Olympics: ISAF May meeting report by Roland Gaebler
It seems the door is open for several Olympic bidders lilke the Viper, Infusion, Nacra F20, Wildcat, C2, Tiger and the new SI Phantom with a new trial against the mighty Tornado!
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By Roland Gaebler – Mixed Multihull is on the final road to color up the Summer Olympics….
The ISAF Events Committee just finished the voting procedure at the midyear conference in St. Petersburg and there was no discussion for the comeback of the Multihull. There was also a little Chance with the Submissions from the Netherlands to get 2 Multihulls (Women + Men) in with the 5:5 slide.
But finally the biggest group with same submissions went trough. The Keelboats (Starclass and Women Matchracing) are complete out. It seem the finacial crisis and less money in the MNAs make it impossible to finance Olympic Keelboat sailing.
Also Kiteboarding went out early in the voting procedure. So no colorful and action loaded flying surfers.
Tomorrow the ISAF council can change the vote again the Events Com. made. So there is still an open vote to change it 100%. But with the view to the submissions again, it looks Keelboat Sailing has not the strong voice as in the years before. Also Sailing Nations like GBR and AUS had no Keelboat in.
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We hope the ISAF has not missed the chance to upgrade Olympic sailing with a high performance Multihull. We need to have a boat like the Tornado which fly´s the hulls in any wind condition.
So there is a massive need for a spectacular class in the Olympic Arena. With our Tornado Speedsailing www.speedsailing.org and the high quality one design we have the perfect solution for Rio 2016 and the ISAF World Cup Series.
But it looks they send us again (like 1999 in Quiberon) into an expensive evaluation event. We already have one fo the best price-performance ratio in Olympic sailing and a IOC TV award and many mixed teams at the top.
But there are 20+ cats with “dollar-signs” in there eyes who want have the Olympic Multihull spot too. So if we go into a ISAF multihull battle we’ll get 1 winner and 19 losers, burning hundred thousands of €€€. Instead of burning money, we should the best and proven formula we have: The HQ OD Tornado.
We hope ISAF realize there is no need for an evaluation event. But if we get one, real olympic sailors should test the boats in all wind and wave conditions and decide what class they like for the future. We are ready for this Challenge.
More news tomorrow. Greetings from St. Petersburg, Roland + Nahid www.teamgaebler.de
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Horseshit.
God bless ISAF for kicking the dinosaurs out. But I am by no means convinced the Tornado is the best multihull choice.
This guest post has the tone of desperation and class-interest propaganda. The arguments for the Tornado's suitability are not very strong, if you really stop to think about and question them.
Let the goddam evaluation proceed. Let the "hundred thusands [sic] of €€€" be spent now. So that teams and MNAs from developed and developing countries alike don't have to spend them later. ISAF is recognizing its error. Now lets do this fucker right.
Well said ^^^^^
The Tornado was design by Rodney March in 1966 !!
Do you really think it is the best way to represent our modern sport 50 years later ????
It is like you would make today the Formula 1 grand prix on a Jacky Stewart's BRM…
https://lh3.ggpht.com/_K0u8P-2pV7c/SbmZOMul0sI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/GtBEKk1wW5Q/Various177.jpg
Mixed do not represent at all the practice of the sport, 95 % of the sailors do not sailed mixed…
The Olympics should really represent the practice of cat sailing. Have you ever seen any mixed crew in the America's cup or any other major event ?
Sick of hearing everyone say there are no successful mixed teams! Have a flick through hobie worlds results. Top 10 is always dominated by mixed crews.
And the 16's arn't easy competition either.
If you want a new age boat look at recent F-16 results.
Mixed doesn't represent the majority by any means
but it is represented.
mixed is a shitty compromise, even people like Bundy do not agree with it knowing he is promoting the Viper…
They need the multihull at the Olympics, do it properly make one male and one female class or make it open.
I think we are actually in a position where the multihull is strong enough to do it
^^^ Amen to that!
To Anonymous #3 and #5 (this is Anonymous #1): Thanks so much for lowering the level of discussion down a couple notches with your dumb-ass mini-rants about the gender representation in sailing… Do you have some kind of problem with girls? Seriously, like, what's the deal, man?
This isn't about event selection. We all knew where that was headed. There is going to be one (1) multihull event.
This is about what's happening in St. Petersburg and what impact that has on equipment. People from all over the place read this blog. What they want is to hear what's happening on the ground in Russia. What they don't want to hear is a plug for a specific class.
Dixit Darren Bundock on twitter:
Still reckon the whole mixed multihull is just a shitty compromise 2 keep every1 happy except the sailors. It's the Olympics, get serious!!
Concerning the selection of the boat, we must have an evaluation event ! in order to get a democratic choice
oh, I get it now.
If Darren Bundock wins the trials for Rio 2016, but the IOC holds a gun to his head and says that in order to compete he has to have a vagina and a pair of breasts with him on the boat instead of another penis and pair of testicles, and if he then wins gold… Well then we can all sympathize because we'll understand that it's just a "compromise" gold. I mean, the medal will be actual gold, but really it'll mean more like only a bronze or at best a silver. Because without that other pair of balls it won't really be gold. Just some charade that was set up in 2011 to keep everyone except the sailors happy.
If it becomes mixed..Say F-16.
what will be the winning combination?
Male or Female on the helm?
If they screw up and choose F16 for mixed then the best combo will be female helm ( maximum 65kg) and male crew ( max 65kg) so how many teams will fit that weight range?
And before you start with the f16 can carry 150kg bullshit, take a look at the history of weights in the 49er class, laser and laser radial. As soon as they gain Olympic status the optimum weight drops a lot.
Low down your language, this is not sa, this is the front page and a lots kids are reading the blog.
"Rant" at will with opinions and biased or unbiased positions, just calm down with vocabulary.
For s*** fights got to sa forums.
Given the fact that Im sailing an F18 Tiger with a mixed crew, (female helm, me string puller) I think it's an interesting development, if not perhaps the best or only solution. I think by pushing to have more female cat sailors around, it can't be a bad thing as it's opening the sport to women who might not have ever thought to jump on a cat and do some races. Just don't pick an F18 for the Olympics, that would be dumb and not really great for the class. I like the idea of the N20 carbon, it's logical successor to the Big T.
Pick an F16 and we will have kids sailing in the Olympics or the boats won't be upto full speed. To get down to that weight as an Athlete will be horrible.
Pick the F18 and the class will be ruined, all sailors will be sailing the same boat after 4 years because everything (boats, sails) will be cheaper than the rest.
It needs to be a 20foot+ boat to show our sport in the best way.
If you look at the Olympics in 2008 all of the sailors lost lots of weight for the light winds, their diets were unhealthy and it made them ill.
What manufacturers will come up with a boat? Who ever does they need to make sure it can take 250+ days of sailing a year if not the sailors will be returning the boats and getting new ones for free. This already happens in Olympic classes.
The worrying thing for me is that ISAF will be picking the boat…… Maybe it will be a Dart 18? Who knows…..
Since when we go for the olympic to see kids sailing grow up the minimum of age have to be control than,or better in 2016 may be the optimist !!! will get a Olympic status .
Better stay by the old we have the Tornado class back in the Olympics and in 2016 a other catamaran class for the Finn class.because with the Americas cup in 2013 we want have fast and spec tackle on the water and not sleeping boats they can't make a step back. I think we get more fast boats in the future like now the hydrofoils Moth class and look what happened more boats like to have a hydrofoils like the formula 1 racing cars more people going there than to a old classic car race . sailfast the champ
I think Olympic catamaran sailing should use the Nacra F20 Carbon for the men and the AHPC Viper for the women.
However, if it is going to be co-ed, then I think the helm and crew should switch positions between every race, just the way they switch positions in mixed doubles tennis. I think this would make the whole thing very interesting, if not representative of the sport.
As far as the boat goes, I think the F16 is too small for mixed (optimum crew weight is about 250 pounds). F18 would work fine, although the crew weight/corrector rules might need some adjusting for the purposes of a co-ed regatta.
As for the current Tornado, it would be good too. It hardly resembles the original 1960's boat since the rig was updated, although the hull shape and low-aspect foils are outdated.
Finally, I think there should be some long-distane racing within the Catamaran discipline, not just course racing.
Ed
Toronto
Hmm, a 16ft cat is definitely too small, it will end up being a class for very light people, I thought the olympics was about strength, speed and courage. Maybe they should put the Tornado back for Rio 2016 and in the meantime start testing other boats against it at ISAF regattas. A 20 footer is best, the tornado has a great rig size for mixed sailing, and with the development that has recently gone into the tornado carbon mast & sail plan, it makes this a great starting point. Maybe putting new hulls with curved boards under the present rig and beams would allow significant cost savings for teams to get a boat together.
Men's Board or Kiteboard – evaluation
Women's Board or Kiteboard – evaluation
Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser
Women's One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial
Men's 2nd One Person Dinghy – Finn
Men's Skiff – 49er
Women's Skiff – Evaluation
Men's Two Person Dinghy – 470
Women's Two Person Dinghy – 470
Mixed Two Person Multihull – Evaluation
FINAL DECISION ^^