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Absolutely the skipper did the right thing. You can always replace a boat. Not so any crew. As a skipper (with only about 70,000 n.miles) I've had to order abandon ship (fire and then the boat sank). From recognising an emergency to abandoning ship was less than five minutes, away from land. Fortunately we had a standby vessel and all were rescued after a short swim. Leave the rest to the lawyers and insurers. Save the crew. If you have done so, you've done a good job as skipper, I don't care what anyone says. Dealing with an injury or death would be a lot harder for anyone to deal with, including the owner (and the lawyers, and the insurers!). Congratulations to the skipper on a job well done, and to MMRC for co-ordinating a rescue. In a real emergency there's no time to waste sending a Mayday, as Mike Plant's sad death illustrates.

For those of you who don't know - Mike Plant was an American singlehanded sailor who took part in various BOC Challenges and subsequently the first Vendee Globe. He was lost on board his new Open 60 Coyote while delivering her to the start of the second Vendee Globe.

In Grant Dalton's review interview with madforsailing, the Amer Sport One skipper admitted that he felt his Frers design was slow. This didn't wash with one reader.

Dalts says his boat is slow, but he is the only one! I have every respect for Grant Dalton, he has done so much in yachting, for yachting, yet once again his comments let him down. He had the choice, he could have sailed the Farr boat, or the Frers boat. His decision, he should live with it. His comments damage the reputation of a young designer, to save his own. Didn't we hear the same things from Dalton, four years ago, that he took the wrong Merit Cup around the world, leaving the 'better' boat in her cradle in Hamble!

Aside from being an accountant in real life (yes, it's hard to believe) and a most accomplished round the world skipper, Grant Dalton is also a politician and has clearly been talking down the potential of Amer One throughout this race. Dammit, they nearly won the last leg into Baltimore. There is also a lot more to light weather performance than just hulls and it is equally likely that Dalts just didn't have the right sail for the job.

The Commodore's Cup has one official entry. From Belgium. We asked who will make it to the British team and Julian Bates sent us this response.

Difficult to say as there have been precious few opportunities for all the potential teams to race against each other over the same course at the same time (being spread over several IRC classes as well as IRM). Also the season is still young and there is much improvement to be had in crew work and boat speed for many teams. What is becoming clear is that the event will be as much a competition examining the sailing skills of the teams involved as a test of the IRC rating system, its detailed policing and its fairness as a system over such a wide rating band. Let us hope that the sailing skills will be the more important in the final analysis.

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