I have actively supported the Tornado class for years from behind the scenes. I no longer race Tornados, but A's instead. This arguement needs to about catamarans in the Olympics right now versus which is the most suitable class to represent this discipline in the games. Right now at the 2007 Ronstan A-Cat Worlds there are 6 former and 2-3 present Tornado Class Olympians or medalists competing. You have former Olympians and world champions from other classes also racing there. The reaction from those attendees at the 2007 Ronstan A-Cat Worlds has ranged from utter dis-belief, shock and dumb-foundedness through to outright anger that this happened. There are some in attendance that are also fine or at least ambivelant to this. So be it, if you feel strongly about this issue, then speak up and get involved with the fight and help campaign to reverse this decision. I am a member of USsailing, ISAF, USACA, ITA and UKCRA for the simple reason of either giving support or wanting to have a voice. Since the decision came down, I have written and sent almost 30 letters out, letters not emails, to every individual that I feel is either responsible in some way for how the voting went or has the ability to impact this decision. I have also read the UKCRA letter and want to know much more about the US delegation and the 470 class. Is this real or is it hearsay? I do not want to begin throwing darts at targets that are wrong, but I do want to know if there were underhanded politics at play here. I want the TRUTH about what happened here and after the ISAF recommendation that listed 5 men's events, 4 Women's events and finally multihull as the open class. I re-post below the ISAF Events Committee reccomendations.

THE OLYMPIC BOAT DEBATE AT THE ISAF
The events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition are the main focus of the day at the ISAF Annual Conference as the Event Committee meet in Estoril, Portugal.

The ISAF Events Committee is tasked with recommending to the ISAF Council the events to be used for the Olympic Sailing Competition. The events are selected five years ahead of the Olympic Games, so at this Annual Conference the decision is for the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. The ISAF Council will make the final decision on the ten events in their meeting from 8-10 November - the Events Committee are affectively the experts and their recommendation will help inform the Councils decision.

[quote] The ISAF Council, at the 2007 ISAF Mid-Year Meetings, had decided on a split of six male/open events and four female events, and drawn up a list from which the ten events could be selected Like the Womens Sailing Committee yesterday, the Events Committee broke the decision on the ten events down into several stages. First up was the decision on the discipline of the womens keelboat event (if selected): match or fleet racing. The Events Committee mirrored the decision of the Womens Sailing Committee and decided on match racing.

The voting process went through several rounds. First of all the multihull option was rejected from the womens slate. Next up the keelboat (match
racing) missed out. In the mens events, the voting process ended with a choice between the two person dinghy and the keelboat to fill the sixth event slot. The two person dinghy won the day, making the Events Committee recommendation to Council for the following events:

Windsurfer - men
One person dinghy - men
One person dinghy heavy - men
Two person dinghy high performance - men
Two person dinghy - men
Multihull - open
Windsurfer - women
One person dinghy - women
Two person dinghy - women
Two person dinghy high performance - women

The Events Committee will now pass their recommendation on to the ISAF Council, who will decide the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition in their meeting from 8-10 November[quote]

What angers me the most about this are two things. First are the back-room dealings and collusions that seem to have been perpertrated by our own US delegation and that is un-forgivable. Second is simply that fact that there are 6 dinghy events in the games. Count them 6!!! What is that all about? Please someone, tell me that this makes any sense, help me to understand why this is good for sailing in general, youth development or the proper representation of the sport. I am at the point that my anger at the organizing bodies is so great on this issue that I might begin sending out letters that actually show my anger.

I keep reading statements posted in many different places basically stating so what, who cares or what is the big deal. I think on a thread on Yachts and Yachting somebody posted a reverse look at the classes with every class being a multihull.
Like:
Men's Multihull-Single
Men's Multihull-Two Handed
Men's Multihull-Single-Heavy Weight
Men's Multihull-Two Handed High Performance
Men's Sailboard
Men's Keelboat or Double-handed Dinghy
Women's Multihull-Single
Women's Multihul-Two Handed
Womeen's Multihull-Match Racing
Women's Sailboard, Keelboat or Double-handed Dinghy


This might look great to all of us who have or once had Olympic asperations. Imagine, 6 classes that could possibly get you there! But it is just as wrong as the decision that took place yesterday. We do need an Olympic berth, not for catamarans to thrive, grow and prosper, but to give our youth a chance to believe that they have what it takes to compete and win at that level. Let them have a place to dream about an Olympic future. This is not for everyone, but it should not be closed to this segment of the sailing community. Sailboards were not on either the US or UK initial proposals, but there was great support for both classes and great for them. It is time again to continue this fight or campaign. John William's email reply is basically that maybe it is time to look to 2016 with a laser like focus. I am not ready to give up on 2012 and believe that if we loose representation there, it will be much more difficult, if not impossible to be re-instated 4 years down the road. rmemember that Stars were removed from these games and petitioned their way back in and will now be represented in London 2012 as well. Please do not give up! Please join the fight. Thank You!

The RYA has published how they voted on their website (see below). I wonder if US Sailing will have the balls to do the same.

-----------------------------------------------------

Olympic matters
This year the main issue facing the ISAF Council was the elimination of one Olympic Event, as the International Olympic Committee had ruled that the sport could only award 10 Medals, instead of the current 11, at the 2012 Games.

In respect of the Olympic Equipment selection, the RYA supported eight Events, as outlined in its submission 103-07, and in respect of the two in which the RYA was silent, RYA expressed preference to retain at least one of the Men’s “heavyweight” Events. Essentially, the RYA was seeking to broaden the appeal of the sport through the introduction of an appealing modern dinghy to attract more female sailors, while retaining the spread of Events to reflect the wider sport.

The RYA was influential in discussions and supported the Events Committee recommendation (the expert committee who recommends Events and Equipment to ISAF Council) which included the eight Events in the original RYA submission as well as the Multihull and Men’s One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy Event.

However, in a one-off ballot, ISAF Council voted to eliminate the Multihull and to change the Women’s keelboat from Fleet to Match Racing.

The RYA cast its votes as follows (RYA votes in CAPS):

Men (6 from 7 Events to be selected)

Women (4 from 6 Events to be selected)

WINDSURFER (selected)

WINDSURFER (selected)

ONE PERSON DINGHY (selected)

ONE PERSON DINGHY (selected)

TWO PERSON DINGHY (selected)

TWO PERSON DINGHY (selected)

TWO PERSON HIGH PERFORMANCE DINGHY (selected)

TWO PERSON DINGHY HIGH PERFORMANCE

MULTIHULL

Multihull

Keelboat (selected)

Keelboat Match Racing (selected)

ONE PERSON DINGHY HEAVY (selected)

The RYA believes that the recommendations of the Events Committee would have moved the sport forwards, and enabled more nations and sailors to take part in Olympic sailing. RYA is disappointed by this decision by the ISAF Council.

Now the focus will move onto the decisions at next year’s ISAF Conference in November, which will determine the Equipment to be used in each of the Events at the 2012 Games.

http://www.rya.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/newsroom/news/isafcouncil07_olympicevents.htm

I would really like to see the full image of this ballot. Hard to make out exactly what the stipulation is if a multihull is choosen with regards to the women's event.

The email address for Goran Petersson of the ISAF is mailto:[email protected]

IF you contact him please don't make it abusive.

News Release 10 November 2007

ISAF RULES CATAMARANS OUT OF OLYMPICS


Yesterday, the ISAF Council voted against any Multihull Event for the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in Britain. It decided that in future the only sailing boats to be raced should have one hull.

In doing so, it voted against the fastest boat at the Games, the only Event Open to both Men and Women, a permanent fixture for three decades, the recommendation of its own Events Committee, the strong endorsement of the host nation, and a sport invented in Britain.

The international catamaran community is shocked at the ISAF decision. “The bottom line right now is that Multihull sailing has no seat at the ISAF table. And, ISAF has voted that it is a monohull organization” according to Mike Grandfield (US), Chairman of the International Tornado Association, the Olympic Multihull.

“This is has nothing to do with objective assessment of Olympic selection criteria, but everything to do with sailing politics” says Nick Dewhirst, Chairman of UKCRA, the UK Catamaran Racing Association.

That is backed by David Brookes (AUS), the ISAF Representative for Hobie Cats: “It is disappointing as we did have the votes until the US Delegation did a “deal” with the 470 Class at the expense of the multihulls.”

While ISAF Chairman, Goran Petersson’s (SWE) statement says “The ten events chosen for the London Games provide a perfect showcase of the wide range and diversity of sailing”, Dewhirst believes this is patently not so.

He says that you can sail in the Games standing up, with a lump of metal to slow you down, in something slow or unpopular and with one, two or three men in a boat, but you can’t do what the sailing public wants, which is to sail the fastest and most exciting kind of boat with a member of the opposite sex, because it has two hulls. You can’t race in either the third most popular boat in the world (Hobie Cat) or the fastest one (Tornado), so if the Sailing Regatta is not about diversity, popularity or excitement, what does ISAF think it is about?

The International Olympic Committee has already sent ISAF a warning that sailing is at risk by cutting back the number of its Events. This decision increases the likelihood that the whole Sailing Regatta could be thrown out of the Games entirely, as some nations see it as white, rich and exclusive.

- ends -

Note to editors:
See also www.imsaf.org, www.isaf.org, and www.rya.org.uk
Media contacts:
Public Relations: Chris Laming on +44 (0) 7711 118196
Chairman: Nick Dewhirst on +44 (0) 1227 282625


http://www.asnr29.dsl.pipex.com/UKCRA_Pres...se_20071110.doc

think again.. the laser is a SMOD ..
it caters for a small group of sized sailors..

The T was originally chosen because any home builder could turn one out.. It was stitch and glue ply..

not true.. you can go build a T.. they were originally stitch and glue ply boats..

Ok so no one wants to make their own.. Don't blame the makers or cost.. that is a furfy.. Im sure there are guys on this lsit who given time and desire could turn out a T.. Now go build a class legal laser.. See what happens ..


N20s arent spread widely enough to be a selectable class..

Yeah but ALL this bickering as to what class should be there is immaterial IF we cannot get a multihull back in the games. Once that is done THEN lets argue what class!!!!!

THEY DON'T WANT YOU!!!! To make them change their minds, you must get what they want. Recognition translates to dollars, that's what this is all about. Change the game. Make them want you.

See my other post.

Jake,

sorry but that small crop is all I could find. It is just of historical interest by now anyway.

Here are the members of the ISAF Council:
http://sailing.org/555.php

The council consist of an executive committee formed by the president and seven vice presidents (I have no clue as to how they are elected). Then there are 28 representatives of MNAs (national assocs) formed of groups of countries. Scandinavia, group G, had two representatives, one from Denmark and one from Sweden. Now, where do we find the minutes and the tally of which votes went where. Perhaps some of you guys in the US can contact your representatives and check out what the 470 deal was about?
This sure has turned into a PR nightmare for ISAF.

On the ISAF Selection...


* The RYA Statement:

(Editor: Kudos to the RYA for publicly stating their votes. I'd like to see other prominent MNAs follow suit.)

This year the main issue facing the ISAF Council was the elimination of one Olympic Event, as the International Olympic Committee had ruled that the sport could only award 10 Medals, instead of the current 11, at the 2012 Games.

In respect of the Olympic Equipment selection, the RYA supported eight Events, as outlined in its submission 103-07, and in respect of the two in which the RYA was silent, RYA expressed preference to retain at least one of the Men's "heavyweight" Events. Essentially, the RYA was seeking to broaden the appeal of the sport through the introduction of an appealing modern dinghy to attract more female sailors, while retaining the spread of Events to reflect the wider sport.

The RYA was influential in discussions and supported the Events Committee recommendation (the expert committee who recommends Events and Equipment to ISAF Council) which included the eight Events in the original RYA submission as well as the Multihull and Men's One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy Event.

However, in a one-off ballot, ISAF Council voted to eliminate the Multihull and to change the Women's keelboat from Fleet to Match Racing.

The RYA cast its votes as follows (RYA votes in CAPS):

Men (6 from 7 Events to be selected)
WINDSURFER (selected)
ONE PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY HIGH PERFORMANCE (selected)
MULTIHULL
Keelboat (selected)
ONE PERSON DINGHY HEAVY (selected)

Women (4 from 6 Events to be selected)
WINDSURFER (selected)
ONE PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY (selected)
TWO PERSON DINGHY HIGH PERFORMANCE
Multihull
Keelboat Match Racing (selected)

The RYA believes that the recommendations of the Events Committee would have moved the sport forwards, and enabled more nations and sailors to take part in Olympic sailing. RYA is disappointed by this decision by the ISAF Council.

Now the focus will move onto the decisions at next year's ISAF Conference in November, which will determine the Equipment to be used in each of the Events at the 2012 Games.

* Richard Gladwell in Sail-World New Zealand:
At its meeting, the Events Committee recommended the dropping of all keelboat events - a decision which never really had the wings to fly past Council.

The process followed by the ISAF Council is that the Events Committee's recommendation is moved as an events package, and if not accepted then each of the Council members put forward their slate of 10 events (according to the gender ratio of six mens events and four female events). Such a process is governed by self-interest, and lobbying, rather than strategic direction.

On this basis, the two keelboats were restored but with the women's keelboat changing to a match racing event. To create the space for these two events, the High Performance Womens doublehander and the Multihull were dropped.

Both were in the telegenic category - meaning events/classes that added spectacle and media appeal and come across well on television - rights from which contribute the majority of ISAF's income. It has been no secret that sailing has been under pressure to significantly improve its TV and media performance by the IOC and their media rights advisers.

From this perspective the Events Committee had made a call in the right direction, and the Council decision is a huge step backwards for the sport at Olympic level.

The major failing of the selected events card is the retention of two doublehanded classes in the mens competition. The physical differences required of sailors to compete in either are not that significant, and there should only be one men's double handed dinghy event.

This move, along with the reinstatement of the multihull, would then give a ten event card which reflected the classic, the spectacular and the athletic, as well as providing the required geographic spread through the Laser and Laser Radial, and windsurfing events. The classic boats such as the Star and Finn would be retained, and the re-introduction of matchracing would be watched with interest. The addition of the multihull would round out the sailing spectrum - meaning that all major disciplines of the general sport were represented at Olympic level.

If the current slate of events remains, the Olympic side of the sport will be seen, from a media perspective, to have taken a big step backwards - and one from which it will find it difficult to recover. The risk of yachting being dropped as an Olympic sport has probably increased significantly. -- More on www.sail-world.com

Voting Results

Excellent! I am not going to ask how you got your hands on that, but it's excellent!

Very interesting tally for the multihull event. US Sailing was backing two multihull events but the final tally show all three votes going elsewhere than the multihull. Looks like US Sailing need to spare the carrot and swing the whip over their representatives. GBR and the RYA seems to be at odds with themself with one vote for the multihull and two zeros. Very interesting to see which countries wanted multis.

Well, it looks like our US representatives were singlehandedly responsible for this debacle: 0 out of 3 possible votes!

It would be interesting to know how they justify this stance when the US Sailing submission to the ISAF advocated both mens' and womens' multihull events, according to the recent report that Rick posted from the Multihull Council meeting.

That report also indicated that 305 US Sailing members competed in the 2007 Alter Cup qualifiers. Personally I can't see any reason to retain my membership. It would probably be viewed as a small gesture I guess, but if 305 members resigned en masse it would at least indicate what the cat community thinks about this.

I did just that yesterday and also stepped off the MHC. I've heard about as much lip service as I can stand.

There is much more going on here. Resigning is premature. Registering a complaint isn't.

I would like an explanation.

Lets talk a bit about the cost of the Tornado. There have been arguments from the mono group that the Tornado is an expensive class and used that as an excuse to get rid of multihulls.

It's a big differance building a boat for professional sailors or building a boat for amateurs. Compare with tools for example, there are cheap tools and there are expensive tools. Most professional that work with tools on a daily basis buy expensive tools if they can make a choice. If you force them to buy a cheap one design tool designed for amateurs they will run into trouble. The tool must be replaced by a new tool frequently to keep performance and reliability up, and you must select a good tool when you buy a new one due to manufacturing tolerances. Finally the old tools will have very low value since it has been worn out by a professionals.

The Tornado is an expensive "tool" built for professional sailors and it lasts for years in that use. You can't compare that with a boat designed for amateurs.

/hakan

If folks generally go that route, I think it would be important to create a US national catamaran championship along the lines of the Alter Cup, but outside the auspices of US Sailing.

Why abandon US Sailing? Are we planning on writing a new rule book as well?

A short story. I spent this day as the lone multi-huller at our new OD sailing center doing end of the year work. These guys have raced OD for upwards of 30 years (Thistle, Flying Scot, Laser, Finn, and the dreaded 470 <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> ) I figured I'd get looks and sneers as soon as I pulled in the lot. No one said a word all morning so I brought up the vote at lunch break with the 15 other mono-hullers. Not a one was aware of the pending vote or possible elimination of the Tornado. The resounding condolence was that not racing an Olymipic class was a blessing and why many had abandoned the 470 class years ago.