Comments on: Star shines exactly when it needs to http://sailjuiceblog.com/2008/04/15/star-shines-exactly-when-it-needs-to/ News from the sharp end of sailing Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:35:36 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Bill Tucker http://sailjuiceblog.com/2008/04/15/star-shines-exactly-when-it-needs-to/#comment-882 Bill Tucker Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:37:17 +0000 http://sailjuiceblog.wordpress.com/?p=341#comment-882 Couldn't agree more that the Star is putting up a wonderful performance. But that isn't hugely relevant to the argument about about Olympic suitability. If popularity were the only criteria then a multihul is a shoe-in. The Star is no doubt a hugely satisfying boat to sail and compete in - hence part of its popularity. It would no doubt continue to do well outside of the five ring circus. But how well would it be supported without Olympic status? The die hards off course - all classes have them. But the current active potential Olympians would no doubt sail anything they could with Olympic status. Others do it for friendship, companionship, rivalry established over years etc. If it were down to me though I'd be Dragon sailing instead given the extra dimensions it brings with kites etc. But that's purely personal. No, the real argument is about what makes for the best Olympic boats. It is a combination, I would suggest, of popularity (across the continents), speed, wowfactor, youth, agilty, strength, televisualness (is that a real word?) etc. After all the invitation at the end of the Olympics is made for the 'youth of the world' to come together again in 4 years time. How does the Star measure up there? Unfortunately not well - but that doesn't mean it isn't a fantastic boat for some people to sail -just not in the Olympics. We should all not forget that the Olympics is not about showcasing the entirity of what a sport can offer. It can't do that with a sport as diverse as sailing so what it needs to do analyse properly what the requirements are and then apply the conclusions. The ISAF events committee did that (and you may disagree with the results but at least it did it) whilst the council itself took no notice of this work put in and made decisions based purely on an odd voting method and MNA self interest. The rest of us wait with baited breath to see if the council will actually look at the arguments and do a similar job to that done by the events committee but again the process seems weighted against this. Maybe next time?? Couldn’t agree more that the Star is putting up a wonderful performance. But that isn’t hugely relevant to the argument about about Olympic suitability. If popularity were the only criteria then a multihul is a shoe-in.

The Star is no doubt a hugely satisfying boat to sail and compete in – hence part of its popularity. It would no doubt continue to do well outside of the five ring circus. But how well would it be supported without Olympic status? The die hards off course – all classes have them. But the current active potential Olympians would no doubt sail anything they could with Olympic status. Others do it for friendship, companionship, rivalry established over years etc. If it were down to me though I’d be Dragon sailing instead given the extra dimensions it brings with kites etc. But that’s purely personal.

No, the real argument is about what makes for the best Olympic boats. It is a combination, I would suggest, of popularity (across the continents), speed, wowfactor, youth, agilty, strength, televisualness (is that a real word?) etc. After all the invitation at the end of the Olympics is made for the ‘youth of the world’ to come together again in 4 years time. How does the Star measure up there? Unfortunately not well – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fantastic boat for some people to sail -just not in the Olympics.

We should all not forget that the Olympics is not about showcasing the entirity of what a sport can offer. It can’t do that with a sport as diverse as sailing so what it needs to do analyse properly what the requirements are and then apply the conclusions. The ISAF events committee did that (and you may disagree with the results but at least it did it) whilst the council itself took no notice of this work put in and made decisions based purely on an odd voting method and MNA self interest. The rest of us wait with baited breath to see if the council will actually look at the arguments and do a similar job to that done by the events committee but again the process seems weighted against this. Maybe next time??

]]> By: Kenny http://sailjuiceblog.com/2008/04/15/star-shines-exactly-when-it-needs-to/#comment-881 Kenny Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:00:37 +0000 http://sailjuiceblog.wordpress.com/?p=341#comment-881 The 100+ boat turnout isn't that unusual for the Stars. Last year's europeans at Garda had 105 boats if I remember right. More importantly, looking at the spread of the competitors, there is something like 31 different countries amongst those 104 boats [I think it was 27 countries at the 2007 Euros] and currently after day 4 we have 4 europeans, 1 austrailasian, 3 north americans, 1 south american and 1 asian boat in the top ten. By my count that means the only continent not represented in the top ten is africa. I'm not even going to start counting up the olympians and world champions that in in there as that is partially a different agruement. It would be interesting to see what the other olympic classes manage to achieve regarding spread of countries and continents at their major events, but given the Star is widely touted as being (a) irrelevant, (b) expensive and (c) rarely sailed outside the US I think the performance from this old duffer in sustaining these sort of fleets is exceptional. The 100+ boat turnout isn’t that unusual for the Stars. Last year’s europeans at Garda had 105 boats if I remember right.
More importantly, looking at the spread of the competitors, there is something like 31 different countries amongst those 104 boats [I think it was 27 countries at the 2007 Euros] and currently after day 4 we have 4 europeans, 1 austrailasian, 3 north americans, 1 south american and 1 asian boat in the top ten. By my count that means the only continent not represented in the top ten is africa. I’m not even going to start counting up the olympians and world champions that in in there as that is partially a different agruement.
It would be interesting to see what the other olympic classes manage to achieve regarding spread of countries and continents at their major events, but given the Star is widely touted as being (a) irrelevant, (b) expensive and (c) rarely sailed outside the US I think the performance from this old duffer in sustaining these sort of fleets is exceptional.

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