This is from ISAF.
"Tuesday at the ISAF Annual Conference in Helsinki, Finland, equipment
was the hot topic, with the classes coming under the spotlight at both
the ISAF Women’s Sailing Committee and the Equipment Committee. Looking
towards the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Committee gave their approval
to Submission 079 to delete Regulation 16.1.6, which currently limits
the classes from which ISAF can choose the equipment for the Olympic
Games and Regional Games. Here’s the verbiage of the regulation: The
equipment for the Olympic Games and all Regional Games shall be chosen
from the following classes:
- Windsurfing: Funboard, Formula, Mistral, Neil Pryde RS:X
- Single-Handed Dinghy: Finn, Laser, Laser Radial, Sunfish, Byte,
Zoom, Europe
- Multi-Crewed Dinghy: 29er, 420, 470, Fireball, Flying Dutchman,
Lightning, Snipe, 49er
- Keelboat: Etchells, Flying Fifteen, H-Boat, J-22, J-24, Soling,
Yngling, Sonar, Star
- Multihull: Hobie 16, Hobie Tiger, Tornado"

Will it still be only one multihull medal?
Why consider the Tiger over the F18 (formula class not Nacra)? Other olympic classes such as Stars and Tornado utilize multiple manufacturers of hulls and rigging for a class. It would be like only consideringa Marstrom Tornado, not another manufacturer. My 2 cents.
cheers

Successful lobbying by Hobie Cat, their dealers and sailors? Not saying its bad, just most decisions like this are political in nature....maybe.

To hobie's credit, it would prolong the life of an older F18 design. I wonder how a second generation Tiger would change things. It would be hard to promote a MkII Tiger as the new top F18 and still market the old one as the Olympic class.

If that report is accurate --
Personally, I think it is because they want true one-design classes in the Olympics. Formula classes are kind of iffy and harder to explain to the spectators and viewing public. It is easier to be able to say, "All the boats in this group are identical."

As far as why they specifically chose the Hobie Tiger, maybe they felt it was the one out of the F18 group that was most one-design. And that is probably true.

I think they like the idea of having a manufacturer provide boats out of the box for the Olympics (like with the Laser), and maybe Hobie Company has said they can do that.

Actually, it is probably a good thing that they have given three options of multihulls for the Olympic class, because it means that at least they are thinking of keeping us in there. It also appears to mean that they are looking at more affordable and more widely available options for the Olympic class.

I guess the Tornado Class should be getting a bit nervous. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Interesting that there is no reference to how many classes will eventually race. E.g. will there still be a female _and_ male keelboat?

Not much hope for another multihull class, IOC wants sailing to decrease the number of athletes due to economic reasons.

F-18 class dont want olympic status (yet at least), so they probably never applied. Good move in my opinion.
Hobie Tiger could be OK as a one design boat in the olympics, but the Tornado is a more versatile class as you can adapt sails and fittings to creweight and personal sailing style.

Politics is probably a _very_ large part of it. There has been roumors that the Finn (male singlehander event) might be dropped so Rogge, a former Finn sailor, can earn political credit. When the Tornado with double trapze and spi was choosen for 2004, there was a large amount of politics going on.

If the Tiger was chosen for the games it would totally destroy the F18 class. All the Tornado Sailors would sail Tigers even though there are some new designs emerging that are/will be quicker, the fleet will be split into F18 and tiger groups each with a different purpose.

There is that..
Wonder what would happen with the Tornado if it was dropped from the games?

The ISAF chose the Tornado yesterday.

Go to http://www.xsracing.org

Yep, it's the Tornado for the 2008 event but its not decided for the 2012 event at Weymouth yet. My quesion was more rethorical as I think the Tornado will remain the olympic multihull for a long time yet.

Multiple manufacturers but still OD. The olympic games is about human achievement, not equipment (supposedly). F18 is just as much about different manufacturers competing as the sailors.

IMHO the T should stay as the olympic boat.

Tiger Mike

I agree. Keep the T as the olympic boat and the Tiger/F18 separate. Both classes seem to work quite well with this system.

If it were dropped, it would continue for quite some time but would gradually decline over time as there would be little reason for new blood to get into the class which would be a shame.

Tiger Mike