Evaluation Trials Overall Report

Summary of the Event

At the November 1999 ISAF meeting the Sailing and Events Committees were charged with the task of seeking out boats which could be considered for high level competition including the Olympic Games in 2004 in the ‘Multihull’ discipline. The following fundamental criteria had to be met:

The boat had to be a Multihull - One or two person:

1. Capable of providing close competition among crews of a wide weight range and both men and women.
2. Must have the unquestioned ability to meet the requirements of International Class status with in a reasonable time
3. Worldwide availability of materials and opportunity for construction.

It was acknowledged that there existed already a number of International classes, which meet the criteria though the ISAF Council policy is that classes need not have gained International status at the time of selection, in November 2000. It was decided that the best way to find the boat was to have an open invite to classes to an Evaluation Event. The Event would be similar to the one held on Lake Garda, Italy in 1996 from which the 49er emerged and went forward to be selected for the 2000 Olympics. Parallel with the Multihull Event it was decided that it would also be a good opportunity to evaluate fast Singlehanders suitable for high level competition and possible selection for the Olympic Games in 2008. The Singlehanders would also be required to meet the fundamental criteria. The following boats took part in the event:

Laser EPS, International Contender, RS600, Musto High Performance Skiff, Nautivela Vis, Laser Vortex, Ace A Class, Inter 17, Marstrom M18, Dart 16, Reg White/Yves Loday Spitfire, Dart Hawk, Hobie Tiger, Mystere Syndicate Twister 20/F2000, Taipan 5.7, Taipan 4.9, Inter 18, Inter 20, Hobie Fox, Reg White/Yves Loday Storm, Tornado, Marstrom M20.

Led by Sadi Claeys, the Evaluation Team comprised of Cliff Norbury, Dick Batt, Niels Ehrhardt, Olivier Bovyn, Cathy Foster, Fred Kats and Mitch Booth. This team formulated a plan for the Evaluation of all entries, which would give them a clear indication of a possible replacement for the Tornado for the Olympics in 2004, and a view of possible future singlehanders for the Olympics in 2008.

With the help of the French Sailing Federation, the Ecole National de Voile, Quiberon was secured as a venue for the week. Built in the early seventies the ENV proved to be a fantastic base, with Quiberon Bay as an evaluation area and plenty of room ashore for briefings and meetings. ISAF sent out a request to all Member National Authorities (MNA’s) to nominate sailors of a good standard to take part in the event and help to evaluate the boats taking part. It was also expected that builders would bring their own ‘factory teams’ to sail alongside the MNA sailors. 30 sailors were nominated by the MNA’s who were divided roughly into to two groups, those with predominately singlehanded experience and those with predominately multihull experience, although all sailors were encouraged to evaluate as many boats as possible.

The Evaluation Team devised a questionnaire so that the evaluation process could be quantified. 28 questions were asked which covered the performance, handling, excitement, layout and equalisation of the boats along with individual’s comments and criticisms. All the builders were given the opportunity to meet the Evaluation Team and discuss their boat/project and air their views on developments for the future of their boat and their thoughts on the boats attending the event with regard to Olympic selection.

It was a slow start on Monday as builders prepared their craft and all the MNA sailors arrived from as far afield as Australia, Mexico and USA. There was a cold wind blowing from the Northeast, which ranged from 10 to 18 knots. A trapezoid course was laid so that sailors spent around one hour evaluating the boats. On the first day 50 evaluations were made. It was felt that on the first day no races should be held but from Tuesday onwards races for the builder’s teams would be held so that the boats could be seen and compared in a competitive environment.

Tuesday dawned with a more Easterly breeze of 14-16 knots, perfect conditions for the evaluation of these high performance Singlehanders and Multihulls. The wind dropped throughout the day and by the time the race between builder’s teams started the wind was down to seven knots. Eventually the wind dropped to zero and the race was abandoned. 120 evaluation’s had been carried out by the end of Tuesday.

Wednesday saw an Easterly breeze of 15-18 knots, dropping to 12 knots by the end of the day. With the weather forecast looking bad for Thursday and Friday the Evaluation Team put pressure on the sailors to evaluate as many boats as possible and by the end of the day a total of 221 evaluations had been carried out. Wednesday saw the first complete race. Each team was allowed to enter two boats into each race. The singlehanded Multihulls started with the singlehanded dinghies. Race two started in 10 knots of breeze which dropped to 7 by the finish.

Thursday saw no wind and lots of rain! A frustrating day for the sailors. Interviews with the builders pushed ahead throughout the day making use of the time spent waiting for the wind to arrive. All the sailors were asked to write their overall impressions of each of the boats that they had sailed, information that should prove invaluable to the Evaluation Team. Jean-Pierre Marmier, the Chairman of the Measurement Committee, was put to work weighing the boats and sailors. The plan was to measure the sailing weight and the hull weight of all the boats so that the Evaluation team are able to make comparisons between boats. Sailors were also weighed for the same purpose. Thursday also saw the arrival of Paul Henderson, the ISAF President who was very enthusiastic about the range of boats on show and the potential for the future of the sport.

By Friday, the Evaluation Team were happy with the amount of evaluations carried out, 240 in all, so it was decided that there would be two races run as well as a practice race for the MNA sailors. Sailors were however still encouraged to keep sailing the boats where possible and filing the questionnaires.

The Evaluation Team met on Friday afternoon to start their discussions and deliberations. After analysis of the questionnaires a report on the recommendations of the Evaluation Team will be prepared and presented to Council at the ISAF mid-year meeting in May in Cyprus. A final decision will be made at the Edinburgh ISAF conference in November 2000, where the Events Committee will make recommendations to the ISAF Council on the boats to be used for the 2004 Olympics Regatta.

More Information: sailing.org