Olympic 'finals' proposal

A long and complicated story, which I couldn't begin to fully describe.

Historically the ORC (Offshore Racing Council, later Congress) was an independent body which ran a series of yacht racing rules (IOR, IMS and the related ORC Club) and also set the safety equipment standards for offshore racing.

However number participating in IMS has been declining for some time while the two largest rating systems used in the world (IRC and PHRF) have nothing to do with ORC, which has been busy rearranging the deck-chairs on the sinking ship that is IMS. Precisely what is wrong with IMS is a very long story, but basically it's a flawed concept with even worse execution.

Recently ISAF took over ORC. Hence it has taken onboard a rating approach that has been rejected by the vast majority of sailors it is aimed at. The question is why has the ISAF chosen to branch out into the specialised area of yacht rating rules, in which is has no specialised knowledge to contribute.

Another area where ISAF has branched out is sailor classification. Events like Cork Week have adopted the system, which means every crew member has to be ISAF-registered according to their "professionalism". This has been hugely controversial among those adversely affected (since those working in marine-related industries have been effectively disbarred from some events).

All a long way from the IYRU, which just set the racing rules. All fueled by Olympic money. 

I'm not 100% clear what you are arguing here but I'll respond anyway.

The Olympics does generate a large dollop of money for ISAF. To what extent this benefits the sport, I'm not so certain. When the ISAF used to be the IYRU, before it got Olympic loadsofmoney, it ran a tight ship, manned largely by a few volunteers. Now it's busy busy busy, constantly rewriting the rules, taking over other organisations like ORC, getting involved in keelboat rating rules and so forth. Does this actually benefit sailing? I'm sure they think it does but I'm not at all sure.

Would I be bothered if sailing exited from the Olympics, as well it might if Beijing turns out to be a windless shambles? Reluctantly, I'd have to answer yes. The reason is that much of the government and lottery funding that comes into sailing is because it is an Olympic sport. While much of that funds professional sailors, coaches and other, who as far as I'm concerned could either find other funding or get proper jobs, it also pays for the youth training which is important for the future of the sport at the grassroots. 

I generally find myself in the lower third of an open. I wouldn't want to travel to an event and sail one less race than some. I guess even for the back of the fleet there will always be a last beat to try to get past a rival, to gain the extra position that we all strive for.

If you finish 11th in the series, how gutted would you feel. If you were leading the series and ended up 10th in the Medal Race would you feel any better.

I say it is a c*** way of deciding medals at the Olympics, and for any national or open meeting, not that it has to be used in national or open events.

Would i like to see Olympic sailing on TV, yes. Would i like to see sailing being taken out of the Olympics, no. I see why they think they need to do it, for the viewing public.... no chance, its for the money it can generate. Which the sport needs, not the TV companies.....

Radix malorum est Cupiditas.

To do the best they can, which is not the same as winning. One of the great things about sailing can be be mighty battles going on up the final beat between 19th and 20th place. It matters to the people involved, even if nobody else much cares.

It is different. If you take the same 400m line up and get them to run the same race over and over again (under pressure/equal coditions etc) then the same guy will come out on top. Thats not saying that its not tactical, just that the fastest man will always be the fastest man. If you take a sailing line up and get them to race in a boat like any of the olympic classes over and over the same man will not always win - in fact (while there are exceptions) often a different guy comes first each time. Sailing has many other variables which saparate it from a running race and this has always been recognised.

For that reason one of the main challengers of olympic, or any yachting event, is consistency. The question should not be how can the scoring be changed to make it as easy to understand as a rowing race, but how can it best reward the consistent sailor for his efforts over the whole event.

The answer is, I think, that it can't and that is one of the reasons this thread is so long and the olympic sailing is on the edge of expulsion.