, but I think the turnouts at open meetings and the Championships show that the RS bandwagon has really caught the imagination of dinghy sailing today.

From Rob Holmes
If you went through all Ellen has, how would you behave?If I were Ellen, I would certainly take some of the sponsorship money to smooth out some of the lumps and bumps that life will no doubt provide her with. After the fickle public has turned its attention somewhere else and the "15 minutes of fame" has worn off, the best offers won't be there again. However, I totally admire how principled she is - taking the hard and narrow road for her racing career.