snip (Jeff, if the
Macs have a fundamentally unsafe design, where are the hundreds of
reports of capsizes and drownings that would be expected with all the
other 30,000 boats? With that many boats, if the boat was inherently
unsafe, and with that many boats out there, we would see hundreds of
such reports every year.)

I'm curious about something here. The implication of this statement seems to
be that a capsize typically will result in a fatality and hence would be
reported. Is that a fair assumption to make? Could it not be that these
boats *do* capsize with some regularity, that no fatality or other
significant harm results, and that the capsize remains unreported? I'm not
saying that is actually the case. I'm just questioning the force of the
argument from silence that is being used here to prove the contrary (i.e.,
few *reported* capsizes = few capsizes).

--Alan Gomes