He did rig it but seldomly pulled it. His own comment at the time was that he saw a few more experienced sailor crash under spinnaker and decided not to take the risk considering his own skills at the time. A good decision, no doubt about it, it won him the title.

In the distance race later in the week he pulled it and raced himself to the top 5 in a 75 boat fleet (Marcus being ahead of him in that race at 4th spot on corrected time)

Tips for racing against F18's and I-20's. Really plan ahead when rounding C-mark. Make sure you have a clean entry and exist at the mark. Slow down if you have to in order to cut behind a fantatical (abusive) F18 crews. Enter wide and come out tight. When done right you'll pass them again on the exit. Really try to not get covered by the sloops. They'll run you off the mark and often barge at you; HUGE time waster as you in 1-up mode can not take any risks and have to steer well clear to avoid damage So DON'T DO this.

Try to steer deep under spinnaker keeping the luff hull just out. You can make up very good time on this legs with respect to F18's and I-20's. Keep to clear air upwind and go through the middle unless one side is really obviously favoured. Don't sail away from the race leaders (they'll have figured out where the pressure is on the course). So try to follow their path while keeping clear air all the time. Don't get into any pointing duels, F16's are more of a footer then a pointer.

Wouter