New women's Olympic boat

Fair enough..... but I will still enjoy watching it.

The thing is that it may also be that there isn't the right type of twin wire boats out there for the ladies to sail. All the boats you have mentioned are very physically demanding, and most lightweight 55 - 70-kg women would struggle to handle them bar the UK Cherub & 29erXX, the spice is just a silly idea. And as these boats are very new you are right to say that the grass roots sailing isn't there, but also there hasn't been boats available for lightweight women to sail. Meaning that the Olympics will develop a new avenue for female sailors globally, which admittedly glamorous and elite will be at the pinnacle of female sailing, and create role models for others to follow. Bringing more girls to the sport at all levels. I'd be happy with that.

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by Chew my RS Ladies twin wire skiffing does not exist in any meaningful numbers. And mens' twin string skiffing was entirely (or very nearly so) confined to Australia and New Zealand before the 49er came out.

I think the Laser 5000 was going pretty well before the 49er arrived in Europe ,,,

I take your points Jack, but if the demand was there, the market should already have supplied it.  The IOC is not (or should not be) a marketing tool for new products.  It is about showcasing international sport.

'Skiffing' is still only popular in a handful of countries worldwide.  Womens skiffing isn't popular anywhere and still won't be when its in the Olympics.

I'm all for growing the sport, and I like skiffs as much as the next person,  BUT, globally skiffing is small fry at present.  A handful of boats in the worlds richest nations doesn't convince me otherwise.

The IOC is there to promote and grow existing sports, not make new ones up, isn't it?

I'm sure that whatever gets selected will be a great boat, and will bring enjoyment to those that sail it - but no sport that is only played by 100 people across half a dozen nations deserves Olympic status.

Why not have kabaddi - far more people play.

Few points I would like to raise. Apologies for the length of this post. Feel free to chew it to pieces.

1) Brief from ISAF does not state twin wire. We could very well end up with a single trapeze design that is faster than wind offwind being selected as the boat of choice.

2) The current trial is only meant to evaluate the viability of a Women's High Performance class and do some window shopping for a potential design. The eventual boat chosen may or may not be one from this trial.

3) 29er (single wire) is one of the entries in the trials. This particular boat has been chosen as the 07 & 08 ISAF Youths boat replacing 420. There are a number of mixed & all female teams sailing this boat with great success. (ie. Sophie Weguelin + Sophie Ainsworth , Silja Lehtinen etc) already. The next 2 years ISAF Youths focus will generate an even larger interest around the world in the 29er and will create a pipeline for the 2012 Olympics for sailors who can sail this type of boat.

Whether a Women's High Performance class is included in the 2012 Olympics and whether one of the 6 enties in the April trials this year is selected as the class is yet to be seen but either way I think there will be enough number of sailors around the world ready to jump on the bandwagon growing through the pipeline created by the ISAF Youths.

I do think a Women's High Performance class in place of another class that most countries can not compete (ie Yingling) is a great idea. Hopefully this will have the impact of increasing participation rather than decreasing it.