The tragic death of Stuart Smith in the Around the Island power boat race on Sunday will invariably raise questions about the safety of the sport, and of this race in particular.

For that reason, a public inquiry into the race is essential to ensure that all the necessary precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the participants.

It is a given that racing high performance boats in open waters carries some risk; the question that must be answered is what degree of risk is acceptable.

It may be that the time has come that all participants in this race must have had a certain number of inshore races under their belt before they are eligible to enter.

It is impossible to know if that would have made any difference in this race, since C-7’s driver, Chris Araujo, did have a great deal of experience in the Around the Island Race.

The other question that must be answered is whether the race should have taken place at all on Sunday.

The Race organisers took the decision the week earlier to postpone the race. That was the correct decision given the conditions and the presence nearby of the tropical storm.

Nonetheless, the race organisers were criticised by some of the racers and spectators, and that may have been on their minds when they decided to go ahead this week.

To be sure, some of the racers said the swell on the South Shore was heavy, but others said they had experienced worse conditions.

In future, drivers may be more willing to accept the safety decisions of the Bermuda Powerboat Association; the tragedy is that it has taken the death of Mr. Smith to achieve that. Housing investigationMuch of the community shares Opposition MP Michael Dunkley’s frustration over the lack of information coming out over the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal.

After Auditor General Larry Dennis conducted his investigation into the scandal and turned over the findings to the Police, a wall of silence descended over the affair, at least until it was announced last week that BHC general manager Raymonde Dill and property officer Terrence Smith had been dismissed.

That’s irritating for the general public, because it leaves a great many questions unanswered.

But it is also the way it has to be, at least for now. The Police must have the time to conduct a full investigation and should not be pressed into making premature judgments about the case.

That does not mean that the matter should be forgotten; when the Police investigation is complete and any prosecutions are undertaken, the Auditor’s Reort must be tabled in the House of Assembly and the Government must make public what steps it has taken to ensure that the Housing Corporation has the full confidence of the public. Nothing less than that will do.