Sailing at the Youth Olympics: a Prelude for Future Summer Olympics?

2018 Nacra 15 World Champions from Belgium
Henri Demesmaeker and Frederique van Eupen
with their coach Sebbe Godefroid
With the controversy surrounding the process for revising equipments and events for future Summer Olympics, it’s interesting to analyze what has been decided, by World Sailing and IOC, in 2016, for the 2018 Youth Olympics, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October.

There will be 5 competitions in the sailing category: 2 for Windsurfing, 2 for Kite boarding and 1 for Catamarans.

The two windsurfing competitions, one for men, one for women, will be raced on Techno 293+. The two kiteboarding competitions, one for men, one for women, will be IKA twin tip racing.  The catamaran competition will be mixed and sailed on the Nacra 15.

In total, there will be 100 competitors: 48 in windsurfing, 24 in kiteboarding and 28 in catamaran.

In terms of equipment, there will be a total of 48 windsurfs, 24 kite boards and 14 catamarans. (86 « boats » - according to IOC / World Sailing)

There won't be any single- or double-handed monohull dinghies or skiffs.

Previous editions of the Youth Olympics featured Single Handed Dinghy Sailing (Byte CII) and Windsurfing (Techno 293), in Singapore (2010) and in Nanjing (China - 2014).

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