Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

The US Team Trials were held on Key Biscayne on April 26-29. Maybe that would have been a great location for such trials to be held for the Canadian team, which is selected way too early and sometimes, as discussed elsewhere in this blog, at a totally innappropriate time. In 2017, the Canadian Team was selected for 2018, between 10 and 13 months prior to the actual IODA events. Most countries perform such selections months before the event - and even if the Canadian climate is obviously not helping, trials could easily take place in Florida or another place that can easily be reached from Canada. And in 2018, the Canadian sailors will be selected for the 2019 IODA events during the Canadian championships, in a blatant scheduling conflict with the 2018 Worlds. Find the results on this page. http://www.kbyc.org/Waterfront-Activities/Optimist_Team_Trials.aspx

There were two pieces of interesting information today, and here is a very imperfect attempt to contrast them. First, Sir Ben Ainslie was able to attract some 150 million US$ for his campaign for the 2021 America’s Cup - an event that may reach the unprecedented cost of 1 billion $ if the other teams are as successful as his. https://www.sailingillustrated.com/single-post/2018/04/26/AC-Breaking-Ben-Ainslies-AC-team-scores-150-million-fresh-start-investment-from-INEOS-old-sponsors-and-backers-out-Ainslie-Simmer-Holroyd-Macbeth-Scott-remain Second, a new little foiling boat - the Skeeta. https://www.facebook.com/yachtingworldmagazine/videos/1704904262926172/ So let’s compare ... (the of course incomparable)  … From the Open Bic experience, it’s clear that, if mass produced , a boat like the Skeeta could cost something like US$5000, and probably less. (their current asking price is way higher - about US$18,500)  (the Wazsp is actually cheaper, at US$ 10,500 (price found on

India's Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, 2017 Weight Lifting World Champion in the 48 kg (106 lbs) category At the top level of dinghy racing, weight matters, and a lot! There are various articles showing how weight ranges are very narrow for boats such as the Laser Standard and the Finn. (beware, many of the weights attributed to sailors are self-reported weights, and not the real weight at the time of the competition). It's in that context interesting to see how other sports deal with weight categories. An interesting one is Weight Lifting. This is one of the most traditional olympic sports. For both men and women, there are 8 weight categories! Here are those for men. Men's weight classes: 56  kg  (123  lb ) 62 kg (137 lb) 69 kg (152 lb) 77 kg (170 lb) 85 kg (187 lb) 94 kg (207 lb) 105 kg (231 lb) 105 kg and over (231 lb+) Interestingly, if you look at these categories, and think about sailing, the 85 kg (187 lbs) category corresponds pretty closely to

Check the piece published on Sailing Illustrated, with a few edits by the Editor - Tom Ehman, a life-long sailor, well known in America's Cup circles. https://www.sailingillustrated.com/single-post/2018/04/22/Olympic-Sailing-Why-not-make-it-simple-accessible-affordable

There are statistics available about adult height across the globe. As there is a direct relationship between adult height and adult healthy weight, visualizing a map of male adult height helps understanding which countries are favored, and which countries are unfavored, with the currently available olympic single-handed dinghies, which favor medium and heavy weight sailors. This is the map for adult males, but a similar pattern can be found for females. Source: https://elifesciences.org/articles/13410 Note: Commonly accepted BMI ranges are underweight: under 18.5 kg/m2, normal weight: 18.5 to 25, overweight: 25 to 30, obese: over 30. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index --

Great workshop held yesterday by David Dellenbaugh - the tactician and starting helmsman on America3 during her successful defense of the America's Cup in 1992, and also a former Lightening World Champion, among many other titles. The workshop focussed on start and upwind strategy and tactics.  He proposes not only a newsletter on high level sailing, but also a tutorial on rules - 2h30min of online videos - you can find a sample here - and this is reasonably priced: US$50. Check it out. http:// www.speedandsmarts.com/ RulesDVD/ LearnTheRacingRules The event was organized by former olympian Tyler Bjorn, and held at the St Lawrence Yacht Club. — at Yacht-Club Royal Saint-Laurent - Royal St-Lawrence Yacht Club .

Olympic Sailing: Why Not Making it Simple, Accessible, and Affordable? Contribution to Sailing Illustrated I was reading various contributions about what sailing should look like at the 2024 Olympics in Marseilles, France.  And frankly, I was disappointed. There is very little convergence. There was no submission I could much agree with. And key issues that are present in the sport are left unaddressed. So here is my take to develop a meaningful program for the 2014 Olympics. I will just use a few common-sense criteria. First, let’s make it simple . We all know that sailing is mostly practiced in a few boats, such as single-handed dinghies, and double handed dinghies. Yes there are relative newcomers, such as the windsurf, the skiffs, kiteboarding, foiling cats, etc. There are also disciplines that previously took place at the Olympics, such as match racing. No need to reinvent the wheel here. Second, Olympic sailing should be made accessible by most.  There should be boa

Oh ... would such ice wing - that is claimed to reach 100 miles per hour / 160 km/h, make it one day to the winter olympics? With kite boarding displacing traditional sailing at the summer olympics, it may be time to target the winter ones! ...  just kidding ... Or maybe the real future of sailing on Lac Saint Louis ? :) ...  again just kidding Tyler :)

Here is Sailing Anarchy's cynical, yet funny proposal, for the 2024 Olympics! "Here’s what I’d actually propose, presuming we only have 10 medals in sailing: Kite foiling acrobatic men Kite foiling acrobatic women Kite foiling racing men Kite foiling racing women Board foiling acrobatic men Board foiling acrobatic women Board foiling racing men Board foiling racing women Moth foiling racing open Nacra foiling racing mixed, but both sailors must alternate as drivers." Source: http://sailinganarchy.com/2018/04/16/omaha/

Finn sailing - yes it takes some muscle to displace a 236 lbs - 107 kg - hull! In its recent submission to World Sailing, Sail Canada calls for keeping the Finn as an olympic boat for 2024. Now why discussing this here? Well simply because Optimist - Open Bic sailors of today are typically the olympians of tomorrow! One of the key arguments for keeping the Finn as an olympic boat is, according to the submission by Sail Canada , that it is «  affordable . » Now let's discusss this - and look at available alternatives ... Really, is the Finn Affordable? To discuss this, let's start with the pricing of  the olympic Laser. A fully equipped, race ready, Laser is now US$ 7350 - i.e. CAD$ 9250. Not cheap, but way way cheaper than a Finn. A new race ready Finn can easily cost CAD$ 35,000 (for a top level brand, with quality sail and carbon mast). And sailors typically spend fortunes trying various combinations of masts and sails. CA$ 50,000 may be a more realistic

Moth Europe Sailing In its recent submission to World Sailing, dated April 11 2018, Sail Canada is recommending a new female single-handed dinghy. See link to consult the submission The submission calls for a target athlete size of 150-165 cm and 50-60 kg — which is extremely low in terms of weight. Indeed, many of the top Optimist sailors are in that weight range (typically 50 to 55 kg). But Sail Canada probably did not have the Optimist in mind when making this submission :) What are the currently available dinghies that would address this weight range ? The Laser 4.7 could possibly fit, but frankly, it’s too powerful for a sailor being 50 kg. (check our interview with previous world champion Dimitris Papadimitriou regarding the ideal weight range for the 4.7 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEF4cA6He90 ) Both the RS Aero and Melges 14 have smaller sails options for lighter sailors. The RS Aero 5 has a sail of 54 square feet.  The red version of the Melges 14 h

There is a large and high level Optimist regatta in Italy, on Garda Lake, that will take place Check their website http://www.circolovelaarco.it/regate-icagenda-menu/41-23-ora-cup-ora Check video from last year. The event was won by World Champion Marco Gradoni. This is NOT an IODA event - so no need for qualifiers at the Canadian level to participate.

Here is a recap video of the 2018 Optimist Garda Meeting - apparently it was the largest ever dinghy regatta in history. Won by none others than the 2017 Optimist World Champion Marco Gardroni! Many future olympians very probably in the fleet. Enjoy the Video

The video shows how versatile the Open Bic is. From the 6 year old starting sailing, to club level fun, with 2 or more in a same boat, to club racing, to international racing and a transition towards other dinghies such as the Laser and the 29er. Oh .. and foiling is also now available on the Open Bic (at a high cost, but that may get lower with time). Check it out

Check the video.

Marco Gradoni (Italy), the 2017 Optimist World Champion, wins the 2018 Garda meeting, in front of Davide Nuccorini (Italy) and Martins Atilla (Latvia). First girl is Cosima Schlüter, from Germany, who placed 5th overall. Only 6 races were raced during the 3 day meeting, which is the largest Optimist and actually sailing event in the world, with about 1300 participants. You can watch many excerpts of the racing here: https://www.facebook.com/FragliaVelaRiva/videos   See the full results here: http://www.fragliavelariva.it/regatta/2437/view