• The week in pictures
• Recommended reading from the editorial team

Dear readers,

The 50th Rolex Fastnet Race came to an end this week. And delivered figures, pictures and videos that provided material for discussion in the regatta scene. Over 40 knots of wind were forecast for the first few hours after the start, with current against wind in the Solent. By no means a Sunday sail, but rather a proper wash was to be expected. However, of the more than 400 teams taking part, only 15 decided not to start. All the others dared to take part, but around a quarter of them had to give up early, there was material damage aplenty and one yacht sank.

• 50th Rolex Fastnet Race: Mass tasks - "A cauldron is nothing compared to this"
• 50th Rolex Fastnet Race: "Mayday" cries, sunken yacht, broken mast

Parallels were quickly drawn with the terrible 1979 Fastnet, when 15 regatta participants lost their lives in a late-forecast hurricane. "Nothing learnt from the past?" asked one user on Facebook, and others followed suit. "I also lack any understanding for the start, a postponement would have been good seamanship." Or: "Of course, every team can decide, but the organiser must remove such pressure and irresponsibility."

Does he have to? Does the organiser have to postpone a regatta like this by a few hours so that the conditions are more moderate? I think not. The strong winds were forecast long in advance. For the vast majority of the ocean-going yachts that were entered, 40 knots and significantly more were factored into the design. Yes, it was obviously very tough hours, as many participants reported. But who was forced to put themselves through them?

I think you can look at two groups. Firstly, the professional teams with multihulls, Imocas or Class 40s, for whom there is certainly a certain amount of pressure to compete in order to fulfil the wishes of sponsors, for example. For them, however, these were conditions that can occur at any time in the big regattas across the Atlantic or around the world. They also normally have the experience to deal with these conditions. There was no need for protection from the organisers in this area.

Purely recreational or semi-professional crews are not subject to such constraints. They "only" have to weigh up whether they feel up to the task at hand. Of course, the decision whether to go out or not is not always based on purely objective arguments. It's also about ambition, the Fastnet Race is not just any regatta. And people have gone to a lot of trouble and expense to take part, so it should be worth it.

However, it cannot be the task of a regatta organiser to curb this ambition or to assess whether the crew has sufficient experience, at least not in these predicted conditions. Where would be the sound barrier up to which the conditions would be acceptable for everyone? 20 knots, 25, 30? A race committee has no chance of pleasing everyone and has to use the passage in the sailing instructions, which states that each skipper is responsible for deciding whether to start or not.

The fact that around three quarters of the participants crossed the finish line proves that it was doable for most of them. The vast majority of tasks were due to material damage, such as torn sails. However, there was nothing to read or hear about a struggle for survival, apart from one sinking, the cause of which has not yet been clarified. It would also have been possible to turn back and head downwind to Cowes at any time, as the videos show.

However, I do not want to absolve race organisers of all responsibility. Of course, the race officer can protect the sailors from damage by postponing the start if the wind is too strong. This is also regularly practised, especially in dinghy regattas. And it would probably also have been the case for this Fastnet Race if much tougher conditions had been expected. The organisers demonstrated this flexibility in 2007 when the start was postponed by 25 hours due to the weather conditions, the only time this has ever happened. However, even then, 271 yachts took to the starting line in still gale-force winds and high seas, 207 of which had to abandon the race.

Then as now, the decision to take part was ultimately up to each individual skipper. Those who finally made it to the finish will be justifiably proud of this achievement - because of the tough conditions at the beginning.

• 50th Rolex Fastnet Race: "Caro" wins, "SignForCom" top German boat

Lars Bolle,

Editor-in-chief watersports digital

Click to see through

The week in pictures:

Recommended reading from the editorial team:

• Click here for all previous "YACHT Week" columns