Does sailing sexually discriminate at top level?

I think it's likely more persuasive to say, "this is the way we're do things, you can join in if you play to our rules" 

rather than saying, "you can't come, we don't like the way you do things at home (we know best after all)".  The latter would tend to harden attitudes, I'd have thought.

On the other hand, we absolutely shouldn't change our rules to accommodate them, as someone suggested above.

What about one of each sex in each boat?  Guarantees equal participation and probably enhances integration c.f. separate fleets.

 

I actually think it's a bl00dy good idea. I say this because as I've said before I sail as a mixed team in skiffs. We've done 14s and 49ers and my better half is the best crew I've ever had. She's agile, quick and has more balls than the blokes I used to sail with. This is not just my opinion as we have a few mixed teams local to us sailing 49ers and FWIW, seem to be as good as, if not better than the local Olympic wannabes. We sail the boat because we like it, but it would have been nice to have the same options as others in the class, actually, we are discriminated against.

 

The talk of "girls aren't physical enough for skiffs" is rubbish. Good skiff sailors are athletic and agile, not rugby players. My crew couldn't sail a Phantom competitively due to the weight aspect, but skiffs are different. I've lost count of the ammount of times we've caught funny looks as the two big blokes sailing the boats can't do it properly but we can. A lot is based on a wrong perception. Julian Bethwaite designed the 49er to be sailed at a top level, indiscriminant of sex. I think he got it right, just too many people associate a challenging boat with a guys boat.

 

The problem lies in the fact that more men sail than women, so the odds are more in favour of more males being competitive at a higher level. If you had open in all classes, it would be male dominated in my opinion, so segregating the classes may be a necesary evil. The easiest way to get round it is Male, Female and mixed in all disciplines. Mixed skiff would be 49er with open rig selection like the 18s, you make the choice of the FX or big rig.

+1