SailJuice Blog

I don’t thnk it is too early to talk equipment. Firstly, the ISAF seem to struggle to differentiate between equipment and events, and secondly they seem incapable of making sensible decisions and oject when nations only write letters of complaint without proposed solutions. So the Danes have proposed a solution.
Whether I agree with the proposal, I’m not sure. The 29erXX is a logical choice of women’s skiff, being clearly part of the same family as the men’s 49er, and therefore presenting a consistent image to the world. However, personally, I am not convinced that women deserve (yet) either a match racing or high performance slot, as there are simply not enough existing participants to warrant the event. Of course, being in the Olympics would massively increase particpation, but that is putting the cart before the horse IMHO. But it seems certain that one or other event will be included, and I would prefer that to be HP sailing rather than a woman’s keelboat.
As to the cats, seleting the right equipment is tricky. The Tornado, whilst excellent, appears to have had its day. The expense and size of the boat count against it, and it clearly is not well enough liked by the powers-that-be. The F18 is perfect in every sense but one - having to select a one-design version for the Olympics will split the existing class and may well cause more harm than good. The manufacturer of the selected design would have to consider whether the advantages of being an Olymic boat outweigh the disadvantages of being a ’stuck in time’ design that falls further and further off the pace compared with other F18s over the years. The lack of suitable equipment is one factor that counts against multihulls being in the Games, but shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem.

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