No slot to cover, easier to access and maintain, lighter, stronger, cheaper and faster.

Faster? how so?

And what are the advantages to centerboards?

if there are so many advantages to daggers... why would they design/use centerboards on an elite level?

That is the way the boat was originally built...part of the design.

They still work pretty well and generally retract if you hit something.

DON'T always rely on centerboards pivoting up. First time I sailed H17 before I learned I snapped the end off at Deep South coming in. ALWAYS retract them when coming into beach or shore. Learned the hard way, it was costly.

Doug

Thanks Doug. I had a hobie 18 for a few years and learned what happens when boards meet the ground.... Look, i can fly... Tinkerbelle... I believe!

Now that i have centerboards... i am still VERY careful about shallows and such...

the SMOD rule was designed and promoted by a manufacturer for the company. Its been swallowed hook line and sinker by the great unwashed in IOC/ISAF

The big question is can we believe what US sailing and ISAF say?

In the past both entities and spoke-people are less than truthful.

Olympics should prove the might of the sailor, not the tricked out boat. The jockey, not the horse.
My suggestion might be to use a simple boat and rotate them each race, or every couple of races.
Best boat would be a Wave,
However, I would not be in favor of that, as I wouldn't want to see the class get ruined. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Rick

<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Citius, Altius, Fortius?

Reading some of the laser blogs, it sounds like they all get new boats and have a drawing for who gets which hull number for the games. (and the number 8 and it's derivatives very lucky, number 4 is very unlucky). They appear to have just had their drawing yesterday.

Inclusion in the Olympics certainly hasn't ruined the Laser class either. Growth in Australia has been significant particularly with the radial being added for the women.

Darryn
Mozzie
1782

Lasers and it used to be 470's and perhaps Finn's had boats supplied. Solings, Stars and Tornados have always been "run what you brung", but subject of course to stringent measurer's ruler.

It makes total sense for all boats to be supplied and drawn by lot.

The problem with that is...it makes sense.

It may be the host country’s option whether to provide boats, I don’t know.

I remember the Soviets contracted with Vanguard to supply 470’s, then we didn’t even attend.

The Olympics in any discipline have never been about making a lot of sense. The Games are always about medal counts and national pride, which puts everything into the hands of politicians. Each sport has a political hierarchy which dictates the standards for that sport and the athletes are at the mercy of these decisions.

Even the class selection we have just witnessed was biased by each country’s delegates choosing classes that they were stronger in…hopefully, anyway. What a bunch of crap.

Olympic selection is a class killer. You get the Olympians migrating in and out every four years, skewing any National or World Championship event.

If each sailing discipline had “supplied” boats, the same sailors would still fill them, but the racing would be fairer and more indicative of ability on the water.

That won’t happen and it probably isn’t what the political dinosaurs want anyway.

Todd,
Is ice curling considered a sport? Think about the control required to exxxcel in this event.

Sailing is an athletic event. period......

I guess my sarcasm doesn't come through in the post. I absolutely think racing sailors are athletes. That's what I meant with
"I agree with you on the athlete part though."Follow the thread.
The difference is you have to be athletic and think to sail. I'm not a powerlifter but I don't think there's much thought to it. As far as a "sport", anything can be a sport, just watch the VS channel.Just because it's a sport you don't have to be an athlete to do it.
p.s. I try not to think about ice curling.

Most catamarans are built for recreational sailing and they will not handle the requirement and wear that professional sailors have. Why should you force profesional sailors to use cheap equipment designed for recreational sailing? It is the cost running a campain for Olympics that should be concidered. If you need to buy a couple of boats until you find a good one that you must rebuild to get it right and then need to replace it after 6 month due to wear, that is expensive!

Take my Hobie 16 as an example. Even though it is not used by professionals it has problems. My boat cracked at the fron pylon after two years of occasional usage due to bad build quality. Later both Hobie carbon rudders cracked and was actually permanently bent and I don't even sail through surf! I have replaced them with german carbon rudders (430 euros each!) and they handle like a dream. The next step is to rebuild the rudder casting to get rid of the slop. To sum it up, even a recreational sailor needs to rebuild the Hobie 16 before you can race with it! Imagine that boat in the Olympics!

Why not have a dedicated olympic catamaran that is designed for professional use, has top quality and will last several years. The only catamaran that meets those requirement right now is the Tornado.

/hakan

Hakan,

Maybe you need to buy a Nacra product. I have sailed a I20 in 2 Worrell 1000's ( that is 2.000 miles) and a lot of other races and only broke a rudder from backing up in the surf and a spin pole from shrimping the kite. We had winds up to 45mph and days with 8 foot waves and the boat did just fine. All manufactures can have a bad batch of rudders or boards.

Hi David,
I will continue to buy the Hobie 16 since the class and the racing is fantastic! Hobie 16 is designed for the recreational sailor and if you want to race it hard you will need to change boat quite frequently and tweak the new boat so it performs ok. But if you have the chance to select a class for the olympics, Hobie 16 is not the right boat.

/hakan

Bottom line is the Hobie 16 is the Laser of multihulls. If multis get back in and they go OD the Hobie 16 is going to be on the short list.

Remember the olympic Citius, Altius, Fortius and what multihulls in the games are about.

Means different things to different people and we've already had this debate.