The problem is that the current race format isn't set up for spectating. Races take too long and it is too hard to see gains and losses between competitors with them being too far apart.

With very short races of say 5-10 mins, spectators can sit down in front of the TV for an hour and a half, see 10 or so races and they will figure it out. The scoring, the tactics, the starts, pretty much everything needed to understand sailing.

The scoring isn't hard, 1 point for first, 2 for second...easier than judged events with scores out of ten and corrections for difficulty.

Running starts where you have to fight for your spot aren't hard, NASCAR and car race restarts are nearly at that stage.

Tactics aren't hard once you can see ppl lose places for mistakes.

Unfortunately, the history of sailing isn't about short sharp bursts of speed. It has always been about feats of endurance lasting from hours to months.

I would love to see the top laser sailors in the world having 10 races a day of short, sharp and tight racing where one little mistake drops them to the back of the fleet.

What we can do is ask the race organisers to conduct a sprint series over a weekend, 20 races, no drops, doesn't really matter what the course is (ie. don't reset the marks if there is a wind shift), maybe have graded starts so there is a manageable number of competitors on the course at any time (probably 6 for cats, 10-12 for lasers).

And at the Olympics the medal race should be just the top 5 and first in wins, LIKE EVERY OTHER SPORT!

...rant over, sorry it jumped around so much...