The typical approach (a deep flame trench) is likely impossible due to the high water table so close to the beach. Some other novel approaches are likely possib

The typical approach (a deep flame trench) is likely impossible due to the high water table so close to the beach. Some other novel approaches are likely possible, and I'm sure they'll now pursue one, but coming up with and building a design would probably have taken awhile, and they apparently did some testing that suggested they could get away with not doing it, at least for a bit. It's now obvious that they were wrong, but if they had been right, they would have acquired a bunch of data that would have unblocked a bunch of additional development on the vehicle itself that could have proceeded in parallel with improvements to the launch facilities (the one they're already building in Florida has a conventional flame trench) that they otherwise would have had to wait months for while more-extensive launch facilities were built, so it wasn't necessarily irrational, knowing what they knew at the time.