If you want to find the best Olympic sailor(s), have each and every Olympic sailor sail a series of youth boats use a point system to determine the best sailor, and sailing teams. No more stoking egos and steering agendas, (and the fatasses would disappear!). I’d pay really good money to see a Yngling or Star ‘Ballast’ crew member in a Laser, Finn or Catamaran in 15 knots up. Yep, this is not too practical, but might work to solve the woes of the sport. Such groups would have to practice as a team on a fleet boats, and the process would detach the real athletes from rich club guys that ‘deserve’ Olympic status as a result of money.

Either ISAF are driving agendas, or, the process/the meeting in Spain is/was fatally flawed-plain and simple. Either our ISAF reps dropped the ball/showed weakness through lack of assertiveness, or they did not want the boat. I agree with Wouter. Implying that the blame should be equally shared by catsailors is baloney. By unilateral action, the Olympic sailing committee of the ISAF firmly established that they will make decisions by fiat, ignoring input, in support of nationalistic team oriented agendas. (I am nobody, but I saw this and wrote ISAF to this effect prior to Spain. The reply was that all groups would be represented-now totally disingenuous in light of what happened.) To parade that the actions were the result of some noble effort to 'put out fires' disguises or even lends credence to the notion of elitist back room deals. Further, a good way to savage an unpopular idea is have it represented by non-communicative incompetents in the forum, as it opens the door for the ‘Agenda’.

In this case, the result the spirit and underpinnings of Olympic sailing were fully undermined by the process. I think also that the ISAF has set a stage for sailing disappearing outright from the Olympics in the future. Perverse as it is, maybe this is what is needed to take the sport back, and maybe the A-Cat guys have gotten that much farther ahead. I don’t think the Olympics is a place for rich fat club guys sailing 4 knot esoteric designs in order to pump their egos up and think they are the best in the world at sailing. It’s Baloney.

I would add, on a boat that goes 4 knots, a few millimeters difference probably means something lends a performance edge. However, that begs the question, is it to be equipment, or skill and athleticism that defines a Champion? On a catamaran, position, wit and sailing skill mean much more than 5mm on some 4 knot keel boat. I am not a great sailor but I can fully appreciate this aspect cats, and will not soon forget the time I sailed a fast F18 boat in a pin race, and watched a champion cat sailor in a hobie 16 identify lift and tide suitable for him to sprint off, catch it, and lick our team and a few other F18’s fair and square, across the finish line. Pretty neat stuff.

On a boat that goes 4 knots, maybe a few millimeters difference probably means something to the performance edge. But Wouter is right. A guy with a thick wallet will be the first to cry foul and trot out equipment spec deviations as the reason he lost. (A bad carpenter always blames his tools, as they say.) Is it to be equipment rules, or skill and athleticism that defines a Champion?