Events for 2012...

Ah yes, Sorry Scum.

Surley we have to put up with enough of that rubbish with the ACC .. Why impose it onto the Olympics?

Seems a stupid thing to do to have to hold hundreds of smaller races to get each country to have raced eachother doesnt it? Fewwer starts and everything settled on time vs probably about 100 starts JUST for the Match Racing over the course of the Olympics?

Trying to keep it nice and simple I see.

The IOC still need to ratify the choices don't they?  Can we not lobby the IOC to ignore the ISAFs decisions?

Originally posted by Villan Stupid decision. Women Keelboat Team Racing .. Sounds REALLY exciting. Joe public will need his rulebook out if he fancies watching the sailing now. How will they explain all the rules so that people can understand how X team managed to beat Y team without finishing first in the race? Stick to the nice easy format of " Sail round this course a few times, first one to cross the line wins."

MATCH racing. Fairly simple to understand. 2 boats. A winner and a loser.

Originally posted by Chas 505 Joe Public thinks it's really odd that there are dozens of classes.  I mean would you care if there were 15 different badminton competitions?

There seem to be about 9 dozen nearly identical swimming events, and as often as not the same bloke/girl wins about half of them, not to mention similar athletic events, so I don't really see that Joe Public thinks its odd. Javelin, shot, discus, they're all just about big people with plenty of steroid jabs throwing things aren't they...

Originally posted by furtive The ten events selected by the ISAF Council for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition are: One person dinghy - Men One person dinghy heavy - Men Two person dinghy - Men Two person dinghy high performance - Men Windsurfer - Men Keelboat - Men One person dinghy - Women Two person dinghy - Women Keelboat match racing - Women Windsurfer - Women

The loss of the Cat / Tornado is a Disaster - plain and simple.

On the plus side, I'm no heavyweight but glad that at least one of those classes remains - not sure two are needed.

The Laser(s) and 49er are the best for those jobs - assuming of course they're chosen . Men and womens two person (470) - must be in - most closely represents what the masses do, technical and well supported.

Windsurfing - not everyones cup of tea, but undeniably athletic and should be represented.

Womans Match racing - What?? Who does that and where?  The kit will no doubt be expensive to buy, maintain and transport, and training against other top racers will be more vital than ever,. So how will small underfunded countries ever compete - they probably won't even take part! How will beginners break into the fleet? I'd be suprised if 4 years from now there are more than a dozen active womens match racing teams worldwide. And yes I know there aren't masses of womens Skiff teams either but at least there's a prospect of numbers developing - especially when you look at the pretty high numbers of girl only teams in the 29ers.

Ok match racing can be comparitively TV freindly but IMO as a spectacle it's still not a patch on a womens skiff event - at least at a windy venue like Weymouth (fingers crossed). Many match races are a mystery to non sailors with a flurry of pre start activity which is unintelligible to most, followed by what often turns into a procession. Very little 'crash and burn' stuff. And no offence to any possible contenders, (I'd say the same if it were male match racing) but they're less likely to be young fit athletic types and more likely to be older (experienced) sea/ sun worn types. How old was Connor when he won the AC back? No reason why an old gal couldn't winan olympic gold at Match racing - not likelly in a high performance skiff.  So what image of womens sailing do ISAF / the IOC want to project to the 'Youth of the World'?