49er medal race

Lets face it a sunny F4 with flatish water and spray flying would have looked beautiful on the telly, and would have been far more attractive to non sailors rather  than a very windy, very wet, fally over sort of day.

Some reaches for the non asyys would have been nice... far more exiting than windward leewards for the 470's

I tried hard to enjoy the Olympic sailing, but I have to say overall it wasn't great to watch.  The endless postponements and rubbish weather were really the pits.  Even the demolishon derby of the 49er medal race seemed pretty silly (what you could actually see of it).

It's a bit of a waste of time trying to make sailing a viewer friendly sport.  Its a participation activity, not a TV sport.  The races take too long, and viewers don't appreciate having to wait around while the wind shifts and courses are re-laid.

On the topic of the Danish 49er win if they get denied the gold after being protested by the race committie its going to make sailing look even more silly.  If they were not allowed to compete in a borrowed boat then they shouldn't have been allowed to take it off the shore.  Hats off to them though, they should be rewarded for their determination.

Well done to all the British Olympic sailors as well, they've done us proud again, even if it wasn't gripping viewing

Ok i walked into work yesterday morning, and someone came up to me as they know I sail and said, blimey that 49er race the other morning was pretty exciting hey?  No prompting from me no input just a statement of fact.

So crash and burn for the general public, and tactical for us....you never know ISAF might not be to far away from the right idea!

So your son has better taste than you Scooby! 

In response to most of the comments, I sail a 49er (badly) and it was exhausting watching the race, but exhilarating. I have enjoyed watching most of the races that I have seen, in the light stuff some of the decisions on the water have been very telling in the results. The 49er race was completely different.Watching them trying to bear off at the winward mark was great how many of us have actually tried this? Most of what I saw  happen I could relate to without any problem, and it was good to see that even the best in the world make mistakes,..... and they are the best in the world!!

I understand that it wont appeal to non sailors, but I don't think any of the racing has, so we have to enjoy it for ourselves and hope 2012 is a better venue for encouraging non sailors.