SailJuice Blog

Now, I can’t predict if you’ll cringe, laugh or cry when you read this. But here are the recommendations to Yachting New Zealand from its Olympic Committee.

Note in particular Point 3, which says: “NZL is currently suffering in expensive classes (Tornado & 49er) that are suited to younger (fit) sailors – so we should avoid these.”

Yes, after all, this is the Olympics. We can’t have young and fit sailors in the Games, can we!

I wonder, did Yachting New Zealand consult with any young Kiwi sailors before considering these recommendations? Also I’d suggest the YNZ offices shut down and everyone go on holiday for the week when the Tornado World Championships is going on, just down the road in Takapuna next March.

This leaked document is yet more evidence why some Member National Authorities (MNAs) cannot… Read the rest

ISAF’s vote on the Olympic Events for 2012 may already seem like a long time ago. The reality is, it is only just over a week.

Such has been the furore over the exclusion of some of the more progressive events, it seems like an awful lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.

Thanks to the power of the Internet, the multihull community has rallied together online like never before, and the possibility of setting up a breakaway organisation from ISAF has been discussed.

Let’s hope it doesn’t have to come to that. Better to keep the cats in the fold. But to do that, ISAF need to pay attention, and to leave themselves open to the possibility of reversing the Estoril decision. Without a multihull to represent this sizeable part of the sailing community, the Olympic… Read the rest

David Brookes, Executive Director of the International Hobie Class Association, makes this comment on ISAF’s ejection of the multihull from the Games.

“Not really that much to say except how disappointed we are about the decision to remove the multihull as an Olympic class. I was in Portugal for the vote and it is very clear that the US Monohull Association masquerading as US Sailing was behind the push to get us out.

There are about 2,000 catamaran sailors in the US, and possibly a dozen Star sailors, who have a great competition and are great sailors. If ISAF is looking towards the future and wanting to get more nations involved, this is possibly not the area to do it. As the Star class admits, it is there to prolong the Olympic sailors’ careers, not to get new sailors into… Read the rest