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If you listen to the whole interview its not really about the dolphins. Sail GP is ok with protecting the wildlife. Its more about the Iwi. Nowhere else in the world do they need to pay upwards of 300k to appease the various authorities. The layers of bureaucracy all trying to tiptoe around the Iwi and the dolphin huggers go absolutely over the top. There were a dozen iwi appointed so called dolphin experts on $600 plus expenses per day from last Wednesday. Sir Russell called it right. The woke madness around stuff these days is just too hard. The rest of the world bends over backward

And yet, he went ahead and signed the contract and its terms and conditions. We know that RC is a sharp commercial operator. He is for sale to the highest bidder. Any statement he is making must be viewed as a positioning tool for the next year - a warning shot that if its not cheaper/easier for him, he'll take his toys and go elsewhere. Now everyone has clarity - RC is in it for the money, local entities need to decide if the paltry amount SailGP pays is worth it balanced against the cost and the options to spend on a different event.

The dolphins live to swim another day! Many other SailGP events lose a days' racing due to wind strength, so not uncommon to cram it all into one day. Meanwhile Burling needs to improve his starting. Lucky to win with starts like that.

As an inspector I’d suggest you get a boatbuilder to do a little exploration, remove some of the glass and see if the corrosion is surface or crevice ? This will dictate your next action, document / photo this process as this will help with insurance and certification etc going forward. Plus an insurance company and safety inspector will accept a qualified boatbuilders recommendation ‘If they need to come out and be rebuilt your still then able to do either all or some of this work but follow the professional advice

They delayed for an hour last year when dolphins appeared.

Sounds like there is more risk, or as much risk, in a redesign than there is keeping them as is. What is the background, are you planning a voyage in the Southern Ocean, or Gulf Cruising? Brand new rigging can fail. Sure, there is a correlation with very old rigging failing, but that doesn't exclude new gear failing. Especially if it is a novel or un-proven design. Or poorly installed. An alternative design is to glass in a large lump of hardwood. You could then screw the chainplates straight to that, keeping them visible, so you meet your objective for inspection etc. This is w

Quite frankly they were bloody amazing this year. Best welcome ever. But we could certainly see the writing on the wall. I've always enjoyed this race and would love to see it back in 2025. However it probably needs the support of a couple of Auckland clubs to get the numbers up.