Hiking Dinghy made by Finn boat builders.Anybody got any actual photos of this new boat on the water yet... oh yes, what do people think of it on first impressions?
Devotti D-One
more info, but sadly no photos, here:
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=145296
I'd love to try it out. It would be nice to see if the boom cleared the side rails though! I just don't have the kind of flexibility I used to have for those "under the prison fence dives" they call tacking in Finns.
Second link in the first post of this thread.
well I guess the fact that the Musto Performance Skiff didn't get the nod after countless years in development as the 'Olympic Singlehander Project' he's playing the long odds... does anyway seriously think the finn will get the boot before 2016?
I think (and hope) the Finn will stay as the Olympic mens heavy weight single hand boat. No other boat class as nice as the MPS needs the putrid taint of the Olympics destroying it's future potential. I'd be surprised if future Olympics has as many classes on the water at all - and the Finn is a highly likely victim of trimming the non-TV revenue generating activities.
According to one of the IYRU officers I talked to back in 1999, the sailing event was the most expensive/competitor event for the Olympics to run and hence not only to they want to limit classes but competitors/class (not sure how that last works out in numbers but...)
Whilst this isn't a thread about olympic classes but there's a few wild comments in that one. 49'ers are chalk and cheese from a 470, Tornado, now why have they been drop from 2012. As for the ladies in 49'ers go for it but the concept of the 29erXX was probably more appropriate and they've been left out... . As for the the Keelboats I simple don't get it why the Star is still there, so many more relevant classes
The only gotcha with the "heavyweight sailors get down to the gym" is that I was 75kg in HS while I was on the ski-race team as a 16yo. By middle of Uni, I'd added upper body strength and to get to 79-80kg required me to have bodyfat below 10%. Now if I'm going to compete at the Oly level, that's an acceptable standard, but the idea that I cant compete even regionally in any performance dinghy because of how I'm built (good eastern euro peasant/serf: square legs, arms and shoulders - thick head) then I'm going to get frustrated. That's what initially drew me to the 49er because it did have "weight compensation". Turned out that the weight compensation didn't really work, but that's another story.
You are laboring under the "rose-colored glasses" perspective that sports should be fair. Sports are not fair. Most sports tend to favor specific body types (basketball anyone?), and those of us who do not meet the pre-determined optimum body type just have to work harder and accept that someone else may be able to get better results with less effort.
