The Dutch Angle
Andy Rice | November 22, 2007Much of the criticism for the way the ISAF vote went has fallen on the shoulders of the US and RYA members of ISAF Council. For those who haven’t caught up yet, the RYA had control over just one vote, that of Chris Atkins, who in the two contentious votes opted for Multihull rather than Keelboat for the Men, and High Performance Dinghy rather than Match Racing for the Women.
As for US Sailing, if you read through recent comments to SailJuice (including from multiple Olympic medallist in the Star, Mark Reynolds) then you will see some statistics which point to just how much more popular the Star is in the USA, compared with the Tornado. So people can have little complaint with the individual members on Council. My problem, as I said yesterday, is with the constitution of ISAF Council – 39 members, none of whom are actively campaigning an Olympic class.
However, I was surprised to see that Henri Van Der Aat from the Netherlands voted in favour of Men’s Keelboat rather than Multihull. After all, if there’s one sailing nation that is absolutely cat crazy, it’s the Dutch. I have been forwarded a copy of an email that Van Der Aat sent in reply to a request for justification of his vote.
This has been translated from the original Dutch, but hopefully it still gets across the gist of Van Der Aat’s reply.
“You must know who decides how I vote: The ISAF Council Benelux. They determine my vote, it is not a matter of personal taste. One event had to be dropped, that means a lot of lobbying is created. The fact that you approach me AFTER the vote is typical for this process. The wish of remaining Olympic classes should have been brought to the attention of the Dutch authorities earlier and in stronger terms.
“Furthermore it is noted that not very many countries participate in Tornado sailing (in the ISAF Worlds not all slots were filled and the number of countries was disappointing). Our choice was between Star and Tornado, I regret the Tornado lost it. What the catamaran world should do is show how popular they are and see to it that they are in again in 2016.”
Van der Aat also makes a number of other points in his email:
- Statistics show that Tornado attracts less TV viewers then other disciplines
- To keep Finn AND Laser makes sense because of the 90+KG and less then 90KG argument
- A Star campaign does not cost much more then a dinghy or cat campaign
- Tornado is good to watch but not for 25 minutes, then viewers tend to prefer close battles
- There is not much Tornado talent in Holland
A few of those bullet points raised my eyebrows, but the one in particular caught my attention. Not much Tornado talent in Holland. Hmmm… Not the way I would have described it. Never mind that other Tornado talent from Belgium which finished runner-up in this year’s Worlds.
Nor would I have thought that the onus of responsibility lies with catamaran fans to lobby their national authority of their desire to see the Multihull stay in the Olympics. Seems that if a national authority is doing its job, it already has a good idea of what its represented members feel strongly about, and if it doesn’t, it goes out and asks them. Not just make assumptions based on where the strongest lobbying noise has come from.
That said, once again we see the comment about the Tornado not being particularly well supported worldwide. This was born out in the Bums On Seats analysis I did weeks ago. If the multihull community is serious about getting reinstated into the Olympics, it needs to address the perceptions of elitism and inaccessibility.
Andy
Some revealing points in the email but I think your comment that – If a national authority is doing its job, it already has a good idea of what its represented members feel strongly about, and if it doesn’t, it goes out and asks them – could also be refering to our own RYA, who originally intended to vote out the multihull in both the Olympics and the Youth events.
They only changed their minds after their voting intentions were brought to public notice on the internet, and all hell broke loose – so much for being in touch.
Henri Van Der Aat is right, that if they wanted a different decision – The wish of remaining Olympic classes should have been brought to the attention of the Dutch authorities earlier and in stronger terms – too late now.
Your proposel that the whole Athletes Commission should be sitting on the ISAF Council sounds good, but how many active sailors have the time (or wish) to get involved in the day to day business of the ISAF. Surely this is why sailors past peak competitve involvement are involved with the ISAF, they have the time.
The structure of the ISAF definately needs to be looked at, it has become a tangled political monster. As sailing continues down the professional route there will surely be a breakaway, something the ISAF is trying to head-off with its world series.
Ges
What was his argument for no womens high performance? There are some good dutch skiff sailors?
Andy,
I find Henri Van Der Aat’s response disappointing but utterly predictable, but probably reflects the reasons why many other nations voted the way they did.
Contrary to what he says, the choice was NOT between the Tornado and the Star, it was between (amongst others) a multihull and a keelboat. So the Tornado had a low World’s turnout? The F18s and A Class had 100+ entries this year.
Also, as you pointed out a few days ago, the IOC does not allow weight-banded events except iin combat sports and weightlifting. Therefore an ISAF should not use the weight argument for keeping the Heavyweight dinghy. It just makes him look ill-informed and ignorant.
From my experience there seems to be plenty of cat talent in Holland!
I would very much like to see the “Statistics [that] show that Tornado attracts less TV viewers then other disciplines”.
Can anyone help?
If true it rather dispels my own assumption that cats are one of the most telegenic events.
My chin went down to the floor….it’s surprising to read that from Henri. affffff!
If he takes this position in who else shall the multihullers rely on?
Henri Van de Aat has clearly shown his total lack of integrity. For him to vote against the multihull with the enormous concentration of cat sailors in the region is an utter disgrace and no amount of posturing on his behalf will let him off the hook Benelux sailors should be clamouring for his resignation.
Incredible! Van der Aat feels along with the ISAF executive that they have the knowledge and feeling to overturn the findings of their EVENTS C’tee, but then says that he relies on lobbyists to get the feel of justifying a rubbish decision. Unfortunately, the sell by date for these losers is long gone. Statements like these of van der aat’s should be flagged to illustrate my point.
Henri has been on the events committee in the past and I am sure he knows a thing or two about running commercially viable events in the olympic classes. He is no dillitante (and opinionated)
It is clear in the IOC charter, that the only sports that are allowed weight categories are COMBAT sports.
So the 90kg+ or 90kg- really shouldnt be an argument, they should really keep quiet!!!
Oh dear, more disinformation… GES, all the RYA did with the Olympic event was to state no preference in *exactly* the same way as they did for heavyweight singlehander and keelboats. The submission treated all of them identically and was *not* changed.
And on weight categories, the Finn and Laser are not in the strict sense of the word weight catagories, Sailors of any weight are permitted to sail in either class.
Unfortunately the whole multi approach to this has been characterised by misunderstanding, disinformation, personal attacks and sometimes even outright lies. None of these advance the cause, quite the reverse.
Jim, it is not the point that the laser and finn can be sailed by anybody, it is the fact that the disciplines have been decided as
single handed men and
single handed men heavy weight.
not the laser and finn.
I am sure your aware the classes technically have not been decided therfore my point stands.
The comitee voted as did the executive on these two categories.