Events for 2012...

the thing about mens match racing is that, the america's cup, because of its prestige and long standing reputation will always outshine the olympic men's match racing, and the olympics is supposed to represent the highest accolade in those chosen sports (hence why tennis olympics seems so weird! and football!)

there was never going to be a solution to make everyone happy - you could blame the IOC for only allowing 10 events.

A bit more detail (from the International Tornado Association):

The ISAF Council meeting began with a discussion of the recommended Events Committee slate which included Multihull Open (Event). However, it did not include a Keelboat event for either Men or Women.
Primarily because of this, the Events Committee slate of events narrowly missed receiving a majority: the vote was 16 In Favor, 19 Against, 1 Abstain

The Council then started over again, and voted for 6 Events for Men/Open & 4 Events for Women.
6 & 4 passed easily: the vote was 29 In Favor, 7 Against, 0 Abstain

The Council then voted on the Events that they wanted. Both Keelboats were voted in. The Multihull and one of the 2 person Womens dinghies were voted out.

Notes on the Council Discussion: Chris Atkins (GBR) was very strongly in favor of the Events Committee slate (which included a Multihull(Open) Event
Eric Tulla (PUR) was strongly in favor of the lasers, simple dinghies, and multihulls that are widely used by youth in his region.

Charlie Cook (USA) was strongly in favor of the Keelboats and a proponent of dropping the multihull.
John Cribbin (IRL) was strongly in favor of the Keelboats and strongly opposed to any 'Open' event.

Theresa Lara (VEN) strong support for Chris Atkins’ position
Spain, France, & Russia also supported multihulls. France and  Russia voted against the Events Committee slate because they wanted keelboats to be added.

shame no womans skiff, the men have one so why not the girls. also the multihul going out is silly, its one of the best to watch!!

Originally posted by furtive The ten events selected by the ISAF Council for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition are: One person dinghy - Men One person dinghy heavy - Men Two person dinghy - Men Two person dinghy high performance - Men Windsurfer - Men Keelboat - Men One person dinghy - Women Two person dinghy - Women Keelboat match racing - Women Windsurfer - Women

The loss of the Cat / Tornado is a Disaster - plain and simple.

On the plus side, I'm no heavyweight but glad that at least one of those classes remains - not sure two are needed.

The Laser(s) and 49er are the best for those jobs - assuming of course they're chosen . Men and womens two person (470) - must be in - most closely represents what the masses do, technical and well supported.

Windsurfing - not everyones cup of tea, but undeniably athletic and should be represented.

Womans Match racing - What?? Who does that and where?  The kit will no doubt be expensive to buy, maintain and transport, and training against other top racers will be more vital than ever,. So how will small underfunded countries ever compete - they probably won't even take part! How will beginners break into the fleet? I'd be suprised if 4 years from now there are more than a dozen active womens match racing teams worldwide. And yes I know there aren't masses of womens Skiff teams either but at least there's a prospect of numbers developing - especially when you look at the pretty high numbers of girl only teams in the 29ers.

Ok match racing can be comparitively TV freindly but IMO as a spectacle it's still not a patch on a womens skiff event - at least at a windy venue like Weymouth (fingers crossed). Many match races are a mystery to non sailors with a flurry of pre start activity which is unintelligible to most, followed by what often turns into a procession. Very little 'crash and burn' stuff. And no offence to any possible contenders, (I'd say the same if it were male match racing) but they're less likely to be young fit athletic types and more likely to be older (experienced) sea/ sun worn types. How old was Connor when he won the AC back? No reason why an old gal couldn't winan olympic gold at Match racing - not likelly in a high performance skiff.  So what image of womens sailing do ISAF / the IOC want to project to the 'Youth of the World'?