Originally Posted by Mark Schneider
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Will the ISAF/MNA's will finally 'get it' that these boats are essentially non-viable as an Olympic class?


The answer is NO!

The vast majority of sailing organizations are oriented towards keel boat/yacht racing. That is why you will have a big problem changing the culture of keel boats in the Olympics. The dominant view of the majority of sailors is that the Olympics are an intermediate stepping stone in the sport.... not the pinnacle. They don't WANT to see the Keel boats go away from the Olympics. IMO, they see the role of the Olympics is simply to feed talented sailors into the real sport of racing these big boats.


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ISAF should focus Olympic strategy more on youth, and encourage adoption of more exciting (for athlete and spectator) events and equipment


This has been the IOC request for years... YET...
The ISAF woman's committee voted overwhelmingly to have keel boat match racing rather then TWO events in High performance skiffs and catamarans for 2012.... (This is the point of view of the athletes... not the old guard running ISAF)

The IOC is not going to be impressed with 40 year old women wiggling the stick on Elliot's . The Olympic vision is for youthful athletes competing for the pinnacle of the sport.... Not a warm up for some variation of America's Cup Match racing without the spectacle.

How big of a stick does the IOC have to smack the ISAF and MNA's to get with the program and change their stripes???....

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The IOC provides ISAF with 65% of its income (2004 figures). Probably more significantly MNAs and sailors benefit financially too through support from NOCs and sponsors; the Commission estimates this to be worth over €100m annually - and this does not include the industry, including manufacturers and classes, that supports Olympic sailing.


65% of the money that funds ISAF is from the IOC and this is a pretty big stick... But... probably not big enough to change the international mindset and culture. One of the reasons that the USSA did not go all out for multihulls was that the private US funding was primarily focused on donations to keel boat racers in the Star. In a choice between a multihull and a Star... The USSA went with the money and their athlete strength in Stars.

This is a catch 22... if ISAF moves to fast spectacular youthful boats... it will loose the support and interest of the majority of sailors in the world. EVEN If they change equipment to implement.."fast and exciting and youthful" .... then poor countries can't play and you loose another key factor for Olympic inclusion.

The challenge for Olympic Sailing is much more then 'No Keel boats' and putting the catamaran back in the mix. I think the IOC is asking the sailing community to change it's stripes for inclusion in the Olympics ... We have been white washing this zebra to fool the IOC for years but it won't work anymore... (Dumping the Tornado was just stupid if you wanted to keep fooling the IOC).

The Olympic Movement has taken off and competition with other sports for entry has increased. Perhaps the traditional sport of sailing is just not a good fit for the Olympics in this enviorment.

Will the sailing community change and support the IOC demands.... or will we run the sport without the Olympics?


Nice post! The Blue Blazer crowd may think that big boats are the real deal, but anyone that actually sails competitively knows better. Additionally with their membership dwindling in drastic fashion, the center of power and vision for the sport may be changing. I see an opportunity for a change, but it requires a vision that will be unpopular for the reasons you cite.

As for 40 year old women in the Olympics not being exciting, bite your tongue! Foxy Dara Torres won a silver medal in Olympic swimming!
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Last edited by rexdenton; 05/13/10 01:23 PM.
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