Did ISAF make the right decision?

The rules on what competitors can change on the supplied boats at the olympics is quite tightly controlled. Of course having said that can I find any evidence of that, harumph...

Hah!!! Found it....

http://www.ifds.org/olympics2004/measurementregsd2.pdf

Exactly, but my point is that if you are worried about people sailing with equipment they aren't used to, surely that is already happening in the boats that are supplied? I have no issues with there being multiple manufacturers of 49ers around the globe.

Originally posted by Lukepiewalker Does the same not apply to all the other boats, if people are shipping Australian topmasts around the world, Hyde Sails across the atlantic and so forth for lasers. And I'm sure some 49ers are considered superior to others.

Yep of course!

but wouldnt that mean competitors are sailing with hulls, foils, sails (and other things?) which they are not used to. doesnt that defeat the purpose of having multiple builders, unless they all have to say what they want beforehand. rather complicated in my opinion, but a possibility.

as for the one design thing, jimc, it seems you are technically correct. i guess it all comes down to how you define 'one design'.

peace

Originally posted by JimC And you must remember too that the external shape is a small part of the potential variation, things like laminate specification, weight distribution, even the alignment of fibres and choice of resin make as much or even more difference than a few millimetres here or there. If you'd sailed real development boats you'd know that in practice very big differences in shape often make damn all difference. In addition these construction variations are practically impossible to police, which is why "identical" boats have to be single manufacturer...

Jim first of all i want to applogise for allowing my self to get carried away and degenerating this discussion into an argument over symantics.  I understand your point of view and while i don't share it i can appreciate where you are coming from and in truth i think more people will agree with you.  However I would like to say that I am fully aware of the miriad of possible variations that can occur when building boats (controlling it is what i do for a living).  So I know that making the most of every variation and using the right combination of them can make huge differances.  There are people who make good money from doing just that, I just wish I was one of them. 

I'd like to see you sit down with the guys from Marstrom and Graham Eeles and try and convince them of that, let alone a group of I14 sailors, because if that was true why have the variation at all?  I've spent my time in "real development boats" and I can tell you that changing sails/masts/foils, let alone hull designs make a big difference, it can feel like stepping into acompletly different class.  Even in a heavilly restricted class like the B14 I sail at the moment the new carbon mast, feels completely different, even though it has the same bend characteristics to within a couple of mm as the aluminium mast it replaces. 

I just think that for the olympics all the boats should be as close to identical as humanly possible so as to keep a level playing field.  The laser, radials and windsurfers are supplied boats, and the 49er could even go that way too, so rightly or wrongly ISAF are moving in that direction already.