Most editorials this week focused on the ISAF's decision vis a vis the events for the 2012 Olympics. I'd like to have struck a balance, but frankly it was impossible to find anyone who thought the final vote result was anything but a disaster.
Most notable are those from the current crop of Olympic sailors:
* In a letter to Magnus Wheatley's Rule69blog.com, Ian Walker, one of Britain's greatest sailors:
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 24 hours ago I thought the ISAF Events Committee had sobered up from their night on the tiles by deciding to axe the 2 keelboat classes - at last they have seen some sense. Get rid of the 2 most expensive boats to campaign that hardly anybody sails - obvious!
They have now perfected a U turn faster than any modern political party. If ISAF cannot see that high performance dinghies are the way of the future and that the obvious way to increase female participation in the Olympics (and the sport) was the women's high performance dinghy then there is little hope.
How can you possibly justify ruling out a women's high performance dinghy in favour of women's match racing? How many countries have a women's match racer? Is this the future of our sport? Compared to high performance sailing, match racing is dull and the technicalities are understood by few - there is no obvious feeder (except maybe university team racing) and the bigger countries will simply 'out coach' the smaller nations to victory. If match racing is so good why has it already been kicked out of the Olympics for the men? If it is so good then surely have it for men and women! I suspect it is simply a convenient way of getting the number of female competitors up with only 1 medal allocated.
The saddest thing in all this is that Weymouth is a fantastic venue for high performance sailing and there will be lots of female 29er youth sailors who will not be able to move up to the Olympic classes. I wonder how many young sailors were asked for their opinions by ISAF? Whilst nobody will shed a tear for the Yngling which should clearly have never been an Olympic Class, what about the Tornados? Surely it offers more of a spectacle than Finn sailing? Surely it is more appealing than Star sailing? I have sailed Stars in the Olympics and even I think they should not be in the Games. As you rightly point out there is light at the end of the tunnel as ISAF Council will probably make another U turn and change this decision when they next meet, which kind of begs the question why have the committees in the first place. I'm with you - let's bin the committees and have a dictatorship. The question is 'who would make the best dictator?'
* In TheDailySail.com, comments from Shirley Robertson and Simon Hiscocks: Shirley Robertson: Some might say that match racing will be good for the sport as it can reduce costs dramatically with boats being supplied for events, but Robertson maintains this is simply not the case. "It would be interesting to know how see it working. Are they going to select a boat or are they to be supplied? If the reason is to lower price then I do not think that they have really thought it through. If you are going to be match racing in different boats then you end up buying two of each for training. Then the rich countries just get better and better because they can buy more and more boats," she points out.
This is not the only problem either. Robertson adds that with fleet racing in theory anyone can give it a go, but with match racing it is much more difficult as entry to regattas often involves invitations based on each individual sailor's ISAF ranking.
Simon Hiscocks: Haha the ISAF cannot get themselves out of their comfortable little place and move the sport on. They are still clearly stuck in their choice of disciplines with relation to the actual classes used. What clear thinking person could justify a single handed boat for the men as well as a single handed boat for the men , when the women get only one choice of single handed or double handed boat to sail.
They hark on about the need to improve the sports' image to raise the media profile etc and then fail to deliver when it really matters...
I argue that the one person dingy serves the same sailing community as the heavy, particularly as the keel boat also fits into the heavy category. Look at, currently, the class in question, either you get lighter and sail a Laser or sail a Star, simple. It doesn't serve a particular sector of the sailing community. Nor is it representative of the sport - the Laser is the worlds most popular sail boat, nearly all other single handers are a slightly smaller or larger derivative of this, (go on Phantom and OK sailors get your arms in the air) so the Laser represents this sector of the sport. -- lots more from both sailors at www.thedailysail.com
* Olympic multihull sailor Darren Bundock: What can I say? I am shocked, disappointed and totally confused. I have lost all faith in the ISAF and especially the council decision-making process. Sailing has taken a massive backwards step not only eliminating the multihull but not implementing the women's high performance skiff or the women's multihull. Just keeping the doublehanded dinghy and not moving with the times.
Our sport had the chance to take a massive jump in London 2012 (finally an Olympics possibly with wind) but our sport has been destroyed by a council made up of inactive unyouthful ex-sailors living in the past.
The multihull has been discriminated against, it was the easy option. Despite multihulls making up for 25% of the sailing fraternity we have very little representation on the ISAF council. They are all elderly keelboat sailors. I'm surprised the multihull got so close to defeating the keelboats. I am at fault in not believing ISAF would discriminate against a whole diverse discipline in the Olympics. -- Boating OZ, www.boatingoz.com.au/?page=24014
