49er medal race

Good Result

The Danes deserve it!

Full marks to all the 49er sailors and I'm so pleased the Danes have won gold. What a show they put on for us!

Had it been a Finn of Star I would have said that the result should not count. In those classes the competitors chose the equipment they want and develop masts and sails that are as light as possible.  Therefore if they break, you could argue they have pushed the limits too far and got what the deserved.  However, the 49er is a SMOD.  You have no control over the quality of the equipment, or its suitability for the conditions.  You just get what you are given.  It hardly seems fair that the sailor should be punished for equipment failure that was outside his control.  Yes, you could argue that they should have had a spare mast, sails, mast gate, hull, etc etc, but that seems to be contray to the one-design ethos.  Surely one-design classes are about keeping costs down,  so to require you to own two boats to be competitive is senseless.  I can not see that the Danes gained any advantage using the Croatian boat, except perhaps the lack of camera on the back.  But in the circumstances (they only had to finish to win, and the wind was so strong that the weight of the camera had negligable effect on performance) I think the jury has made the right call.

I don't think this sets a blanket precedence.  As I said earlier if the class, weather conditions or importance of the race were different, the ruling may have been too.  Its also worth noting that none of the competitors lodged a protest. 

The 49ers are owners boats, but the Lasers are provided.  If Goodies mast falls down tomorrow (pre-start, when he isn't ragging it) is that his fault?  There are shades of grey.  In the Finn, if, say, Ben's mast fell down, that would be his fault and he should have no comeback.  He should have used a stronger mast.  In the Laser, Goody would rightly be peeved and doubtless would seek redress.  The 49er is somewhere in the middle.  The boat wasn't supplied, but every boat is nominally identical within manufacturing tolerance, so again, it it their fault if the equipment is sub-standard.  If the IOC/ISAF are going to force equipment on sailors, it is their responsibilty to ensure it is fit for purpose.  Whilst that particular 49er mast was not forced on the Danes, every 49er mast is supposed to be the same, so (in theory) they couldn't have selected a better one if they'd wanted to.  Requiring every team to have a spare (two spare, three spare?) boats at £10k+ is against the Olympic spirit, even if, in reality, some wealthy teams already do this.