A touch parochial?

So,  just read this months roll tacks and felt the article refering to the choice of laser radial for the boys youth worlds.

Was it me or did the article seem a little UK interests focused.  Now whilst I appreciate that the bigger UK guys may feel that they can't compete in the Radial; surely the Asian nations and smaller/slower growing single hander sailors have been suffering the same thing for all the time whilst the full rig has been used. 

Now I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that the majority of male youth sailors round the world are more suited to the weight band of the Radial than the full rig; and a boat which suits the weights of the majority not just the better Western European and North American sailors has to be the right decsion.  One might even go as far as suggesting that some very good singlehander sailors from these nations have been forced into the 470 as they can't compete with the bigger stronger guys in the full rig, despite the fact that given a little more maturity and chance to natrually gain muscle mass could see them move later into the full rig.

Any decsion to increase the visible participation of sailors in the developing/less established sailing countries can only be a good thing when the sport finds it's self constantly competeing against other sports in the Olympic arena....thoughts??

I do think Western kids are getting bigger,  certainly judging by my own children (14-16) and their friends.  This has an impact on the boats they could sail competitively,  with many classes favouring lighter sailors.

This could obviously suit the emerging sailing nations,  which may not be a bad thing ??

 

Odd seeming as when I was on the youth circuit I seem to remember kids
crazily trying to bulk up so they could be big enough for the full rig. I
certainly don't remember many simply stepping in at the right weight.
I actually remember plenty of guys trying to bulk up for the radial, let alone
the full rig.

I wonder if someone were to check the stats, how the number of sub 18 yr
olds sailing the full rig compare to the amount of sub 18 yr olds sailing the
radial. I'm willing to bet there's a damn sight more in the radial.



Edited by Doug.H

Originally posted by Jon Emmett The idea weight for the Standard is around 80Kgs and this is assuming reasonably tall and very fit. To be competitive in 25 knots and not at peak fitness you would need to be heavier than this...

i have to agree with jon, i think there is a culture in
the Uk of moving up up too soon , and the radial is
actually a very nice boat to sail, even once i'd 'moved
up' to sailing standard rig    i'd break the radial rig
out on breezy days ...

i've also sailed standard rig at a reasonable weight
against light people sailing radial and in transitional
to planing conditions there really wasn't that much in it
inland...

however it's a fair few years ago ( 10 + ) and things
may well have moved on a bit