In the First three races, sailors raced against each other using "one man"  Topper class dinghys.  The racing was fast and furious over short courses, where carnage was not unusual. Here, an unexpected gust hits the fleet from behind, capsizing the leader and nearly taking the others as well. 

Then, from the previous "every man for himself" attitude, they had to form strategic alliances with other competitors, in a switch to  the "two man" Hobie 16 catamarans.  

Under the rules, if there were ties, these ties would be broken by racing in the Toppers, again. In this regatta, prizes were for the individual, not the team. 

The uniquef Format was superior to the, already challenging, Hobie or  Topper races, in many ways. 
. It allowed Hobie crews the opportunity to actually beat their skippers. 
. It tested how adversaries were forced to work together as a team 
. It tested the sailors sailing skills in different types of boats. 

In the regatta, all the equiment was lent to competitors by TLYC. Competitors were not allowed to use their own boats/ equipment. To further minimize any gain by use of superior equipment, The boats were rotated among the competitors so that no boat was ever used by the same person or team more than once.