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Could Team Philips have worked? All the big cats that took part in the Race had structural problems at one time or another. Their ability to survive in the Southern Ocean was more due to their ability to 'pick the weather' they wished to sail in. The speed of these big cats allows them to sail at the same speed as the big depressions move around the Southern Ocean. This together with a bit of luck and good routing also allowed them to avoid the kind of sea states which should have torn the hulls apart.

Peter Goss appeared to think he had a vehicle which would take the worst the Southern Ocean or the North Atlantic could throw at it. He was wrong. Bad Judgement or bad design? The best way to survive a force 9+ is simply not to be there when it happens. Will this mean the big Cats and The Race are an accident waiting to happen the first time something breaks and reduces their speed in the Southern Ocean? If Team Philips had followed the same work up schedule as Club Med I am sure they would have finished well ahead of the pack

From Dave Pasley
Could Team Philips have worked? It did work. It was the most exciting boat I have ever seen in the water. It was just a series of unfortunate events that caused the boat to be abandoned. If Team Philips had more time to work up the boat I feel that The Race would have had a very different ending. I hope that someone out there is still considering the design of Team Philips and that we all will be fortunate enough to see a boat like this on the seas again.

From James Reynalds
Could Team Philips have worked? Of course it could, the design worked for long enough to see what an outstanding boat it was. There were problems with materials, and this is ultimately what caused the problems and the eventual break up, but then that happens with any new design. No doubt those that experimented with the bermudan rig for the first time were laughed at by the square riggers of the day. There can only be advances in this area, and in a few years I think the design will be resurrected and tweaked, in line with the findings on the remains of the Team Philips, and go on to be a scorcher. That is until the next radical design comes along.

From Bruce Schwab
Could Team Philips have worked? Absolutely. Despite the teething problems, Team Phillips was spot on with many of her progressive ideas. I feel strongly that she was fully ready to enter the Race, and would have fared very well. The storm which trapped her would have destroyed any of the other big new cats. I truly hope that somehow the team that Goss assembled could get another chance. Basically, the only big mistake of the whole program seemed to be really bad luck with a weather routing choice. As for the free-standing rotating rigs, ours is working wonderfully on Ocean Planet, our American Open 60. It is the rig of the future, despite Team Phillips' unfortunate end.