David. The figure I have is £27m!

D

Sailing medal target was three

I think there were some exceptional performances by our sailors given the extremely challenging conditions and venue, as a keen dinghy racer I get the impression that for the second time running the quality of the event has been compromised by the desire to have a course close to the shore, though I guess Portland Bill will have prepared our sailors for Sugarloaf Mountain.  Frankly to predict the Medal count was a big ask.

The previous posters comments may be a bit unkind, like many events an early bad result can put the competitor on the back foot, forcing the competitor to take greater risks, Giles Scott rose above this others didn't.

No it didn't.....from our point of view down here, it would have been much better if nothing was done.

Trump, Brexit, beaten by the Brits in all sports.....all signs that the end of the world is nigh.

PS Congrats, team GB.

If there was a like button I would click it!

Ridiculous game

Given it's predominantly National Lottery money (peasant tax), we might as well spend it on getting some feel good factor in special interest sports like sailing, cycling, hockey etc.... at least it adds some diversity from the rather dull, male orientated spectrum of Rugby, Football and Cricket which seems to dominate if society lets the media and private sector have full control of the sporting agenda.   

Australia and the USA have long traded on sporting success to boost National pride and to me it seems a good way to go, alongside other aspirational programmes of course.

It's all very well throwing money at the bottom buying ( "Terras for all" ) but motivation is at least as important as equipment, if people are inspired & motivated by seeing Medals being won they will seek out the equipment. Spoon feeding is only useful in small doses.

I am talking all sports, not only sailing.  

Are you saying you have seen it or are you just talking sh*te. 

But the evidence that watching medals being won translates into people actually doing the sport is extremely dubious, to say the least. Look at the sports in which the UK has won most gold and then look at the list of the most popular participant sports - there's not a particularly good correlation. Canoeing is more popular than rowing but has far fewer medals, for example.

Flatwater rowing seems to (AIUI) get people into full-on rowing shells if they want to row as a sport, whereas canoe builders have been pumping out simple, stable sea kayaks, SOTs etc rather than promoting K1s.  Is that a factor?????

I haven't had a chance to check it out in detail, but the great decline in rowing as a popular spectator sport in Oz, at any rate, apparently occurred 8 years after the more stable "string test fours" and other boats were replaced for 'normal' racing by modern-style outrigger boats. Apparently coastal rowing, using beamier boats, is booming; as of course are dragon boating and SUPping which aren't Olympic events.

There is a chance that I'm just seeing everything from the eyes of someone who believes that the popularity of a sport is closely linked to having easy-to-use kit, but certainly some canoe builders have said that the sport's rise is linked to the advent of cheap plastic boats.

There are of course a few equipment based sports that are extremely difficult to enter without a long period of building up technique. Is that always a bad thing? There are many more running, jumping and throwing sports that anyone can start easily. One size doesn't have to or should be made to fit all. Celebrate the difference

So boats that a reasonable proportion of the wider sailing community either dislike or are unreachable? Sounds like a great idea...not

Our sport has a lot of diversity, visitors to the club are usually surprised with the variety of boats on offer. I can honestly say that if my only choice to keep sailing was to have a Laser I would have left the sport by now.

Rowing is a killer time suck, to somebody else's timetable. There's a bit of latitude in winter, but it's still 4 evenings a week in the gym, and 8am - 1pm Saturday and Sundays. And you have to be there at 8am, because that's the time everybody else is. The vast majority of rowing - at least here in the UK, is in 8+s and 4s, as that's the most bang for the boat club's buck when buying boats. (Singles tend to be privately owned,) In summer, it's even worse as you go rowing in the evenings, so down to the boatclub for 7pm outings 3-4 times per week. And with most clubs, you can't take more than about 1 or 2 weekends off through the winter. 

I can't imagine a rotomolded boat working, other than a very short playboat, from a structural point of view. 

The Scottish Coastal Rowing project seems to have been doing quite well, with self-built faering type boats - built in ply & epoxy. 

Crossed purposes there, I was assuming you were referring to general sailing rather than the Olympic programme. Our sailots have to start somewhere....

I think you are talking sh*te ... The 49er and FX have a single supplier of sails and spars ... How many permutations of 1 from 1 can you test?

Ok there are a couple of hull builders but then you need multiple boats anyway. 

That is a very uk centric view. Go to any club in mainland Europe and you will find loads of 470s. 

The Faering is an example of the area that's growing faster than Olympic type rowing, isn't it?

I get the time issue with modern rowing (which is one reason my ignominious rowing career was so short,the other issue being that I was carp ) but way back when rowing was a larger sport the single scullers were the great heroes, apparently. 

Obviously it's just conjecture and I haven't actually looked at the figures, but going back through old copies of "Forest and Stream" and newspaper sporting sections it's interesting to see the divergent development that rowing, cycling and canoeing have taken, and noting that the sport which uses the most accessible gear at the top level has become by far the most popular. So would the Olympic investment pay off better in terms of getting the population fitter if there was high profile aspirational competition using something more like single scull versions of  the open water boats, or something like this?

To make it clear, I'm just wondering here, not making any claims or predictions.  Obviously there are other factors as well, so this is merely throwing conjecture around. But it's interesting to wonder what other sports would look like if they used the same approach to design as the most popular "equipment intensive" one.

PS - I never knew these existed until I started looking for recreational rowing pics, but incidentally there's a 6m 19kg poly sliding seat rowing shell (the Wave 1 Wave Cutter) out there for about 35% of the cost of a Laser. Looks nice.

That is a far bigger difference than any equipment strategy 

Perhaps although true to the dictionary definition, measuring popularity by numbers taking part is only a measure across the population as a whole. You could say that rowing an eight or sailing a 49er is extremely popular with those doing it, given the X,000s of hours training needed to perform it must be attractive.

It is a part of human nature and of course in many ways common sense to seek the easiest route, however for some the easiest route is not the most fulfilling. Who has won a medal by seeking the easy way? Is one role of the Olympics to inspire all to aim higher?

5minute edit. Maybe things shift to mirror society at large, faster, easier, more convenient, instant access, quick fix, have it now, fast food.

Because people have grown lazy and can't be arsed to do water based sports when jumping on a bike is easy. 

OT, sports cycling is not "easy", it's just more efficient in terms of the proportion of time you can actually exercise, compared to messing about with kit. 

Anyway, enough from me on this.  Cheers

Being an innocent fool I do believe in an inspirational effect. I do not think though that the effect is or should be seen as direct: I didn't feel inspired to take up mens rings gymnastics but did resolve to keep doing what I do as long and as well as I can.

You say that but I live just round the corner from the gym where 1 Louis Smith (and many others from Team GB) train. They have been full with waiting lists for years now as a direct result of the continued success of GB/England Gymnasts. They also have a really active baby/toddler/child sessions. Catch 'em young and keep them interested seems to work well.

I used to race a Raceboard 7.5 on the NW regional circuit (where we still race a 7.5m class) and the odd national event, reasonably successfully. For a short while we managed to persuade the local T15 reps to combine their events with our UKBSA/UKWA Raceboard events with the older kids racing the same course as the adults. They stopped doing this 'cos they said the kids were 'intimidated' by the sight of us 'big kids'! Now the kids don't realise that there is windsurf racing after the age of 15....... The RYA doesn't seem interested in promoting Raceboards and appears to abandon the over 15s unless they have 'Olympic potential' and there are virtually non entering Raceboard events. Dinghy sailors have more chance as most clubs have a racing culture where windsurfing clubs don't (and don't get me started on how Formula W destroyed windsurf racing at club level 'cos they just don't work on small inland ponds.....)

An interesting observation that with Rio finally 'done and dusted' there has been little comment made on the results from the three para-lympic classes. The one official comment that was made  - "Their success means that the British Sailing Team has achieved its pre-Rio target of two medals." is as interesting for what it doesn't say as what it does. Hmmm..two bronze medals - job done? More like a case that Team GBR had an arse kicking from the Australian contingent that came close to a clean sweep, finally settling for two Gold and a Silver.

Word is that the performance of 'Team GBR' will now be the topic of some fairly far reaching discussions, with a potential funding cut being just one of the options that are on the table.

The bigger question? Would the £5.4m cut in funding stay in the sport, in one form or another, or be directed elsewhere?

D

Wow - so much wrong in just one post. Mess bars aren't subsidised, they just don't rip off punters with crazy inflated prices.

For ceremonial crap read ethos and heritage.... some of the things that help our military be so effective.

Not sure what direct input MOD has in to the Invictus games, but it's not a bad idea.

because they don't have rents to pay, or business rates like a regular pub or bar and I'm guessing here, but I reckon the full staffing costs don't come out of the bar profit either.... therefore they are subsidised indirectly by their institutionalised nature...  same as Uni bars.    

a bit of general off topic chit chat that keeps forums and threads alive perhaps?  But i digress, Olympic investment... frankly I don't care for it anymore.   The golden era is over now anyway... isn't it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sailing/2016/09/21/rio-olympics-golden-generation-sails-off-into-the-sunset/" rel="nofollow - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sailing/2016/09/21/rio-olympics-golden-generation-sails-off-into-the-sunset/

The golden era is indeed over. Mess Bars are no longer subsidised (Not that they ever really were but even in Turnturtle's terms they no longer are).