I finally had a little time this weekend to jot down some thoughts regarding the latest Olympic Tornado mess. A blog made by one of the editors of Sail Magazine, where he speaks with some of our US Sailing officials, inspired me to respond. The arguments they present are many of the same arguments heard before and show a very narrow vision and shortsightedness of their position. Read Kimball Livingston’s blog HERE.


For those who aren’t up to speed on the matter, the US Sailing submission to the ISAF for the 20012 Olympics did not originally include a multihull although the Tornado catamaran has been in the Olympics since 1976. Multihull sailors mounted a huge campaign and the submission was withdrawn and resubmitted that included two multihull events (one men and one womens). A little over a week ago, the ISAF met with the delegates from around the world to vote on the events for 2012. The US delegates choose to ignore the submission made by US Sailing and not one single US vote was cast in favor of the multihull. Combined with some other strategies from other countries, the Tornado lost by one vote and will not be included in the 2012 Olympics. Our head cheeses in charge have repeated several times that they don’t feel that the US has solid medal potential in multihulls - and even if this is a wise way to choose events, it’s a load of crap.


This position to vote for events in which the US has medal potential absolutely baffles me. Not only does it sound like a bad way to build our sport, but the claim that the US has little medal chance in multihulls is garbage. Simply look at the results! The USA has won medals in the Olympic Tornado four times since it was first included in the Olympics in 1976 (8 events). This matches the 470 men, matches the Star, and is two MORE than the Finn! Where are these guys looking that they don’t see the US medal potential in the Tornado?


So perhaps they’re saying they don’t see much potential after Johnny and Charlie retire after the next Olympics in Quindingo? If so, they’re not looking. The championship regatta recently held for the Tornado in California to determine who defends the US spot was nearly won by, “gasp”, someone other than Johnny and Charlie (Robbie Daniels and Hunter Stunzi). J&C pulled out a last day miracle to win. Maybe it’s the lack of a huge youth program that they are using to gauge potential? If so, they’re not looking – and I’m beginning to think they don’t look on purpose. Multihulls (largely on our own but within US Sailing) have built a terrific youth program created and managed by only a few very inspirational people. Olympic-berth runner-up, Hunti Stunzi, is a product of this program and there are many more very talented youths working their way up the program now. I know this because I manage the US Sailing Multihull Championship where we have held open a youth position and have seen them race against some of the best in the country in the Championship. I also race against them on the water from time to time. While I may not be a world champion, I’m not a slouch and I can see these young guys and gals get stronger every time I see them on the course.


Even if our elected volunteers were looking at the situation fairly, determining the best medal potential is a bad way of choosing events. We don’t subscribe to our national and international sailing organizations hoping that our delegates can maneuver inside the system to win each of our respective countries more medals. Instead, we subscribe to these organizations so they will manage our sport. A big reason that we lost an Olympic event for 2012 is because sailing, as presented in the Olympics, has been BORING. It’s difficult to cover on TV and hard for spectators to watch. The Olympic organization has told us this. What really bothers me the most about this ordeal is that instead of reaching out to this challenge and dealing with it directly, our sailing leaders continue to think selfishly inside a confined box and ignore the bigger picture. They should be focused on making our sport show the fresh, new, and exciting things that are happening around the world within sailing. Eliminating one of the fastest sailing platforms in lieu of a handful of traditional mono-hull dingies pays no heed to the reason we have to eliminate an event to begin with. Hell, if snowboarding gets a Winter Olympic spot (at which it immediately became a stunning success) the ISAF should be asking itself why the foiling Moth hasn’t been a consideration for one of the sailing slots right next to the multihull!