I can't help but think too much emphasis is being placed on the Olympics. If it is believed that the loss of catamarans in the Olympics will greatly hurt the sport, then it must be believed that the Olympics greatly helped the sport, since something cannot greatly hurt if it didn't greatly help. But look at how cat sailing has diminished since the late 80's early 90's...all during which catamarans were represented. How much could it have possibly helped? How many cat sailors have you known that got into the sport because of the Olympics, or truly sail only because of their aspirations to make it there?
I also have trouble believing the loss of the Tornado will cause a decrease in the loss of R&D. It's reasonable to say that Tornados led the way in many developments, but problematic to say that without them we would not be where we are today. Correlation does not imply causation.
I do want to say though that I feel for all you Tornado sailors out there. You guys got screwed. Some people obviously had their head up their @$& when voting.
