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Paul Henderson has written in response to Peter Bentley's comments on the ISAF crack down on cheating in the Olympic classes

I have come to conclusion that although you can write you cannot read or possibly you get your jollies by just throwing out unsubstantiated venom.

You state the following: "......While much of what Henderson says is correct, his comments only serve to demonstrate how remote ISAF has become from the top level of competition in the Olympic classes. This is professional sport and it needs professional officials. It is ISAF who have failed the sailors and not the other way around."

I clearly stated in my epistle: "ISAF must engage a Team of Rule Enforcers who appear at all major Olympic Class events ensuring that the rules are adhered to and the sailors know exactly what will be allowed and what will not. They must go on the water in small inflatable's with Yellow Cards and Red Cards for repeat offenders."

This clearly shows that the ISAF President is in touch; "..engage.." means to hire and pay. "..appear at all major events..." means ISAF will hire a professional enforcing group. "what will be allowed and what will not" means consistency in application. "...Yellow Cards and red Cards.." means that the offenders will be recorded and penalties enforced.

The insertion of the weight jacket situation was meant to say that this "engaged ISAF Team" must also check for other abuses. Trust the English lecture for a non-English reader clarifies what was intended and stated. An apology would be in order.

Peter Bentley replies:

I am delighted that Paul Henderson has taken the time and trouble to read my article and it seems we are not so far apart in our thinking. The point I was really trying to make is that ISAF is ten years too late in putting a proper policing policy in place.

Aside from the wet clothing issue , Henderson makes no reference in his original piece to any tightening of the technical rules. I should be delighted if his new initative seeks to stop the undoubted abuse that is happening in this area.

So let's end the battle of word Mr Henderson, it's time for action.

Tim Carver agrees with Peter Bentley

Peter, I agree with your sentiments but feel it is unfair to pick on the Finn class and correctors. The Finn has the most rigorous measurement checks at it's major regatta's of any class I have sailed. At our Worlds and Europeans everything is checked with a tooth comb and all of the boats are swing tested. There is a problem with the ISAF-run regattas (SPA, Kiel, Hyeres) though. During the last Olympic cycle we did have a problem with a competitor who was apparently unbeatable but when his sail was subsequently measured at the Worlds it turned out to be vastly oversize. All of a sudden the competitor was back to 'normal' speed and he didn't win the regatta. At SPA in particular, where racing doesn't start until the Wednesday, it seems inexcusable that there is still no sail measurement in place.

The design of Le Defi has attracted these comments;

From Bruce Rosen
Dear madforsailing, Regarding the following paragraph in your article "An Extraordinary Design" ... "With a design team that includes Peter van Oossanen, something radical is to be expected, he was a major player in the team that created Switzerland's Fast 2000 for the last Cup, and his cup history dates back to 1980, when he first worked with Ben Lexcen, who was later to create the innovative winged keel on Australia II. He was also on John Bertrand's "Fluid Thinking" group for the 1995 Cup, their OneAustralia was believed to be the second fastest boat of that era, behind Black Magic, but it broke up and sank before being able to prove itself." I do not believe that van Oossanen was with Fluid Thinking. If he was, it was a very well kept secret from most of the Australian team. Best regards, Bruce Rosen

From A W Banks
The stern treatment on Le Defi is certainly unusual compared to many IACC boats, although having seen a number of photos of Team Dennis Conner's USA-66 and 77, they would appear to have a similar, albeit slightly less extreme, stern design. While the French AC teams have a history technically of either being good (although never excellent) or abysmal (specifically their vastly resourced 1995 campaign), Reichel/Pugh designed the only 2000 generation boat to have taken a race off NZL 60, so this has got to be an idea worth watching. Her vivid yellow livery seems somehow appropriate - for sure a 'Nuclear boat' should glow in the dark

Bob Harris writes about Kingfisher's latest performance
There has been much hot air spoken about the wonder of Kingfisher. In the end it takes more than a good boat to win races ? Clearly MacArthur has always been more than just a passenger and may even have consistently out performed the boat! Bob Harris London

Jason Saunderson thinks there is a clear definition between record breaking and racing
"Firstly with his Orange program he is looking at 'throwing down the gauntlet' to the other G-class multihulls. A match race turns the event from being a fast, possibly record-breaking passage into a full on competition." Hmmm... one boat out on a passage and it is called a "sail." Two boats going in the same direction and it is called a "race." Pretty simple really..

Grundig's attemept (just for the sake of it) at the 24 hour monohull record is totally pointless (especially funny when they fail) because they weren't competing in any race. They got to choose their conditions, whereas illbruck didn't. Similarly, Fossett setting the Fastnet course record not during the Fastnet Race is a complete crock. I live in Hong Kong and race on a ULDB 70 called Ffree Fire (the old Pyewacket). This boat holds the HK-Hainan Island, HK-Vietnam, HK-Manila and HK-San Fernando (Philippines) records(among others that are so obscure no one will know about them). The crew has never set out when we saw a typhoon on the weather channel just to see if we could set those records. All of these course are scheduled races when the best weather should prevail annually. These big swinging dicks have to get some racing organized (with all that sponsorship it should be easy) and sail the course with the weather that is thrown at them. We'll be shaking in our seaboots (and laughing at the bar) when and if Orange shows up to better the Hong Kong to Macau record!

This anonymous reader has these suggestions for the G-class multihulls
Another way to expand the race potential of the G-class multihulls would be to create an unlimited class for these boats in some of the more significant trans-oceanic races: like the Jacques Vabre, the Route de Rhum, Quebec-St. Malo, etc. The prestige of the races would attract both the boats and their sponsors and make head to head competition between, say, PlayStation and Geronimo more likely. An unlimited class would also inspire new technology and design, just as The Race did. Most important it would lead to some seriously exciting racing.

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