Ben Ainslie’s Thought on Olympic Classes

Well if I was the best Finn sailor in the world I'd want it retained as an Olympic class too ... but to be fair to Ben I think he'd be the best at any class he chose to sail.

the 470 should be a compulsary mixed class, ie one man and one woman in each boat, (does not matter who does what) but that way there is room for a girls asymmetric and there is still a symmetric presence in the games

 

A Star mast is even more high-tech than a Finn mast, plus the sails which I believe have a fairly short competitive life. The main difference between a Finn campaign and a Star campaign is the logistics costs, a Finn can be transported relatively easily or you could even do what the Laser and 49er sailors do and have a boat on each continent but imagine how much it costs to ship a Star halfway round the world

Right on the money k_kirk. 

If I wanted advice on how to make a boat go fast I can think of no better person than Ben (other than maybe a certain R. Coutts....), however if I wanted an objective assessment of olympic class selections....

Robert Deaves' interviews with the Finn class experts are always insightful but the class propaganda piece on the end always grates - no other olympic class does this.

"High performance boats like the Moth and Tornado are fantastic to watch go in a straight line but they do not offer the same physical or tactical challenges"

maybe the tactical side may be true of the tornado which takes a big hit to its vmg for any turn and so needs to drag race the corners.  But a foiler loses very little vmg (I'd guess...) through a gybe so its tactical options are probably a lot more interesting than Finns (trundling downwind at hull speed line astern...) in 8kts.

The real opinions that matter are those of the viewing public (and to a lesser extent the viewing sailors).  If they don't watch then sailing will get eliminated from the games medal by medal.  Accessiblity, Weight ranges etc are small fry alongside TV appeal.  Classes at both ends of the spectrum (i.e. Tornado - fast, Finn - tactical) have had decades to draw the audiences but they don't, which just proves that TV appeal is a complex b*gger

On the physicality, yes the finn is a damn tough boat for the biggest and strongest of guys but I bet to the layman it just looks like some bloke sitting around.  Show a moth video to a non-sailor and the response is very different (usually - 'that's impossible!' ).  They can immediately appreciate the physical ability/fitness required.

Guess it's all irrelevant anyway - even if ISAF got together a decent range of classes (that subjective little beast...) and could really put on a great show for the sport they'd probably squander it by painting all the boats white, filming them from miles away and letting the olympic regatta be held somewhere with a distinct absence of wind..

That said...GO Ben, GO Team GBR!

T

I agree with Ben, I think there are more skills needed to be able to catch waves and sail low on the runs, and then to be able to sail fast on the reaches, than there is to just sail for vmg on every down wind leg.

49er crews would be a lot bigger if they had to sail a couple of reaches & a run rather than two runs, I think that the skill/effort of being able to hold a kite to a wing mark or decide to drop, is lost in the 49er, I would like to see them do a triangle, it may add an aspect excitement when the winds up!