Olympic Sailing Classes

westernman

westernman

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I don't find the current selection of classes for the Olympics very inspiring. The only one which I think should be there is the 49er. Also there is no catamaran.

I would have preferred to see some more challenging boats - e.g. instead of the laser and the Finn may be something like an International Canoe or the Contender. Also high a performance cat - may be the AC45?

What would you have chosen?
 
Well they have quite a dramatic decision in throwing out windsurfing and bringing in Kitesurfing.

There is a catamaran, the Nacra 17 for mixed teams.

These will first appear in Rio 2016
 
michaelchapman said:
I don't find the current selection of classes for the Olympics very inspiring. The only one which I think should be there is the 49er. Also there is no catamaran.

I would have preferred to see some more challenging boats - e.g. instead of the laser and the Finn may be something like an International Canoe or the Contender. Also high a performance cat - may be the AC45?

What would you have chosen?
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As a long time Finn sailor I would say its probably the only class they should be sailing if you consider what the Olympics are really all about.
 
fantasia7628 said:
Agreed, the only true Olympic classes currently sailing are the Finn and the Star classes.
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Why ? The Star was an anachronism only kept in by vested interests. The Dragon, Soling and Tempest keelboats were all better IMHO.
And not quite sure why a slow heavy Finn is seen as "true Olympic either"

Arguably the Laser is the real Olympic challenge. Unlike the other two it is not cheque book sailing so more countries and athletes around the world can compete (look at the very low entries in ISAF Worlds events for stars by comparison.). All the boats are supplied so all about saling ability.

All the countries of the world gave their views and after the Laser/Radial most wanted the 470s also to be retained. Again world wide usage and fleets a key factor.

But the skiffs - including women's selected this week - and new cat are also truly Olympic in challenge to sail, speed and spectator appeal
 
The Finn is an athletic challenge to sail in the Olympic spirit. Not sure where the slow Finns are! Of course the Laser is a challenge to sail too, simple because its a god awful boat to sail. When the Finn was a supplied boat by the host country was when Olympic sailing was at its best. I was impressed by 5.5's when they sailed too but that was more about money than man to man physical effort. Lets have Finns only provided by the host country and have the competitors naked like the early games.
 
I think the reality is all dinghies present a challrnge to sail well. The choice of classes for Olympic sailing is as far as I can see very political, even though it rarely seems to give any advantage to any individual sailor. In general organisation supplied boats is a good idea as long as one can guarantee uniformity, easier with some classes than others.
 
fishermantwo said:
The Finn is an athletic challenge to sail in the Olympic spirit. Not sure where the slow Finns are! Of course the Laser is a challenge to sail too, simple because its a god awful boat to sail. When the Finn was a supplied boat by the host country was when Olympic sailing was at its best. I was impressed by 5.5's when they sailed too but that was more about money than man to man physical effort. Lets have Finns only provided by the host country and have the competitors naked like the early games.
Click to expand...

I think that something like this is much more of a challenge to sail well and fast than a heavy under canvassed Finn.

http://www.single-handedskiffs.com/
 
Many of the changes are politically motivated ,for instance the Tempest was set to be the replacement for the Star at one time but the lobby from the US and elsewhere kept it in;
now even the catamarans are missing. Nothing has replaced the Flying Dutchman class that is remotely Olympian.
Lasers and Finns, there are enough of them racing worldwide to give we amateurs a chance /thought of approaching such standards achieved by Ainslie etc.

ianat182
 
Isn't it surprising that the Laser's dominance didn't come sooner? With the Radial rig, wasn't it always a good choice for the women's singlehander? I actually liked the Europe dinghy - but I can't help thinking it was only chosen because it resembled a mini-Finn.

As to the Finn - if it's ever denied Olympic status, I'll lose what interest I have in the Olympics. Everything about the Finn - its brutal hiking-position, the crew-weight, strength and endurance required, seems to me to sum up world-class heavyweight singlehanding...

...not that I personally could hold one upright in more than a force two, but there's something Argonautical about the class and its crews, which I always admire and can always watch. I strongly approve of there being differing classes, to suit different weight-groups.

The 470 seems to me to justify its popularity - and versatility - it's not a problematically large or heavy hull to handle ashore, and the design doesn't seem to deny lightweights their chance. Plenty of room for serious tuning; and those boats certainly can fly!

Why the Tornado was ditched and the Star retained, I don't understand. Both rare and extreme, but while the keelboat needs to be drysailed and pampered at vast expense, Tornados must be relatively easy to live with, and were an exciting symbol of sailing at its peak.

I guess we must embrace whatever apparatus the committee selects for sailors to prove themselves in. But personally I don't like the way the 49er looks - an artless, weight-obsessed contrivance, compared to the Flying Dutchman's noble scale, shape and power...

...presumably, if the windsurfing element is electing to get rid of the whole conventional rig, may we expect by 2024 to see no boats at all in the Olympics...just hydrofoiling kevlar platforms of different sizes, dragged by kites?

Of course it's a fine thing if popular classes like the Laser allow anyone a chance. But it'd be nice to think that the Olympic boats themselves could retain an element of visually-appealing prestige, to equal their super-fit, super-competent crews.

Granted, I like old designs better than new, in almost every field. If weight-lifting used recumbent maidens, it'd be a bigger spectator sport than it is with steel bars and discs...

View attachment 18526

...and if the Olympic boats are beauties like the Finn, they'll attract more interest than if they're merely efficient, low-weight high-tech.

Re Star boats...presumably teams from Australia, the US, Canada etc, are having their boats shipped to Cowes via Southampton, in containers?
 
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That's some excellent footage there - nice to see the top blokes get it wrong sometimes too ... ;)

Now - if they could provide that sort of footage for the Olympics then it would make the viewing more attractive ...
 
Maybe if the boats carried attractive passengers, more people would spectate?

I daresay I was misinformed about the Finn’s contrary awkwardness when it blows hard. I’d be the first to say how comfortable the boats look – decent freeboard and beam, plenty of space. But I’d heard they’re spine- & abdomen-wrangling, quadriceps-busters!

If I was taller, fitter, less fat and more muscular, I believe the Finn class would be all I’d ever want from sailing. Tough, weighty, quick in a breeze and space for a girlfriend or two. The interviewer-totty here shows what I mean (mute if, like me, you don’t know Spanish):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ouum7gYx8s&feature=related
 
I'm not sure where the quote came from, but there was a quote from an Olympics a while ago:-

"It must be windy - the Finns are planing!"
 
I think I agree.

The Star should certainly be dropped, but I would like to have the Dragon back. I say that because the Finn has to be hiked, so there is no Olympic class that can be sailed from inside the boat. In an ideal world, there would be such a class, because it would allow paralympic sailors to compete on equal terms with the physically fit.

There is a very strong case to be made for including a singlehander that relies on skill and agility, rather than weight - the IC is a boat that really ought to be in the Olympics.
 
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Isn't the skill & agility test, best supplied by the Contender? I believe Lexcen drew the Contender as a replacement for the Finn...presumably on exactly the basis that you state - that racing successfully in it, isn't mainly a matter of having large personal ballast and brute strength.

The Contender is also quite a lot faster than the Finn, and compared with subsequent 'rack-&-kite' singlehanders, it's like comparing a pretty woman with some sort of functional, soulless sex-robot from Quagmire's nightmares. Musto skiffs & RS700s really aren't things of eye-catching beauty. Whereas...

Contender_sailing_dinghy.jpg


...pictures like that will attract non-sailors to the sport, and appeal equally to the dead-keen.
 
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