Women's High Performance Dinghy

Rick

You're right, just picked up on the twin trapeze option and suggested on ebased on that.    29er is a good idea, have only sailed one a couple of times and really liked them.

Giles

Fair point Rick but if it reflects the sport in general then we should be having the RS200 as a mixed class and stuff like Fireballs back in the selection.

In fairness I know of very few women who sail Europes or Radials, and I've never even seen a Star or a Yngling.  Probably the reason that there are not that many women skiff teams is that if we are talking about women who would presumably be young and physically fit enough to represent their country at the Olympics, up until very recently there has not been a suitable twin wire boat for them to sail across the wind range with their projected weight.  Either a Cherub or Spice would be about right however these have not really been viable options in the past.  And I think that there are a few all girl RS800 teams, we certainly have one at our club.

Let's face it, if the Olympics accuratly reflects the sport in general for the avergae sailor, we can also forget the 49er and Tornado too, as these are out of the skill or pocket range of the average sailor.  And as for windsurfing, forget racing and just award the medals for tricks or top speed as as far as I am aware that is what the vast majority of board sailors do these days!  Chuck out the velodrome and either do road racing or mountain biking as that is what your average club cyclist will be doing too.

The Olympics has always been a showcase for men and women at the very top of their game so I see no reason whatsoever that a twin wire skiff should not be the way forward for the girls.