Hi Rick -Mary and all

Was surprised today to see the amount ,-Mike had mentioned the prize aspect .

We --many partisipants have sailed the race numerous times ,for the love -enjoyment of the sport .
I have mixed thoughts on it ,-

Many areas have prize money in sailing now and in the past -Austrailia -France etc,,-nothing new .
There were the Prosail events and also the Ultimate Yacht Race events in 88 with modest prize money .
It did not change things much .

The larger amounts will require a sponsor for many teams ,-and with that demands ,-good and bad.
I,d like to see the prize money spread out a bit more over 20 -or 30 teams ,-
Several teams are very happy and thinking --heck with the 401k --here is the retirement fund ,-
Thinking if Brian and Jamie had this in place the last two previous races they would be going for the over one million or 1.2 mil.mark this one ,--whew !!!
We will see numerous teams get much more serious about training -practise and obtaining sports marketing firms and sponsors , basically taking a similar professional approach as in so many other sports .We will see many more teams from competitive classes from overseas as well .

It will add tremendous interest to the race and the sport .
Carl