No skiff at 2016 Olympics

[Reht]

This is either a terrible joke or they're trying to get sailing cut from the Olympics, either way, not cool guys... A little bit of thank-you for putting back the multi (though, without that this would be a total joke), but withdrawing the skiffs in favour of the 470, Star and Elliot 6m, that's a down-right dumb decision.

I pray that this isn't the final slate of events, already there's not much compelling me to watch (or hardly even follow) the Olympics as it is. If this is the final slate I think I'll go watch paint dry, that ought to be more exciting...

 

[skiffman]

So what do people think is the Olympics about?

Bringing together the best athletes from all over the world to crown a champion?

So does that mean that the boat needs to be athletic or not?

Personally the events/boats in the games do not need to be representative of what is sailed around the world. How many people that go running for fun or to keep fit go and do 100m on a track? At the same time some do and badminton etc is the same game just higher skill level.

I think that sailing in the olympics should bring the best sailors, be athletic, be relatively affordable and as fun as sailing can be to watch.

The other problem is when does it stop? The whole process needs changing, a revolution is needed.

We have been trying to look into the next high performance boat for 2020, which would be a 2 person foiler capable of 18 knots upwind and 30+ knots downwind. The idea came about because we thought the 49er was getting old, especially in 2020. But there is no chance of this ever happening if the 49er can not secure a spot. Surely that would be more fun to watch than a star.

And for those of you who think sailing is never going to be a spectator that is what you think, but I hate watching football but enjoy playing it. Where is the difference? Sailing may not be a spectator sport for everybody that sails but if sailing wants to stay in the games then it has to be a spectator sport. Its that simple. there will be no sailing if its not good to watch, it does not need to be good to watch all the time. F1 is pretty boring when they just follow each other round like last year but some of the time like when its wet its awesome. The 49er medal race in china was awesome to watch if you like watching sailing, some of you will never want to watch sailing thats a fact. But hopefully in 2012 a lot of people will sit down to watch a few races or medal races, I wonder which will get the most views...

 

[cantp1]

So what do people think is the Olympics about?

Bringing together the best athletes from all over the world to crown a champion?

So does that mean that the boat needs to be athletic or not?

...

The 49er medal race in china was awesome to watch if you like watching sailing, some of you will never want to watch sailing thats a fact. But hopefully in 2012 a lot of people will sit down to watch a few races or medal races, I wonder which will get the most views...

I agree... DID NO ONE WATCH THE 49ER MEDAL RACE IN 2008? TALK ABOUT EXCITING! The arguably best 49er crew ever was not able to win because of all the crashes and then the Danes come out of nowhere in the Croatian boat to take it. Crikey! Come on, ISAF, get your head screwed on!

PS - Clean is right... Good bye TV! The 49er is the most "photographic" of all the existing classes.

 

[EthanB]

god forbid they have less than two single-handed men's dinghy classes.

 

[Sticky Icky]

remember the latest sensation in tv ratings in winter olympics is curling, not everything is about speed

 

[MR.CLEAN]

So because skiffs may not be in the olympics the whole business is dirty ? I guess if skiffs were in , you would not be calling for transparency and would not be accusing people of back room dealing ?

You and many others assume that faster boats means more people watching the sport on TV. Well, the skiffs have been in the olypmics for a quite a few years now. Are their ratings any higher than any of the other classes ? I doubt it. Simply going faster and maybe having more crashes does not equal fannies in front of the TV/computer. Yes, we need to market the sport better but simply pushing skiffs and similar boats isn't going to do it.

No, it's dirty because this is now the second time the Events Committee - the group charged with doing the heavy lifting on research and recommendations - was ignored by the Executive Committee, which just happens to be made up of a group of people whose conflicts of interest would exclude them from this kind of decision under the most basic corporate or professional responsibility rules in almost any modern nation. It's also dirty because there is no disclosure of who's lobbying whom, of who has interests in the classes, or of how much is being spent by the various Class members to lobby the ExComm.

ISAF is a fucking banana republic, and the ExComm is going to look like retards yet again and ISAF's credibility will continue to fall into the ground as it did when the multihull decision was made in contravention to the Events Committees recommendation.

 

[rtrs]

So because skiffs may not be in the olympics the whole business is dirty ? I guess if skiffs were in , you would not be calling for transparency and would not be accusing people of back room dealing ?

You and many others assume that faster boats means more people watching the sport on TV. Well, the skiffs have been in the olypmics for a quite a few years now. Are their ratings any higher than any of the other classes ? I doubt it. Simply going faster and maybe having more crashes does not equal fannies in front of the TV/computer. Yes, we need to market the sport better but simply pushing skiffs and similar boats isn't going to do it.

No, it's dirty because this is now the second time the Events Committee - the group charged with doing the heavy lifting on research and recommendations - was ignored by the Executive Committee, which just happens to be made up of a group of people whose conflicts of interest would exclude them from this kind of decision under the most basic corporate or professional responsibility rules in almost any modern nation. It's also dirty because there is no disclosure of who's lobbying whom, of who has interests in the classes, or of how much is being spent by the various Class members to lobby the ExComm.

ISAF is a fucking banana republic, and the ExComm is going to look like retards yet again and ISAF's credibility will continue to fall into the ground as it did when the multihull decision was made in contravention to the Events Committees recommendation.

+1

 

[Tcatman]

My take.., will go the other way...

Two keel boats (M/W).... Star popular world wide, Match Racing essential to the women's sailing. Keel boat racers are the sports stars, Keel boat racing represent the largest number of racers in the world. Keel boat facilities serve double duty because they are needed for the handicap Olympics. Yeah... I would choose a more modern boat then a Star but basically this gets a check... (BUT Not Cheap)

Two classic dinghies (470 M/W) .... Same equipment... (good)... Long standing use world wide so popular (good)... obvious step up program from youth boat c420 to i420.... good , represents pinnacle for sailors on every dinghy made. Cheap! Check

Two Boards... (M/W).... let the kites and boards sort it out. Cheap! Check!

Individual Sailing:

Lasers M/F Suits the ultimate Olympic ideal of individual excellence. World wide acceptance, cheap. Check!

So the remaining issues are... High Performance Sailing with max visual appeal to represent the sport to the lay public and the physics problem in that you must fit the body type for laser and so large men cannot compete.

Multihull, Foolishly punted the last time... Highest performance option for two man boat. Good! the Multi discipline is in alignment with the pinnacle of the sport, The America's Cup. Good! The Tornado always won the most visually exciting award from the Olympic media powers. Check!

Finn... solves the men's physics problem. popular world wide... entrenched politically. deals with the number of male sailors > then the number of female sailors.

I can buy this slate.

49ner versus Multihull... Both High performance. No doubt...multihulls are more popular world wide... Just see Hobie 16 numbers 120,000 boats made over 40 years. It sucks to lose your ultimate level of competition. But the chips fall where they fall

My real issue is the MIXED bastardization... Gladwell sumed it up well

.

Multihulls... should be OPEN... You can choose a boat to skew the demographics any way you want between the 16 footer up to a 20 footer. Bottom line... female participation in the high performance niche of the sport (skiffs or multihulls) is pretty low. Forcing the discipline to be mixed is just not right..... Set it up so that women can play fairly. Accept that it won't be 50 50 participation and that reflects the world as we know it.

Correct the Mixed bastardization of political correctness and the slate represents the sport and is a fair Compromise!

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Going up on the front page. Cheers punter.

 

[asumpton]

We have been trying to look into the next high performance boat for 2020, which would be a 2 person foiler capable of 18 knots upwind and 30+ knots downwind. The idea came about because we thought the 49er was getting old, especially in 2020.

May I ask: who is "we"? Are people doing real work on this, actually building and testing, or more like "I drew up the new design on the back of this napkin here..."?

Would "we" be a Bethwaite?

 

[benner]

Totally biased view (as I competed in 49er Olympics in 2008) but WTF!

Heavy lifting done by events committee for 4+ years, ignored.

Heavy lifting done by Phil Jones committe, ignored.

A bunch of old white (white haired and bald) men talking in back rooms and making the decisions for the sport is unacceptable.

I know for a fact just how much of the 49er World Council budget is spent on lobbying, and it is ridiculous... all this money on ISAF conferences and nobody growing the sport!

As for growing the sport, just who is in charge? Nobody, because everyone is busy choosing what the events will be constantly. Volunteers are great, but where is the the professional CEO leading and guiding sailign forward, making things happen? All the responsibility without accountability lies in a volunteer executive who's best interest could be anywhere, instead of in ISAF.

Slow vs. Fast - What's better for TV? Great arguments either way.. done right I wouldn't doubt either could be popular... but they are just arguments because ISAF can't even get organized enough to start covering the World Cup! Where is the World Cup webpage that has gps tracking on every boat, live TV broadcast (internet) on every course, commentary, pundits, photo's prizes, celebrities, scandals, role models? Then we could debate something real instead of something theoretical.

Instead, all the money is spent on taking delegates to conferences... ignoring them, and it's no wonder sailing isn't getting on TV... nobody is fiming!

In a parliamentary system (sorry, I'm Canadian), if the leading party puts a platform together and it is rejected by the parliament, the ruling party is ousted and there is an election. Does that mean tomorrow, that if the Executive Council slate is voted down (fingers crossed) we get to kick them off the Executive Council and start over?!!!

It's time for a total reset!

 

[Presuming Ed]

It's time for a total reset!

Absolutely.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

+ yep

 

[doesitfloat]

Don't you guys know the plan.

As soon as skiffs are out of the Olympics.

The Next Americas Cup will be held in badass skiffs, prompting massive interest in the sport.

Showing once again the Olympic Committee is ass backwards.

 

[skiffman]

We have been trying to look into the next high performance boat for 2020, which would be a 2 person foiler capable of 18 knots upwind and 30+ knots downwind. The idea came about because we thought the 49er was getting old, especially in 2020.

May I ask: who is "we"? Are people doing real work on this, actually building and testing, or more like "I drew up the new design on the back of this napkin here..."?

Would "we" be a Bethwaite?

We - a few people from the UK only. At the moment we are just looking at trying the get the project started. To be honest nothing apart from some planning/designing will be happening until next year. But then again nothing will happen if ISAF can not even keep the current high performance skiff in the games.

1+ for benners post!

 

[petelane]

Want to know what is killing sailing in the US?.... ISAF is killing it.

I bet a smart person around here has the participation numbers and we would see big declines when NAYRU became USYRU became US Sailing and then ISAF took over everything from all the national/regional bodies.

Monopolies are bad and ISAF is a monopoly - but only because we let it be. Stop insisting on ISAF approval for everything, hold a "Worlds" or "National" event and tell them to go fuck themselves when they tell you they own every word in the dictionary. Time to secede. Who wants to start the petition?

I know this site is called Sailing Anarchy, but some real organizational independence/anarchy would be great for the sport. I think we should stop bitching at each other because the man is making it all fucked up, and just vote with our feet. I am sure Clean and Crew can get us list of non-ISAF events that we can support. Who the fuck cares if there are a group of old cheese eating surrender monkeys taking a fully paid vacation on my dime just to watch me do what they can't and "judge me?"

 

[johnnysaint]

So, based on a rumour, Clean writes a story on the front page with the words " ISAF’s Executive Committee looks close to deciding" without anything to back this up. Is it fact or, to use your words " ISAF’s Executive Committee looks close to" just a wild guess based on somebodies Twitter with that somebody NOT being on any ISAF committees.

You can tell when Scott is away can't you.

 

[sail_like_a_girl]

Totally biased view (as I competed in 49er Olympics in 2008) but WTF!

Heavy lifting done by events committee for 4+ years, ignored.

Heavy lifting done by Phil Jones committe, ignored.

A bunch of old white (white haired and bald) men talking in back rooms and making the decisions for the sport is unacceptable.

I know for a fact just how much of the 49er World Council budget is spent on lobbying, and it is ridiculous... all this money on ISAF conferences and nobody growing the sport!

As for growing the sport, just who is in charge? Nobody, because everyone is busy choosing what the events will be constantly. Volunteers are great, but where is the the professional CEO leading and guiding sailign forward, making things happen? All the responsibility without accountability lies in a volunteer executive who's best interest could be anywhere, instead of in ISAF.

Slow vs. Fast - What's better for TV? Great arguments either way.. done right I wouldn't doubt either could be popular... but they are just arguments because ISAF can't even get organized enough to start covering the World Cup! Where is the World Cup webpage that has gps tracking on every boat, live TV broadcast (internet) on every course, commentary, pundits, photo's prizes, celebrities, scandals, role models? Then we could debate something real instead of something theoretical.

Instead, all the money is spent on taking delegates to conferences... ignoring them, and it's no wonder sailing isn't getting on TV... nobody is fiming!

In a parliamentary system (sorry, I'm Canadian), if the leading party puts a platform together and it is rejected by the parliament, the ruling party is ousted and there is an election. Does that mean tomorrow, that if the Executive Council slate is voted down (fingers crossed) we get to kick them off the Executive Council and start over?!!!

It's time for a total reset!

+1

 

[JimC]

So, based on a rumour, Clean writes a story on the front page with the words " ISAF’s Executive Committee looks close to deciding

If Clean possessed a clue he'd know that the Exec committee can't decide anything of the sort: its down to Council...

 

[sail_like_a_girl]

Want to know what is killing sailing in the US?.... ISAF is killing it.

I bet a smart person around here has the participation numbers and we would see big declines when NAYRU became USYRU became US Sailing and then ISAF took over everything from all the national/regional bodies.

Monopolies are bad and ISAF is a monopoly - but only because we let it be. Stop insisting on ISAF approval for everything, hold a "Worlds" or "National" event and tell them to go fuck themselves when they tell you they own every word in the dictionary. Time to secede. Who wants to start the petition?

I know this site is called Sailing Anarchy, but some real organizational independence/anarchy would be great for the sport. I think we should stop bitching at each other because the man is making it all fucked up, and just vote with our feet. I am sure Clean and Crew can get us list of non-ISAF events that we can support. Who the fuck cares if there are a group of old cheese eating surrender monkeys taking a fully paid vacation on my dime just to watch me do what they can't and "judge me?"

+100