Registered: 04/10/03
Posts: 1605
Loc: Melbourne, Australia
The Tornado and F18 is far from too big, heavy, loads too high for Olympic mixed or all female crew (We are talking about athletic women / men). Both classes both have mixed and all women crews currently racing at both club and International level. There are a lot of female sailors out there who would handle the boats comfortably, not only currently sailing multies but from other classes such as 470s, Lasers, RSX etc. Could see a few cross into Multi sailing.
I would like to see a OD boat such as a Viper as the next Olympic boat but would be just as happy with the Tornado.
Well for the TV/video... you really like big.... Therefore, I would bet on the One Design Tornado or another 20 footer with the rig scaled back a bit to win out in the end.
You need a step up program... if, the junior step up boat is something like an F16/SL16/Viper/Dragoon then you usually need something bigger for the adults (room in the boat at least)
You can also sell the notion... same platform... different rig for men/women if you get two mulit's down the road.... (begging the question... how do you kill off the Finns. )
The Tornado platform regulations are set... the loop holes have been closed (mast issues) (sail issues) and the equipment proven to hold up for a couple of cycles.
Another strategy...Pick a 16 footer for mixed...spec small sails for juniors... Long term.. Plan on replacing the Finn.. with a Single Handed Multihull with spin for men and keep the 16 footer for women.
Paul Pascoe asked a great question... Why was the Tornado not accepted world wide for the previous 20 years? Expanding on that question... Look at the F18 Worlds... even fewer countries represented.... Even the Hobie 16 has fewer countries represented these days. Make no mistake... the AC cup brought the multi back ... However, the underlying problem of participation in multihulls world wide exists. Now add the need to get women campaigning on two High performance boats (skiffs and mixed multis) ... the challenge is not trivial.
4 years ago.... the request to the rank and file was... show up at worlds and other international events AND expand the sport to the next tier of countries... OK...we lucked out with the AC ... Now we need a strategy to grow the sport world wide...Increase the number of women, grow the sport at the youth level world wide AND MAKE GOOD TV.
Now that is a challenge1
