Brad, you just upset the pride of a whole organization. Nice!
The internats last year definately sparked all the debate, and in good reason. IMPBA has learned a lot from that race and I believe are doing everything they can to not let that happen again. If a proposal is written, a responce should be made so the person who wrote the proposal doesn't feel it fell on deaf ears.
After reading some of the good posts, manufactures were mentioned. I got to thinking that maybe 92 is too high. If the limit was....say 85, this would force the pipe manufactures to step up their R&D. Most current pipes would be illegal, but we would all start on an even playing field. If a pipe producing 92db outperfoms a pipe at 85db (if this is the case), most people will buy the 92db pipe as performance is still the #1 factor.
I believe the racers are mostly at fault for not doing everything we can to quiet our boats down. I have been to many races where there are always one or two boats noticeably louder than the rest. These are the guys that like would rather have top end performance. If we can get those guys to get to the level of everyone else, then we will be slowly leveling the playing field.
Thinking out loud now...for debate and discussion only as no idea is a bad idea:
How about docking the loud boaters points? If someone is noticeable louder than the rest, dock them points each heat until they are in the same field as the rest. I don't care what db reading they are at. If they are not at the norm, then they are too loud. If we work together, we will eventually get quieter and quieter. Now you are not working to get to a specific db level. You are working on getting to your competitors level.
Brian