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From Craig Maggio USA
Are you a speed freak - does the Inter 20 do it for you? I have over 19 years Catamaran Sailing experience and currently own a new Inter 20, It's the only Inter20 in Santa Barbara Calif. USA. Previously, I owned a Nacra 5.8 for many years and raced and sailed the 5.8 extensively. The Inter20 is a generation leap ahead over other Cats. The speed and performance of this boat are mind-numbing. The 5.8 would compare to a fast street sports car; The Inter20 is an F1 machine. With addition of the Spinnaker along with the EO Snuffer kit it is with out question the fastest, dollar for dollar, sailboat around. And to prove this point I have embarrassed many a Multi-Million dollar 70ft racing Monohull sailing downwind with the kite, passing them at speeds above 20+ knots. With this boat speed potential it is definitely for the highly experienced Cat sailor.

From Magnus Witting
Who remains to join the girls? Looking back on the last Whitbread I would say that this campaign has the same potential as the EF-womens boat the last time. This basically means that they are guaranteed to finish in last place. Last time the womens team had a strong boat, long preparation and full funding in all areas but the crew. The same seems to be the case this time. This is a great shame really. Last time they became media darlings for proving to all bigots out there that women could sail around the world and doing womens sailing a great disfavour in the process.

I am pretty convinced that a women crew could win the Volvo Race this year. But, this would require that the sponsors put up enough money and other incentives to put together the best crew possible. The twelve best women in the world is on par with the average male crew for this Whitbread but most of them are absent from the McDonald Crew. I am thinking that Dawn Riley should skipper the boat, that JJ Isler is indispensable, that some top Olympic dingy sailors like Shirley Robertson are needed to drive the boat and that any womens team that don't employ Isabelle Autissier as navigator and Ellen MacArthur as watch leader does not want to win. Some of the women that are on the boat today can stay, McDonald, Pettiborne, Suckling. In addition to the best sailors they need some raw power, high pain thresholds and winning attitudes from strong women with Olympic and world championship medals in other sports, like Kayaks for example.

Although my comments include a lot of suggestions for specific names, the point I am trying to make is that no sponsor who is serious about winning the Volvo can do so by not employing the best people. While the best women are on par with the best men there are not many of them to go around. I hope that this will change in the future as more women come up from the Olympic classes but, for now at least, you have to buy the best if you are serious about winning. And you have to realize that yacht delivery experience doesn't in any meaningful way resemble the qualifications needed to join a winning Volvo Ocean Race Team. I am afraid that this years Volvo would further strengthen those who don't think women are as good as men and weaken the possibility of a strong funding for a womens team next time around.

From Jan Lasko
Should the 29er permanently replace the 420? It seems a shame that the Olympics have both 49ers and 470s, yet ISAF do not logically follow through and have two youth boats 29er and 420. The negative effect of this decision will appear as sailors have to decide which year they wish to compete at the ISAF youths. 2002 29er, 2003 probably 420 and so on. Come of ISAF be consistent and give the sailors a chance as these two boats are very different in character and skills required.

From Mike Lyons
Blaze sailors - what do you think of our review? Well it needs an urgent update given the overhaul to rig and systems conducted by the association , Sobstad and Topper earlier this year. The boat is now highly refined and very rewarding to sail - We would be more than happy you arrange a comparative sail for any reviewer if you contact us (old 10.4 v Semi-soft 10.0 'new' rig) It is now possible to marginally plane upwind and the class is undergoing a major resurgence. Its popularity now seems assured after an indifferent start and it now outsells both '300' and fairly naturally the EPS - see the prices of second hand boats if you want to see a measure of its real popularity.