The Olympic Curse

I'm not sure it exists really. Boats chosen for the Olympics are usually established classes and three events down the line they are twelve years older and getting tired.There is so much competition for Laser in the real world these days but the Olympics keep it in the public eye.

Plenty of Finns and Lasers (and Solos) at Fed Week, but no Bytes, Phantoms, Supernovas or Lightnings.

The Olympic curse was that a class would get shedloads of money spent on it, so a mast would set you back more than a whole different boat, have a bunch of pro sailors which no weekend warrior could hope to keep up with sailing it, and so people wouldn't sail it. Oddly, it really appears to be a myth. Far more likely is that the Olympic boats were already big classes elsewhere, and the UK had boats filling that niche already. The 470, huge in France and all over Europe, really, but up against the Fireball here. The Finn big in northern Europe - actually, never really a failure here, just a small market, and the classics are going strong. The Star - huge in the Americas. The Europe - a very complex one, that, I think, and certainly the development expense (and the "sailed by girls thing?) was a problem, but mostly once it ceased to be an Olympic class. The Tempest? Killed by the Star lobby?

420 never an Olympic class? Pretty big everywhere, and still is in less fashion conscious countries. Might be here, too. Not checked.

As for the Laser, most owners appear not to care less whether it is in the Olympics. Is really only a sideshow for the class, as far as I can see, and maybe not one that either helps or hinders sales.

The Radial as an Olympic class was totally logical, apart from maybe for the actual sailing part of things. I thought it the wrong choice at the time, but have come to see that maybe it was a good way of getting hundreds of bums on seats very quickly. Numbers in the Radial seem very strong, and not thought of as a "girl's boat"?

So, how would the Contender be as a class if all had gone to plan? That is probably the closest a boat has got to the Olympics without it happening, and without a preexisting class structure.