From SA
We are shocked. We cannot believe it. The ISAF presented the rules for the Mixed-Multihull evaluation trials yesterday, and incredibly, they have excluded the Tornado Class from competing in the trial! The Tornado class is the forerunner in Mixed Multihull Sailing, is an amazing performer, and has a great Olympic History. None of this matters to the ISAF Technical Committees. Their rules for the trials:
20-Foot Container
ISAF restricted the length of the new multihull to be a max of 5.898m (the inner length of an 20 Foot container), but no one will travel with a 20-foot container. Anyone who ships boats around knows that a 20’ box is too small to be economically (or environmentally) friendly for long distance travel when shipping anything bigger than Lasers, and that 20-footers are frequently more expensive to move than 40 footers. If you want eco-friendly, economically efficient transport, the Tornado has been doing it for literally decades (10 Tornados plus coach boat plus all equipment in one container) with 40 footers. Why the unreasonable restriction?
2-Piece Mast Required
A two-piece mast is heavier than a one-piece mast. It’s more complicated and far more expensive to construct. It’s less reliable and more subject to breaking. It’s harder to make it watertight. Over time, the juncture can loosen up and change bend characteristics; you can even change mast bending just by playing with the joint. Two piece masts do only one thing well: Fit in 20-foot containers that won’t be used anyway.
120-140kg Crew Weights
Wow – another class like the 470, windsurfers, and 49ers goes the featherweight route! For 2016, an average man of 80 kg has no chance any more. With the Star and Eliot out for 2016 and the multihull going the waif route, only the thinnest and wiriest of athletes will be able to sail for a gold unless your name is Ainslie.
Many mixed-multihull teams, including some extremely successful ones, weigh well above 140 kg. And the new average weight of a mixed team should be 130kgs? This could disqualify 50% of all mixed sailing teams even with dieting.
What weight statistics ISAF used? If you watch real Olympic Athletes and normal average weight statistics, we end up above 140kgs. The 120-140kg team weights with an average of 130kg forces bulimia for Olympic Athletes. Check this.
National Sailing Federations - MNAs
They lost the Starboat. They lost the Elliots. Now they lose the Tornados, which are ready to sail on all continents today. Let’s ask the MNAs what they think about this. Every 4 years the MNAs have to buy new Olympic sailing equipment? Who should finance this?
Media
ISAF want have a small boat. The media will have less interest in it. Sailors get fewer sponsors because the boats are less impactful. This means: Downsize Olympic Multihull Sailing…so the media won’t pay attention…
ISAF Committees
If you looked carefully inside the technical committees of the ISAF, you see sailors with great commercial interest who create the rules the way it fits perfectly to their boats/products they sell. The Tornado Class is a real non-profit organization, but what about the commercial interests of some sailors on the inside? Is it possible that a few bad apples, with a say in the rules, weren’t happy enough to have kicked the Tornado out of the Olympics four years ago so they kicked it out again – but this time, even before reaching the starting line of the ISAF trials? It might just be.
ISAF must act now!
There is only one way to come out of this dilemma. Change the rules and allow the original “Tornado” to sail the ISAF evaluation trials! E-mail me if you think you can help!
Best regards,
Roland Gaebler, Tornado Class President
