Race Website is Back Up/Rules Concerns

Hi all-For those that may have noticed the RTW Website was down, it is now back up and is expected to remain up for the duration of the race. I apologize for any inconvenience caused by its outage.I've noted that there's been some 'grumbling' about a few rules for this year's race. This is absolutely fine! Part of what makes the RTWR great is that we exchange ideas and work together toward a consensus of what is fair.I want to make sure everyone knows that the ears and minds of the RTWR Executive Committee are ALWAYS open to pilots. We will do our level best to respond to every e-mail we get and to address any concerns that anyone has. Anyone who wants to discuss issues they may have with the rules may do so by e-mailing anyone on the Committee: Me, Mike MacKuen, or Ian Dale. We will listen, and we will do our best to fix a problem if something's wrong, or strike a compromise, or explain our position.The way we make decisions on the Committee is by discussing things until we reach a consensus, and I feel that this is the same way we should communicate with people participating in the race. We're always happy to discuss anything you might care to, and if you can persuade us of the validity of your viewpoint we will do whatever is needed to address your concern, including changing a rule.So, please, if anyone is dissatisfied with what we've done, please feel free to e-mail me and we'll discuss the state of affairs and what we can do to remedy it.I can be reached at [email protected] Wishes to everyone in the RTWR Community.Only 6 more days until the flag drops! Best of luck on the final preparations and planning.-Matt SmithPS - There have been allegations that the rules set we've put in place for this year's race was designed to specifically favor one team or another. (Strangely, we've been accused of favoring one team by one group and another team by a different group!) I want to reassure everyone in the strongest possible terms that the only motivation of the Committee in setting the rules is to give everyone the fairest and most fun race possible. We would never, ever intentionally favor one team over another. You may note that while I myself participated in the first two RTW races, I've not taken part in any since. The reason for this is that I felt as the race got more and more popular, it became paramount to have my impartiality as a judge be beyond reproach. My commitment to fairness is absolute. I swear to everyone here that the Executive Committee will not ever willfully act to favor any one team over any other so long as I'm on it.