G'day Charley,

I did hear that the total retirement from waterspout damage was 11 yachts - mostly from dismasting ... or destruction of sails - despite them being furled and covered. The winds managed to whip out an end - and then draw out enough canvas to tear the sail to shreds! (Keep in mind these are racing sails, not not round-the-Horn heavy canvas rig from a square-rigger.)

I'm not sure what the total race field was ... around the mid 80 mark, I think - so we had something like a 20% retirement rate from that single catastrophic event.

Regards,

Bob Bolton