Your feedback..

Ken Lewis, Seattle
Now what do illbruck do? Now I'm not a Kostecki fan and if he'd put a generator driven prop on his boat, I'd say "hang him from his yardarm" but a WEED CUTTER do me a favour! You think that helped him win by that big a margin? We have boats that are sailing on such a fine line that they have to pick up spares on-route and you are worried about a bloody "WEED CUTTER." Stupid protests like this are what will help kill this race.

From Toby Horster,Portugal
What should the penalty have been? As the weed cutting device was openly in place at the time of measurement and as the measurers have overlooked it, the "case" comes down to illbruck not having actively called their attention. The fine apparently is meant to be symbolic for not having done so. In my opinion, illbruck should not have been fined at all.

From David Greening
What should the penalty have been? Did anyone else on the leg encounter kelp, requiring stopping and picking up a 30 mile (2 hours?) disadvantage? Some might consider a modification as something that requires the use of tools, adding filler and a blade does not require tools, and faring would be acceptable at most other parts of the boat (Amer Sport's bow for instance), if the boat was measured with the faring in place, it may be considered fair game. I have previously likened the Volvo to Formula 1, this is not a dissimilar situation to Jordon and their undersized barge boards. The Volvo is a corporate event, not a Corinthian competition, it would have been bad marketing to apply a serious penalty on iIlbruck as non-sailors would not be able to comprehend why the penalty need be applied.



From Mike Barrett
What should the penalty have been? A fine on the inspector who authorised the measurement certificate! Frankly, this sort of detailed dispute looks ridiculous in the eyes of ordinary sailors - unless it can be shown that this modification would have a precisely measurable effect on speed etc, there's no point in pursuing it.

From Ken Lewis
What should the penalty have been? Talk about "A storm in a teacup" It was established that the 'implement of offence' was in place before and during the actual measuring and must have been noticed. We're told that it actually increased drag. So where is the crime? All I see is a lot of hot air being expended by pompous asses who want to impose a huge penalty for it. (It reminds me of how the media took after Richard Jewel in the Atlanta Olympic bombing. Nobody seems to care if he did it or not as long as he was punished!) Statements like "and one can only hope that this has not influenced the outcome." seem really trite. One can only assume that the author (Peter Bentley) of this charade has something to gain from iIllbruck'sdemise. Or is this what we expect from British tabloid reporting now that Diana can't be chased anymore.

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