Olympic Sailing - interesting paper

The Finn should have gone decades ago and in this day and age if you want just one reason to bin it, ask an average woman to try and haul one up the beach never mind try and sail the junk.

The Olympics ought to be a showcase which amongst other things, might just attract newcomers to the sport, it also should be accessible, not just to a few well heeled well fed 1st world ya's.

We had this discussion twenty years ago in windsurfing when the product we had was the Mistral One Design, a similarly inaccessible craft due to its length and suitability, at the time it was felt that at the very least we should have something that you could say offer a journalist a go on and it wouldn't be totally impossible for him or her to get off the dock before they inevitably fell in. So the short wide with centreboard concept got drawn up and unfortunately refused by the class, but something similar did at least evolve from Pryde who unfortunately massively over canvassed and overbuilt it to the point nobody out side of racing in their right mind would want to sail one which again highlights the problem, sailors and high level competitors or class members are the last people that should be asked about something as important as this.

Good sailors should be able to sail anything and make it look OK, the question should be, what would, by being presented to the world at large, be better to promote the sport to a wide and gender equal audience.

Edited by iGRF - 20 Mar 18 at 7:48pm

We need to focus on the sailors, we need to focus on creating legends and heroes, we need to have a better venue strategy, we need to commercialize our setup, we need to implement media solutions that deliver our sport in a nice and understandable way.

I guess it depends on what you want from the Olympics. Is it providing the pinnacle competition for athletes or a TV show for those who can't be bothered to get off their backsides? If it's the latter then sailing ain't the right sport, it takes too long for starters, they'll lose interest. The only people who will watch it will end up being sailors who'll berate it as rubbish. So why bother chasing the TV gold.

Originally posted by iGRF The Finn should have gone decades ago and in this day and age if you want just one reason to bin it, ask an average woman to try and haul one up the beach never mind try and sail the junk. The Olympics ought to be a showcase which amongst other things, might just attract newcomers to the sport, it also should be accessible, not just to a few well heeled well fed 1st world ya's.

If you attempt to do an Olympic campaign in any class the costs of the actual kit rapidly become minor compared to travel, coaching, accommodation, etc etc etc

The Finn hulls and masts last very well - unlike some of the newer classes.

The boat is fantastic and addictive - hence why 400 - 500 over 40 year old sailors from around the world will be competing in Spain this year.

Sadly sailing will only ever really appeal, as a TV viewer, to sailors.

We have already lost the Star and it would be terrible if the Finn went to. For a sailor what is better to watch - the close tactical Star and Finn races or watching 49ers and Nacras ?

When you watch the Star Sailors League it shows what the Olympics has lost.

For the non-sailor how many of them might think 'I'm going to try sailing' when they watch skiffs etc - most would assume it unobtainable.

Originally posted by Eisvogel Originally posted by rich96 For the non-sailor how many of them might think 'I'm going to try sailing' when they watch skiffs etc - most would assume it unobtainable. Indeed. How many people watch Formula One racing and think "I want to give that a try!"