[Gebi]

On the start; I agree with Kent, it should be done on the water and as he described.

The start for the top riders will be one of the main deciding factors in who will ultimately prevail. Ultimately this race is a challenge of navigation, rider skills, tuning and endurance.

Getting tangled up on the beach in the middle of a botched "beach rabbit start" does a disservice to all the riders. (A rabbit start would work fine if we had less competitiors)

A good "on the water downwind start" gives everyone equal opportunity to depart the beach safely and get positioned on the water to hit the starting line moving and unobstructed by other riders; as all riders will have the ability to position themselves relative to traffic and for their own optimum VMG downwind angle.

We just need to make sure the race management/ race committee endeavor to police the line with over early kites being disqualified.

A hard one minute rule would make policing the starting line easier; meaning if any one is over the line in the last minute of the aformentioned starting sequence, they are disqualified. (This can also be controlled with the help of a video camera on the beach documenting the over early riders)

If the start is so bad (too many unidentified racers over early) that it needs to be started over as a "GENERAL RECALL"; a fast committee boat positioned on the outside bouy could hail back the riders by driving down wind of them and flying a general recall flag signalling them to return back to the starting line.

With a fleet of this size and wide range of rider skills, an on the water starting line is the only and safest option that offers equal opportunity for the whole fleet.

Gebi