23 replies to this topic

[matttnz]

If cycling can have an olympic contest for almost everything you can imagine on a bike: Long bike ride, short bike ride, medium bike ride, 2 people chasing each other bike ride, several laps of wandering aimlessly around followed by a 5sec sprint bike ride....

Why not some more sailing options? 2 weeks offshore yacht race, depart on day one, an international course through the Atlantic, first one back gets gold.

I'd follow that.

It'd be a lot better than horses mincing around a park.

[v-max]

+1! Superb idea!

[the paradox of thrift]

What about sailing around, and then stopping to shoot like they do in the Winter Olympics.

Sailing and shooting would go together very well.

[overbend]

What about sailing around, and then stopping to shoot like they do in the Winter Olympics.

Sailing and shooters would go together very well, but maybe in the YC afterwards.

There, fixed it for you

In the medal race they could be doubles instead of singles, collapse and its a DSQ.
Extra points for running over kiteboarders while racing (or even while doing the shooters for that matter)

Windsurfing instead of kiteboarding for Rio!!!

[SeaWay]

Most of the other "racing" sports have relays, where individual athletes from each country are asked to perform in a team.

How about you make it that the "offshore" squad has to come from the sailors in the other olympic classes, sailing say, Farr30's or equivalent ala the "tour de france" in overnight or 2 night races.

hence 100% bragging rights for "best all around sailing nation".

The reason it won't happen... sailing is already a very expensive sport to run, without supplying equipment for 15 to 20 medium sized offshore racing yachts.

SW

[JL92S]

What about sailing around, and then stopping to shoot like they do in the Winter Olympics.

Sailing and shooting would go together very well.

On the winter Olympics thing I think an offshore should be part of it because they're always so damn cold, well that's from a UK point of view

[bruno]

sailing biathlon along the somali coast

[bloodshot]

from Rio, out to the Falklands and back? nice....

[SR CHIEF (RET)]

I like it! A 600 miler on Melges 24s!

[DickDastardly]

One design? No way - enough of that in the games already. Will it be under IRC, ORCi, PHRF, HPR - or maybe we should bring back IOR?

Popcorn, please...

sailing biathlon along the somali coast

Winner!

[Steve Clark]

I have proposed this before, because I hate the way ISAF is screwing up the sport to make it more televisable and thereby keep it in the Olympics.
The multiple fleet sprint races are pretty meaningless, and the medal race is total bullshit.
Add in throw outs and the Irish Guy has it about right, it's confusing and boring at the same time.
AND even the people who race don't give a shit.
I think Olympic sailing should be a singlehanded 24 hour race in small boats.
Say 100 miles long in Finns.
There are reasons for each aspect of this:

Consider that the goal of an Olympic sport is not just to determine the best athlete, but to determine the best athlete in an event that can be delivered as 15 minutes of compelling television.
Moreover 15 minutes of compelling television with acceptable production costs.

The only attraction sailing has to the general public is the old "Man Against The Sea" theme. So you need to have sailors out at sea getting clobbered by big waves.
We are in luck because digital video has made it possible to pipe broadcast worthy video from small remote cameras. GPS, and the excellent work of Stan Honey will make it so that every boat will be tracked and the race can followed in real time and then edited down to the suitable 15 minutes with Bob Costas voice over drivel.

Finns dinghies are beasts, but they are traditional Olympic sailboats, they can be suitably configured to be appropriate for this mission, and are large and heavy enough to lug the video gear without becoming ether unsafe or complete slugs. They are also wet, and so lots of wave in face ops. Finns can be raced by women, and have been. They don't compete on equal terms with men, but it's been done and once again, there is enough freedom in the class rules to develops sails and masts for individual athletes.

100 miles seems long, but isn't different than the miles we sailed in " the old days" of 7 ten mile races if you add in sailing to and from a "fair" race course.
As a final kicker, I would eliminate all bans on Kinetics, up to and including paddles ( which Finns are required to have anyway.) If you can pump and rock for 100 miles, good for you, you deserve a medal.
SHC

[narecet]

+100

[DickDastardly]

Are you taking the piss Steve?

Finns can be raced by women, and have been. They don't compete on equal terms with men, but it's been done and once again, there is enough freedom in the class rules to develops sails and masts for individual athletes.

I agree much of the Olympic sailing is boring to watch - but the match racing was pretty cool, especially in the final with the breeze up.

[bruno]

women did fine in light air venues like Newport Beach back in the day, used to be amazed at how many told me they used to race.

[Steve Clark]

Not at all. My point is, there could be one class for both sexes run at the same time, like the marathon.
Some women will beat some men, thus adding human interest.

I knew many women who raced Finns.
This is back in the days of wooden masts, but when the mast and sail were right, women like Valerie Foster were right there when the wind was up.

Yes it would favor larger stronger women, just as it favors larger stronger men.
Favoring the strongest is not unusual in sports.
This will be an endurance event that will obviously tax the athletes in a way that the viewing public will immediately understand and respect.
This is quite different from the current format.
SHC

[Steve Clark]

Or don't use Finns.
People get all hung up about the boats.

Get back to the real idea:
A single single handed long distance race ( approx 24 hours) to determine the sailing gold medal for men and women.
Start time is Wednesday at 1200 no matter what.
Out over the horizon and back.
No outside assistance.
Paddle if you think it's faster.
SHC

[DAK]

Or don't use Finns.
People get all hung up about the boats.

Get back to the real idea:
A single single handed long distance race ( approx 24 hours) to determine the sailing gold medal for men and women.
I'd watch that. Never going to happen and even if it did they'd likely show as much as did of the current program... which is nothing.
Start time is Wednesday at 1200 no matter what.
Out over the horizon and back.
No outside assistance.
Paddle if you think it's faster.
SHC

[DickDastardly]

Or don't use Finns.
People get all hung up about the boats.

Get back to the real idea:
A single single handed long distance race ( approx 24 hours) to determine the sailing gold medal for men and women.
Start time is Wednesday at 1200 no matter what.
Out over the horizon and back.
No outside assistance.
Paddle if you think it's faster.
SHC

It's a nice idea, and I agree it would be a worthwhile addition. Some others:

• Teams Racing in Lasers / Radials and 470s and maybe 49er /FX - add on events to the current fleet races in those classes. Could also bring reserve crews in as additional team members maybe.
• Scrap the Medal Race as it is in all classes, and replace it with match races - quarter, semi and finals between the top 8 finishers from the fleet races, sailed boat on boat.
• Create a new match racing discipline, supplied equipment, say wing sailed catamarans of about 45 feet, with crew nationality rules in place as per other Olympic sports .

[nealturluck]

Every Olympic distance race must be held in the Gulf of Aden on a consistent set course so course records can be broken. Also the type of boat needs to be one design and inexpensive, yet sea worthy. Tartan Ten's provide the most diverse crew possibilities because of the great differential in the crew dynamic that it takes to competitively race that specific one design yacht.

[Punani Jackson]

Every Olympic distance race must be held in the Gulf of Aden on a consistent set course so course records can be broken. Also the type of boat needs to be one design and inexpensive, yet sea worthy. Tartan Ten's provide the most diverse crew possibilities because of the great differential in the crew dynamic that it takes to competitively race that specific one design yacht.

The T-10's seem to be having some rig issues as of late. Have any other ideas?

[crashdog]

Well, equestrian has eventing, why not the same in sailing? 3 events over three days.

Day 1 is fleet racing - 3 races - one throw-out, cumulative time sets ranking
Day 2 is an "offshore" - ocean triangle of approx 60 miles with a pursuit start e.g the winner of day one starting first,etc.
Day 3 is match-racing for final placing e.g. 1st and 2nd in the offshore race for gold, etc.

Two classes, one for women, one for men. Double handed. 18'- 20' skiffs. (no keel boat or cat so maybe 3 or 4 classes, with high performance keelboat / cats that are open).

I dunno about boarding. Its not like surfing is in the games

[dangerousdave]

Scrap the Medal Race as it is in all classes, and replace it with match races - quarter, semi and finals between the top 8 finishers from the fleet races, sailed boat on boat.

Actually I quite like this, maybe only top 4 instead of top 8, then you just have 4 matches to decide the medals, 2 semis, final and bronze final. Each could be done as a best of 1, 3 or 5.

[Speng]

Dunno about the rest of you but I thoroughly enjoyed the sailing I saw in the last Olympics. Maybe it had something to do with a good venue and good coverage but then again I was watching on BBC and not NBC's half-assed, Youtube bootleg bullshit.

If you want to put something online Youtube is unacceptable. The BBC iPlayer setup for the Olympics was awesome.

[DtM]

Agree, we got great coverage in Australia on TV. It was the BBC coverage I am pretty sure