New Olympic events.

Originally posted by Peaky TA ‘Mixed One-Person Dinghy’ is not an event, it’s a headline with no substance.

Any more so than a medley relay in swimming?

Originally posted by Peaky I would not support an event that is effectively two separate and independent events with the scores combined at the end as Gladwell describes

But isn't that pretty much what a decathlon is? Ten separate events with the scores at the end combined? The IOC published guidance is pretty woolly in a lot of areas, but as I've said, a desire for mixed events comes over loud and clear. I'm not sure its really that big a deal if a mixed event is a M and F in one boat, or a M and F in two boats, just because we haven't had events like that in the past.

And while the UK, with lottery money, can happily say, yay, lets throw the old boats away and get new ones after the next games (which they probably do anyway) its a completely different story for the small nations. I know people say the classes have too much power, but I wonder how much is simply the small National associations thinking "How the hell are we going to finance throwing all our current boats away and buying new ones". Its the NAs that have votes, not the classes.

I suspect a lot of countries may find the thought of new styles of events in the same classes a lot more palatable than the thought of the same styles of event in new classes. Possibly the IOC too, who knows what they are saying in dark corners...

And personally I'm quite comfortable with the idea that WS might first pick the concept of a two boat mixed class, and having done that then go away and do a fair bit of experimentation in how best to manage it. Far better that way than plucking a scoring system/management idea out of thin air, and sticking with it no matter what happens when you try it out.

Now if you want a really bizarre idea, how about an Olympic final 3 race series in which, I dunno, the top 6 nations in the sailing medal table have relay races with one boat from *every* class. It would be quite a spectacle! One lap each, slowest classes first...

And here's a question for you. Which adult two handed dinghy has the most boats registered world wide? I haven't looked it up yet, but I have my supicions.

Edited by JimC - 19 May 18 at 7:49am

Snipe, Enterprise? Probably 420. 

Edited by 2547 - 19 May 18 at 7:55am

Originally posted by Peaky but the lack of detail has made the proposal so ambiguous no knows what they voted for. How can that be right?

Turn it around: you could say that they've voted for a mixed format, details to be developed with practical experimentation. Why would that be wrong? Its certainly going to be better than dreaming something up on paper and sticking with it even if it doesn't work very well.

All Olympic formats are artificial: we never had all male, all female or even compulsory mixed crews in sailing until the Olympics forced them on us. Nor, for that matter a medal race. The IOC is saying loud and clear that the way the games are run must change. Fair enough, their game, their privilege. After all its not going to affect how we run racing at my club.

Edited by Cirrus - 19 May 18 at 9:16am