Looking into doing the race and might I say that the list of potential boats to use does NOT include a H-18....
IMO, speed is safety to a point. The longer you're out there, the more chance of something going wrong.
Wait a minute...I just read this thread where a few people were arguing that a N20 was safer offshore than a TheMightyHobie18. That might be true, but lets put it in perspective.
No beach cat would even rank as 'safe offshore sailboats' due to their open configuration. Robi, correct me if I'm wrong. Most boaters die from exposure, therefore, even a 1978 Santana 22 would be infinitely 'safer' than the nicest brand new F18.
The safety ranking would look like:
x)
x)somethng with a cabin
x)
x)
x)
Then waaaaaay down the list, almost at the bottom next to the kayaks and faaar down from the Santana 22...
x)
x)
x)
x) N20
x) TheMightyHobie18
x) Kayak
x) open canoe
x) kiteboard
My point is that on a safety scale the TheMightyHobie18 and n20 are not that different.
j
