Editor of Sailing World Magazine, Stuart Streuli, wrote in with his comment to the Bums On Seats article today. It turns out Stuart has given this topic of Olympic Class selection a lot of thought, and wrote an indepth article about this two years ago. Here’s an excerpt:
“The worst thing ISAF can do is approach this like it has in the past, creating a Survivor-style elimination in which the class with the least political savvy is voted off Olympic island. Instead ISAF should start from scratch, forcing each class to earn its Olympic status.
“Five easily make the grade: the men’s and women’s windsurfer divisions, the Laser and Laser Radial, and the 49er. Though I haven’t seen it in action, I’m willing to give the new RS:X sailboard the benefit of the doubt, especially since fan-friendly slalom racing is now part of the program.
“The Laser is one of the most popular racing dinghies, the ultimate one-design, and there must be an inexpensive ubiquitous boat in the Olympics. It encourages participation from developing nations and combats the infuriating notion that sailing is only for the rich and privileged.
“The 49er is the most exciting boat in the Olympics. It requires an exquisite combination of athleticism and sailing skill and the shorter courses create a lot of close crossing situations. Nothing personifies Citius, Altius, Fortius like Julian Bethwaite’s skiff.
“The next five are significantly more difficult…”
See what Stuart has to say about ‘the next five’, click here…
Posted in ISAF Conference, Olympic Classes | Tags: Olympics, Weymouth 2012, Olympic Sailing, ISAF Conference
