Carolijn Brouwer found time from her busy Tornado training schedule in Sydney to write to SailJuice with her views on what happened two weeks ago in Estoril. You could read the frustration between the lines of what Laser Radial sailor Laura Baldwin wrote a few days ago. Here, Carolijn is much more explicit with her feelings. By the way, a quick reminder that Carolijn finished runner-up in the Tornado World Championships this year, showing the men the way round the track in the manliest of weather conditions. So this is a girl who knows what she’s talking about.
“Dear Andy
I was gutted after the ISAF meeting in Estoril. I felt empty, confused and especially useless. I am a member of the Events Committee but at this moment I truly don’t really know what I’m doing there and whether it has any meaning.
Of course I’m very disappointed ISAF kicked out the Multihull and is taking a huge step backwards in sailing by not including the High Performance dinghy for Women. They are too scared to take a possible risk and move forward.
But most of all, I am disappointed about the Events selection procedure. The members of the Events Committee have been chosen by their MNAs because they are the so called experts in the issues/areas that involve Events, including Olympic Games and Olympic Event Selection.
The normal procedure is that the voting on respective issues that involve Events is done on our Committee and we then put them forward as a recommendation to Council. Council usually accepts our recommendation.
This time however they just chucked it out the window and started all over again. So, what are we actually doing there as an Events Committee if our expertise is not being used anyway?
This is really disappointing and to be honest I don’t understand what ISAF is doing. It’s frustrating being part of it, and having the feeling that you are completely useless. It’s not about the sailors, it’s about the blazers. So many people have told me already, don’t try and understand, it’s a waste of time. And I still keep thinking I can make a difference in there.
The past week I have been on the verge of resigning from the Committee. But that would be giving up. We need more active sailors on the committees, not less.
I have a very straightforward, simple and symmetric opinion of how easily we can have only ten events for sailing in the Olympics and still cover the whole range that our beautiful sport has to offer:
- Singlehanded Men/Women
- Doublehanded Men/Women (High Performance)
- Multihull Men/ Women
- Windsurfer Men/Women
- Keelboat Men/Women (matchracing)
It doesn’t have to be difficult, it can be easy.
And regarding the Women’s situation. This might sound a little contradictory with what I just wrote above, but it’s just a matter of time. I am more in favour of 6:4 than 5:5. If you look at any Olympic sport out there at the moment there are more men than women.
I wonder whether we will find enough women to fill all the Olympic classes if we go 50:50. And I’m afraid if we do, this might bring the women’s level in sailing down, and that is the last thing we want.
So an easy solution to this would be consider the Open events. Not all the events have to be open but I definetely think some events CAN and should be open. There are many people that think the Tornado is not suitable as an Open Event discipline.
I think I’m the living proof that that is not entirely true.
But I can live with that because in my eyes there are more disciplines out there that are equally and maybe more suitable for men and women. We are talking Multihull here, not Tornado. So the F18 or any other catamaran class could be more suitable for men and women.
Or take for example the 470. The boys now (especially due to the conditions in Qingdao) but normally as well, the boys have to be very light and skinny to suit a 470. A mixed combination could be the perfect solution for this problem. And also here it has been proven in the past that it is possible (1984 Olympics with Cathy Foster and Pete Newlands).
And with this approach, you can solve the whole situation by keeping the wide diversity, still cover all the ranges in sport, keep all the sailors happy and most important of all not put our sport in danger of losing its Olympic status!
Which is exactly what is happening now by removing the Multihull and not introducing the High Performance.
Regards,
Carolijn”
Carolijn’s comments are very sensible, and with her qualifications to her original line-up are the best I’ve yet seen. Replacing the men and women’s multihulls with an open multihull would answer the concern of insufficient multihull sailors, and allow the inclusion of an open 470 for the traditionalists and those who maintain the 470 is easier for developing countries to compete in than a high-performance boat. I hope someone important reads her suggestions and takes them on board.
By: JS on 23 November 2007
at 12:52 am
So now where do we go? It appears at least three / four members of ISAF council voted against the wishes of their National Authorities – vis Holland, New Zealand, Greece and USA.
And ISAF have ignored specific guidelines from IOC not to include weight categories.
Legal action if petition and public pressure is not enough? A breakaway IMSAF (multihulls)?
Surely now ISAF, it is time to recognise your mistake and find a way to review your position. IT is not going to help sailing if your organisation continues to profess the democratic nature of its decisions when this is so plainly not the case.
Be brave and ISAF might start regaining some of the respect if has lost world-wide.
By: simon morgan on 23 November 2007
at 8:40 am
Carolijn has nailed one aspect of this looney ole boys’ decision. It appears to me that there is something smacking of corruption within the circle of ISAF. The other part of this “decision making” process that Carolijn doesn’t touch on is that the original process by the Events c’tee took months. The exec took under two hours to reach their own expert none representative conclusion. It would be reasonable to assume that the selection was therefore a done deal by the exec weeks before. This kind of closed door skullduggery belongs to secret societies for the under 12s, not in sailing. Not that I really care about these things (!)…………..
By: Pete Conway on 23 November 2007
at 9:51 am
I’ve just punched some numbers. Sure, they don’t tell all the story but they are interesting…..
There’s over 7 times the number of people sailing crewed dinghies at nationals in the UK and in the major US adult’s championships, as are sailing cats.
Where is the fairness, justice and equity in giving the same number of events to a discipline that attracts just 1/7th of the number of sailors?
Carolijn is a brilliant and inspirational sailor, but surely the fact that crewed dinghies vastly outnumber other types of centreboarders should be allowed for when medals are allotted? At the moment, the crewed dinghies are the ones who are suffering discrimination!
By: Ct 249 on 23 November 2007
at 11:20 am
Chris,
the line of reasoning you have presented the last week points to one end, and only one end. Two sailing events in the games.. Mens dinghy and womens dinghy. That is the logical conclusion to your argument, and I dont think the IOC would spend the money they do on infrastructure if sailing had just two events.
As we all know, you included, there are three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics. How many multihull sailors dont attend nationals, and vice versa for monohull dinghys? Do you have numbers on that as well.
Do you think the ISAF Council did the right thing? If not, why do you keep pulling the same numbers to the table again, even if we have all heard you tout them over and over again for what must be months now.
By: Prfhhh Gahhh on 23 November 2007
at 2:23 pm
Don’t give up Caroline and don’t walk away All sailors , especially Tornado sailors are and need to be concerned . THey also need to make more noise about this and get more public so opinions can sway. Go to the news and explain and pointout your views, gaver some assistance from like minded big name sailors.
We are behind you and writing letters to our local Olympic commitees to endorse your clear and elequent views
Best
M
By: Mark on 23 November 2007
at 8:55 pm
Dear Mr Prrff
I can understand that you’re getting annoyed with facts being presented. I’m also a bit sick of having to point out facts that should be well known. It’s annoying, when these things are so easy to find, to have to bring them up time and time again.
No, I don’t have numbers for the multi sailors who don’t attend nationals. I also can’t think of any good reasons why cat sailors should be less likely to do nationals. I do know that the cat sailors I sailed with were much MORE likely to do their nationals than the mono sailors I sail with.
These are not damned lies. They’re not even really statistics. They are simple numbers, simple facts. Please either accept them or come up with a reasonable argument showing problems with them. Abusing the idea of presenting simple fact is not reasonable discussion.
There is no way that presenting these numbers would push the IOC towards just two classes. The cats are a vital part of the Olympics. However, the fact that cats should be in the Olympics is no reason for us to throw BS and misinformation around.
Any numbers I have presented have just one end – to try to make the point that there is not some nasty conspiracy and bias that we cat sailors can do nothing about. Instead, possibly the main reason we cat sailors were dropped from the Games is because cats are only a small sector of the sport – and that is something we CAN fix.
The fact that you are trying to silence those who show the hard numbers, the undeniable facts, shows more about your agenda than anyone else’s.
By: Ct 249 on 24 November 2007
at 1:30 pm
Dear ct 249,
It seems to me that you are arguing a point against the catamarans, because they have 1-7 attendies at National Championships. Is this UK Nationals?
Where are your “simple numbers” for the number of windsurfers that attended national championships!
I am not against windsurfing as I am one myself and wouldnt want to see them out of the olympics, I have also never raced my windsurf kit.
My point is that National championships are one aspect of our sport, I have raced on the Olympic circuit for 7 years but I dont always do the national championships.
If you really want to understand how the Olympic Classes work you wont find the information on the internet you have to go to the dinghy park!
How many Olympic Finn & Star sailors spend half their Olympic Cycle on AC boats?
My advice to anybody who is trying to govern or dictate the future of a sport based on the water is to get out of their blazer and into a wetsuit.
The International Olympic Comittee have themselves made reccommendations to ISAF that if the Athlete qouta dor sailing was to be reduced, Keelboat sailing should be dropped because of the huge expense in running events for them and the minimal media interst on the water.
Hang on, it sounds exactly like the advice the events council also gave to the executive council!!!!!!!!
This is the only fair representation of the sport.
Singlehanded Men/Women
Doublehanded Men/Women (High Performance)
Multihull Men/ Women
Windsurfer Men/Women
Keelboat Men/Women (matchracing)
By: Marco on 26 November 2007
at 8:27 am
Marco: there is no fair representation of the sport possible: apart from anything else leadmine sailors are massively under represented.
Your slate would be utterly unacceptable to the emerging nations who have few or no high performance two handers, and no great interest in them either. Much as I loved my thirty years sailing high performance two handers there are probably less of those sailing round the world in all classes as there are 470s!
There’s an interesting post on Scuttlebutt today (Nov 26th 2482) from one of the Council reps who says in part:-
“Some Council members from developing countries, like myself, are not very impressed by new high performance boats that will take an age to reach their region. Already disenfranchised by the current selection of Events, emerging countries will find themselves even more limited in their choices if they are not careful.
For example, if the 470 was dropped for a high performance boat, or, as some have muted, the Laser for a high performance foil boat, they would not have any boats in which they have at least some depth of competition experience. ”
Too me it should be a minimum of 3 classes for each sex for the emerging Nations prefereed types of boats, which basically means Sailboard, Laser and 470. There are then 4 spots. My personal preference would be M & F high performance two hander (but accepting that such a class is actually highly unrepresentative of the sport), open multihull and open match racing keelboat, with the max crew weight of the match racing three hander heavily limited to that of 3 average Asian males, forcing or at least encouraging the bigger westerners to sail mixed crews.
By: JimC on 26 November 2007
at 12:36 pm
Oops… I should also add that the 2002 report against keelboats that so many have quoted has I believe been appreciably outdated by subsequent events.
By: JimC on 26 November 2007
at 12:37 pm
How is it possible the lead mine boaters are under represented, they have two classes in the olympics.
They also have another sailing pinnacle to aim for in the form of the AC
Taking the Multihull out of the Olympics is taking away the opportunity for young catamarn sailors to follow their dream.
Surely allowing every branch of the sport to compete at the Olympics is the underlying issue here. The boat sailed is just a tool.
Developing countries are ‘developing’ and as to that end it would suggest that they are not going to be in a position to compete inevery discipline in every sport at the Olympics.
It is the aim of the IOC to move sports fowards and not to stop moving.
By: Marco on 26 November 2007
at 2:44 pm
Carolijn, you are just right.
Best wishes for Beijing 2008 from a spanish fan.
By: Cenutrio189430 on 27 November 2007
at 10:55 am
Dear Chris, Jim C et al, Apologies if I am going over old ground.
It seems entirely irrelevant how many monohull sailors versus multihull sailors take part in the Nationals or indeed any other regattas.
I go running most mornings but I have never entered any competition and never will; nonethless I still want to see athletics at the Olympics.
Similarly the argument of Tornados and Stars being expensive and exclusive is also irrelevant. At this stage of ISAF’s decision making process the only focus should have been on what classes of boats/(boards) are to be sailed, not the specific types within the classes.
With the Sunfish. Laser and Hobie 16 being the 3 most popular boats in the world there really can be no argument about whether to include a multihull class or not…it’s as obvious as the fact that lots of people go running. The fact that a two handed dinghy is not is the top three though does not mean it shouldn’t be included – of course it should!
There has been much discussion about the slate of classes that ISAF should be persuaded to revisit I would be inclined not to exclude keelboats as they are, like multihulls and windsurfing, an important subdivision of sailing.
Do we need two classes of single handers, one specifically named ‘Heavy’ against the prosciption of IOC? Do we need two classes of two man male boats? Maybe we do, but NOT at the excusion of the multihull and, as Ben Ainslie easily made the transition from Laser to Finn winning GOld in both classes there seems very little reasoning in my book for such doubling up.
I have sympathy with the comments of some of the developing nations’ position that boats like the 49er and Tornado are too ’sophisticated’ for their current sailors; this too ought to be taken into consideration, but, as someone has already pointed out Dressage is hardly well represented in the developing nations, and, well the UK has to consider itself a developing nation as far as winter sports are concerned yet you do not hear us crying out for slower skis and courses.
I think the 49er and Tornado are superb boats, and fulfil IOC’s requirements to be telegenic (contrary to what MR Van der Aat might say) but perhaps there is a better choice to suit all – (funnily enough MR Van Der Aat was firmly on the side of promoting the Hobie 16 as the Olympic class ten years ago).
So to conclude; really there is no point arguing the case about whether monohulls are more popular etc. It is blindingly obvious cats deserve a chance as Hobies (and others) represent the face of sailing to a world wide audience who do not need to race them to appreciate others doing so at the highest level.
For the sake of all that’s good in our sport which includes fair play which we all assert to lets turn all our energies to persuading our MNA’s to lobby ISAF to review their decision; not with their country’s own medal hopes so prominently on display but for the good of our wonderful sport.
Promote the petition too….
PS Jacques Rogge sails multihulls!
Best wishes, Simon Morgan
By: simon morgan on 27 November 2007
at 12:22 pm