I have followed the Worrell and the Tybee closely over the years. In fact my Boat wa lent to Mark Murray and Tommy Gonnzales for the last W 1000.

If the race was still being run w/o starts and on anything under 20' than I could understand the gung ho attitude. But the event has evolved into one of if not the premier mulithull race in north america.

First let me say that I am a lifelong and die hard multi sailoor who practically grew up on a stiletto. Iam also however a resident of RI and get lots of exposure through working as a rigger and just general New England sailing to the "Yachty" community is alternately excoriated and coveted on this forum. Here is what I here from them. "What kind of a disrespectful idiot would drive there boat up on the beach at 20 kts".. To which i would usually reply, what kind of an idiot would strap a ton of lead to 400 pound boat thus guaranteeing its sinking in the event of a minor collision...etc,etc. Still I feel that they have a point here. You dont need a RC boat at every start and finish. All you need is a 15 foot boston whaler to go and set a pin between the RC on the beach and the pin at sea. Allow the racers to cross the line and then make it back to shore as safely and SEAMANLY as possible.. It just seams totally unnecessary to go crahing $20,000 worth of equipment into the ground(literally) to try and save a few seconds. Even if it was an untimed event, than a boat with a two minute lead could gently cruise into the beach rather than sail full bore into it in order to save precious seconds!