49er medal race

Originally posted by ColH However, I'm really hoping the 470s get a similar breeze - I reckon they will make an even better spectacle.

Me too. The 470s would have ripped up the course today. We'd have seen
some world class sailing action rather than loads of capsising. Fingers
crossed.

Official wind speed was 14knots, but seems to have conked out after the first sausage.

http://www.sailing.org/olympics/resultscentre.php?raceid=126

Ynglings and Finns were registered as 16knots or thereabouts.

Hi,

Thought I might give a bit of inside information about the 49ers and the
race today!

Firstly, All the guys out there are between about 6 - 10 kg below
optimum weight.

Now when you sail that much below weight the handling gets a lot
harder, but more importantly the range of angles you can sail down wind
get a lot narrower.

This then reduces your options on how to avoid the worst waves.

Which means that you dont avoid them and down the mine you go!!!

They dont look like they are going very fast down wind, and are probably
faster in the 10 - 14 knot range, as they are desperately trying to slow
down, if you let the boat rip at full speed you start to rapidly overtake
waves, launch off the top of them and come to a rapid and gear breaking
nose dive. ( see pics of boats stern to the air )

So they are going down wind at wave speed or slightly faster, trying to
ease your way past the waves and if you can arround them. The skill is to
look a few waves in front to try and pick your way through.

To get back to the crew weight, this effects your ability to find your way
through the waves, the boat loads up earlier etc etc. This is nothing new
to any of the sailors out there they have all seen at events this year and in
training, but the gains in the light out weigh the one windy race.

So you get majority of time bobbing about and then when there is some
wind its a crash and fall over session. Dont blame the boats or the
sailors. Its the choice of venue which is to blame.

Having said that if the games had been in weymouth this last week at
least 3 days would have been lost to too much wind!!!

The sea conditions in Qingdao when it gets windy are pretty unusual,
every windy race there has been there has seen the same results!

Cleary the Danes deserved to win that event, however preserving your
gear and equipment is all part of the skill set required to win Gold
medals, if they are denied there win it is not due to the protest comittee
but to there own misjudgment and equipment maintenance.

If there hull has been damaged, which as mentioned is a common failiure
when the mast falls down then I cannot see why they should not be
allowed to replace it in order to compete, why they had to use the CRO
sails as well remains a question.

Should they be dsq and loose the Gold medal it could be argued that the
medal race format has back fired on ISAF, or may be it did exactly what it
is inteded to do and create drama!

Originally posted by Contender 541 But the question still remains.... How did the jury rule?

Protest adjourned to Monday..

Looks like this is where John Doerr earns his keep...still I can't think of anyone I'd rather have chairing the jury for that decision...

But the question still remains....

How did the jury rule?