Very true, people perish from exposure. When comparing the TheMightyHobie18 to a N20, the advantage of an N20 is it is much faster, making your exposure smaller. The faster you can get in and out the better it is overall.
This is why faster is better for something like this. The faster teams will be less exposed, because they will finish the crossing in a much faster time.
I don't believe exposure is the issue when all is well and either boat/crew is performing optimally. An hour or few difference is all we are talking about.
However, when either boat/crew is disabled, the exposure/survival issue progressively gets more critical.
At best, rescue resources will be limited. I wouldn't count on the organization to be able to provide much. USCG will do whatever is within their capability, but keep in mind that if conditions are bad, there will be more than one of you needing assistance and there will certainly be non-racer related missions that the Guardians will be attending to as well.
An EPIRB might be more useful than a VHF, but the VHF will be handy when rescue is nearby. Only the Coast Guard will be able to receive the EPIRB signal however. Chase boats would not have locating abilities.
A tough and unsinkable boat makes more sense than a fast complex boat IMO.
