49er medal race

I'm not saying they are dumb just trying to string together the elements you are presenting here.

I think when it comes to publicity you need to understand your objectives.

If you are just trying to get people in the general public to understand that sailing is a sport and that the boats can be exciting then the 49er medal race was a winner.

If you are trying to encourage people into the sport then then it was probably a loser.

I look at the Olympics as a profile rasing opportunity for sailing which will attract sponsors into the sport to fund further events & campaigns. The 49er medal race probably helped that, drama, crashes etc ...

All the recruitment of new blood into the sport is done at clubs & holiday companies.

Will the 49er medal race encourage more of the general public to book Sunsail holidays or visit their local club?

Well that all depends on the individual; my mates would be more interested as they like that kind of thing; others who want a more sedate past time no ...

The Olympics is a great shop window for sport; I have watched many hours of it and I will never throw a shot put, or 100m sprint but I still watch it and so do many others; billions in fact.

So the Olympics is about raising the sports profile amongst a very wide audience. I think our range of Olympic classes don't offer the best advert for our sport.

Star & Yngling are dire ... I can't see any non-sailor watching that and thinking I'd like to try that.

But I can see people being interested in wizzing along in a T or thrashing about in a 49er, or the beach appeal of the RSX ... Laser/470 looks very doable...

We are not far off but I really thing we do benefit from some skiffy boats crashing all over the screen ...

I think you are right, trying to use the olympics as a shop window is doomed to failure, its too much of a contradiction to the point of the games, to find the best in the world.  To that end maybe keeping older classes like the star and finn is not such a bad idea, they are (abeit with some development) a fairly consistant benchmark against which to judge each cycle's sailors against the last. 

The classes should reflect the boats people sail outside of the games, but likewise people will always sail olympic boats because they are exactly that.  Having said that, my personal take on keelboats in particular is that ISAF should have a single class (that way they can have 10 events AND a cat) pick something about the size of an SB3 (but nessiarily that) put a max weight on it and a compulsary crew of 4, 2 men, 2 women, and have it as a mixed class.  Now that would be a great advert for sailing, a sport where men and women are not only equal but compete together, it not just horse riding that can do it!

So what do the media want to see - the best sailors in the world competing at the highest level and winning gold medals.  It's not about spectacular wipe-outs and high tech boats, its about the competition and the competitors.  Gold medals create media interest. Whats generated the most media interest at the games - Mr Phelps and his medals.

Oh and btw there is no shortage of money in sailing - the opposite in fact - sailing must have some of the wealthiest people in the UK / world woh take part.  And I don't see any direct relationship between Olympic sailing and the amount of cash going into grass routes / club sailing - how did you work that one out?

If there were huge amounts of sponsorship cash being paid to sailing for Olympic coverage the sponsors must be a bit peeved as I can't think of a single company name I'd associate with Olympic sailing.  The coverage was on an obscure digital channel early in the morning and it was mostly so dull I couldn't bring myself to watch it

Shine a light! The entire GBR Olympic sailing squad is title sponsored by SKANDIA.

Never see any boats with VOLVO on the sails?