The Olympic Curse

Originally posted by Jack Sparrow In short it's the Sport you are winning a medal in, NOT best use of a certain brand of equipment.

You say that but in that case why did Ben Ainslie drag Rita from a museum rather than use a brand new boat?

Chris,
It is quite a story - one that will make you smile and go GRRR in equal measures. For starters, the first set of Trials were very UK centric, but that is hardly a surprise given how the UK yachting press in effect were the event sponsors. The design criteria were interestingly contrived at, as one of the 'drivers' (for want of a better word) was a boat where you could not just do an Elvstrom and hike harder for longer and thus win. That is putting things in a very simplistic way, but pretty much sums up many of the discussions.
Aids to sitting out were allowed, which resulted in some really novel solutions, but for this first set of Trials the trapeze was specifically banned. I have a lovely quote from an IYRU Council member who felt that sailing a boat, single handed, from the trapeze was a damn foolish thing to do; Racing it thus was just unseamanlike! It is an interesting intellectual exercise to look back to the mid 60s and see just how limited the single handed scene was back then.

When you look at some of the entries, you have to be thankful to Elvstrom for turning up (even though his presence created a few issues) as it was his Trapez that proved that single handed trapezing could be a viable activity. So, when the second set of Trials were called, at La Baule, the rules had changed and the trapeze was in (though by now Elvstrom was out - this was the start of his 'bad times'). Some designs, such as Peter Milne, backed both horses by having 2 boats there, one with a sliding seat, the other with a trapeze. Some of the other designs were real design dead ends, others...well, it was early days so we will be generous. You had everything from a big 1960s international moth, to a boat that was not dissimilar to the Lark (but in a single handed format), a Fireball (again, single handed) but with a sliding seat and they are just some of the entries that looked like boats!

As for Bob Miller, he built his first boat on craig Whitworths veranda. I've spoken at length to Craig and Carl Ryves, both of whom were incredibly generous with their time and their phone bills, as they often rang me up with yet more snippets that they had forgotten. But again, putting the whole topic back into context, Australia was a long way away in the mid 1960s - and not just in distance. Many things were being developed down there simply because the European sources were not on your doorstep (in Contender terms, I'm thinking of the early masts - from de-Havilland, that had been developed in the absence of the Proctors. Even when the trials were finally concluded at medemblik, the IYRU still managed to get things wrong and wrong again. I've a wonderful story about how Bob Miller was in the UK, when he met a few well known Uk sailors at waterloo station, where he 'let rip' with a succession of curses and swear words that nothing was happening!
But - this is now a half century ago all bar a little bit - things are better now, (aren't they?)
D
PS - a great line of enquiry for you must be David Binks. he worked with jack knights, first on Cobber, then on Flying Fish!

Originally posted by fish n ships Originally posted by Jack Sparrow In short it's the Sport you are winning a medal in, NOT best use of a certain brand of equipment. You say that but in that case why did Ben Ainslie drag Rita from a museum rather than use a brand new boat?

edit add Quote.

He felt that was the best equipment for the task.

Edited by Jack Sparrow - 15 Aug 14 at 4:14pm

Originally posted by maxibuddah why you see us discussing it is because there is such a difference in the equipment.  Compare a Laser to a 49er, the only similarity is that they both float and have a sail, other than that they don't look the same. Even Joe Bloggs watching on his 800" LED TV with a large slice of pizza and a can of Special Brew can work it out.  Can you tell the difference between a Gill Pacer FX and a Dima pole when watching it? Doubt it, neither can Joe Bloggs, its a stick as far he is concerned and they all look the same, apart from the colour

Yep. The craft are different and test different athletic prowess. As 100m does against Steeple Chase etc... The choice of equipment is still arbitrary within a given physical test for a given gender and body type.

I think sailors decide whether or not they want to go Olympic, then choose the boat that best suits their body type, budget etc.