DEFINING WHAT THE OLYMPIC REGATTA SHOULD REPRESENT
by Richard Gladwell, NZ Editor, Sail World
To our mind ISAF Council needs to make a simple strategic decision, which is whether the Olympics should be representative of all the major sailing disciplines. If the vote to that question is ‘yes’ then the events must be selected which recognise that composition. If the vote to that is ‘no’, then the 2012 Olympic events schedule must be seen for what it is – an outcome from political lobbying by various classes to maintain a position at the Olympic table. And having secured that position, they then adopt the cloak of an ‘Event’ and justify their existence for another four years.

Looking at the former option, the disciplines are reasonably clear – windsurfing, singlehanded monohull, two handed monohull, multihull and keelboat. All the classes and forms of sailing (save maybe three man 18ft skiffs and sportsboats) can be tucked under one of these categories. Then we proceed to selection where ISAF current has a ratio of four women’s events and six men’s events. From the menu of five disciplines, for women, any four are chosen; and for men six events are chosen from the five disciplines – meaning that all must be represented and one can be duplicated.

If at some stage in the future, there is a shift to a gender equal Olympic events slate then the decision becomes a five events from five disciplines for men and women, which still works. Of course, this solution is far too simple to be adopted.

But if they support the status quo, then the ISAF Councillors should have the strength of character and honesty, to say why the Olympic sailing regatta should not be representative of the sport; why some disciplines of the sport should be at the Olympic table and why others should not; and why they support discrimination and exclusion in the sport they are charged with administering.

Everyone makes mistakes. Generally, no-one really minds, provided you don’t make the same mistake twice. By now, judging from the reaction from the sailing community, the ISAF Council should be in no doubt they made a mistake in November 2007. In May 2008 they have the opportunity to fix it. Please do. — http://www.sail-world.com

* Not everyone has welcomed ISAF decision to vote again on the selected 2012 events with open arms. The UK Catamaran Racing Association’s Simon Morgan questions some of the language used by ISAF in their procedural document, and question whether this is a mere charade to appease the disenfranchised, or if this is a serious review of the event decision made at the ISAF Annual Meeting in November 2007. His posting can be found on the Sail Juice blog: http://www.sailjuice.com/blog.asp?u=http://sailjuiceblog.com

* Some interesting results on the Scuttlebutt poll, where the ‘buttheads are rating which events should be in the 2012 Olympics on a 1 to 5 scale. Here are the current standings:

Men’s Events (only six events get chosen)
1. Two person dinghy – skiff (4.02)
2. Multihull (4.03)
3. One person dinghy (3.92)
4. Keelboat (3.44)
5. Windsurfer (3.15)
6. Two person dinghy (2.86)
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7. One person dinghy – skiff (2.65)
8. One person dinghy – heavy (2.45)

Women’s Events (only four events get chosen)
1. One person dinghy (4.18)
2. Two person dinghy – skiff (3.68)
3. Windsurfer (3.07)
4. Keelboat (3.04)
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5. Multihull (2.87)
6. Two person dinghy (2.84)

The polling booth will be open until Friday morning (PT). To place your vote, go to http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/08/0403/#2