Potter

Who s calling DFRT to win? It is starting to look that way to me, and that gives a little more option for TTTOP to get a boat between them and Scally!

Now? they are further away than before...

but doesn't help getting the signal to the shore...

They stated quite clearly during the last live show that the boats are out of range of getting the signal back truly live.

peel?

Basically a requirement for Vestas to be involved as a sponsor.

Yes, you are, but the fleet will be finishing as soon after midday on Sunday as can be arranged....

They asked for a unilateral decision, so that there would not be the case that there is now.

Definitely NOT what happened.

SHKS - Mr Lee TTTOP - Paulo Mirpuri Vestas - Roy Disney (not confirmed) All others were taking journalists and these are no longer going. Frankly I think this has been completely soft by the RD. They should have stayed with it, or got rid of the guests completely.

On board guests are no longer obligatory, however some are still going.

Easy answer. Auckland, Cape Town, Melbourne, Newport were stopovers that were expensive for the race, as although helped with VIK, they paid little or no fee. However Cardiff, Gothenbourg, Arhuus, Den Hague have all paid to have the race there, which helps with the running costs. So you have to balance the iconic and loved stops, like Auckland, with the ones that help to pay for the running costs of the race. Those places are not going to pay the same amount of money for some other grand prix event, and some of the teams do not have the operating costs to do that either. Whilst I agree that the final leg is bullshit, the penultimate one was brilliant in terms of offshore sailing.

The VO 70 would be absolutely useless in the Maxi 72 fleet. The 72s race windward leewards in the Med mostly, they would outpoint the VO70s upwind by about 20 degrees! With a fixed keel the 70s would be too tender to carry the necessary sail area to make up for their extra weight downwind. That would just not work.

Yeah, I think they were changing to the J1, TTTOP need to follow suit very soon or lose the place back.

Just looking at the footage from the helo. Whether you like Niall or not, this is freaking amazing coverage. One thing I noticed, in the difference between DFRT and TTTOP; same sail plan, DFRT just had a watch change, DFRT had one sail in the stack further back by comparison. All just fine margins. A change of breeze direction by a few degrees, and that margin will swing the other way.