Mary,

No disagreement that the ruling complied with the rules. Also perhaps fair, if the kids first sailed from the dock of their own free will, independantly exercised poor judgement, and were truly responsible for breaking the rule--designed to protect them from their own immaturity and hence inability to judge safety for themselves. But what if a bunch of 11-year-olds were pushed off by parents and coaches? Is it reasonable to expect a child under those circumstances to "choose" to say no? The article is somewhat ambiguous on that detail.

I simply objected to the righteous tone of the piece that this was an important life lesson deservedly learned through severe punishment resulting in heartbreak; adults control and are responsible for every other aspect of the regatta (and parents no doubt derive great secondary gratification from their kids' success), so it seemed that there could have been more done to prevent or remedy the situation other than ruining the regatta for 15 youngsters.

The situation is very much different for kids under the absolute stewardship, supervision and influence of legal guardian adults, and adult competitors who are obviously sportingly and legally responsible and liable for their own actions.