The list of Equipment Submissions for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition makes interesting and/or alarming reading, depending on your preferred flavour of sailing craft. Scroll to the bottom of this blog post and click on the images to see the list, or else download the pdf document here….
The Ministry of Sports Affairs in Oman is putting a cat among the pigeons with multiple submissions of multihull classes as possible contenders for the two-person dinghy slots.
I can see another ‘keel yacht’ argument developing along similar lines to the America’s Cup debate of a few months back. Indeed it has already begun with the Hobie Class Executive Director David Forbes’ letter to Scuttlebutt this morning. Does a two-hulled sailing boat have equal claim as a monohull to the term ‘dinghy’? I doubt that was the intention, but it goes to show how dirty this fight is going to get, with not enough places to satisfy everyone.
The Sonar class has made a submission for Women’s Match Racing, which you’ll see on page 3. Instead of putting itself into the fray, the Sonar’s generous submission is for the Soling to be considered for the ladies. Yes, the ladies will thank you for that one, I’m sure. Female shot-putters of the world unite! Shurely shome mistake here, methinks… [ISAF has subsequently been in touch to say that the Sonar is putting itself up - and not the Soling - for consideration after all. Sorry to raise your hopes, shot-putters...]
Other notable pretenders to various crowns include the Musto Skiff and the Laser SB3. Seeing as both of these classes have recently earned ISAF International status, perhaps they should be taken seriously. I don’t see any challengers to the 29erXX from other skiff manufacturers, so if a Women’s High Performance Doublehander prevails over Women’s Match Racing, perhaps the selection sail-off will be between a 29erXX and a number of multihulls.
Strange, but interesting times indeed.
Question: Can a multihull be considered a dinghy? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Here are the four pages of Equipment submissions. CLICK ON THE IMAGES to see them in full. Enjoy!
Posted in ISAF Equipment | Tags: Weymouth 2012, Olympic Classes, ISAF
