I thought the 4 discards was a good idea because last winter Ireland and England had little or no wind for at least 4 months of the year so those months for us have been discarded. At the moment we are in the middle of a new ice age with feck all wind again so maybe leaving the 4 discards in make the competition fairer for all countries competing as we are probably gonna have a crap winter for wind again. In Holland they can't sail for at least 3-4 months due to most of the spots icing over so dropping the discards to 2 would be very unfair for the countries that can't get out and sail
Just a thought