Youth and Olympic Sailing: Top 5 Stories of 2018

Here are the top stories of the year 2018 from our blog. This is by no means a comprehensive review of the year 2018 - in part because a number of events are only discussed in our Facebook Group and not in our blog. Yet the year 2018 was clearly marked by controversies surrounding Olympic sailing and their direct implications for youth sailing.

With lots of action and substantial regatta participation in classes such as the Optimist, the Open Bic, the 4.7, the Radial and the 29er, youth sailing is not on the decline. Record participation level in events such as the Optimist Garda meeting, with some 1,300 sailors, shows that (conventional) youth sailing is still progressing, despite the rise of much faster platforms such as kiteboarding.

Yet, the controversies arising from the selection of equipments and events for the 2024 Olympics have shed a huge cloud over competitive dinghy sailing. First, light weight female sailors will continue to have very few participation options, despite the intention of several countries to introduce a new equipment for those many female athletes being too light for the Laser Radial. And with the 470 to become mixed in 2024, there will be even fewer options for those light weight female sailors.

And then we have of course the huge issue of those many male sailors too heavy for the Laser Standard, who are now denied - subject to the outcome of likely arbitration/litigation - any realistic Olympic pathway. Many youth Finn sailors are reported to sell their boats, and will probably opt for another sport.

What could have remained a technical, and solvable, issue of sailor weight and equipment has unfortunately become a major governance issue of the sport of sailing. The contentious Sarasota vote, discarding the Finn, and the even more contentious approval of the minutes of this meeting, despite irregularities, by a relatively small majority of the member national authorities, is damaging the credibility and trustworthiness of World Sailing as the governing body of the sport.

The process pertaining to a possible replacement of the Laser started in 2018 but will likely generate lots of controversies in 2019, as either the Laser will stay, or it will be fully replaced by the more modern RS Aero, Melges 14 or D-Zero. A more strategic, gradual approach, was not even contemplated by World Sailing, despite the huge implications for youth sailing - particularly in the 4.7 and the Radial.

Those governance and strategic issues are fortunately unlikely to inflict irreparable damage to the sport, but substantial damage there is, and it was perfectly avoidable.

Starting in late 2018, but ending today, were the 2019 O’Pen Bic World Championships, held in Manly, NZ, and organized by Sir Russel Coutts and his team.  Just watching the pictures and videos of that event may be the best reminder of what youth sailing is all about.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, successful year 2019!

A Sad Day for Sailing This was by far the most widely read post - with some 15,000 views.

Excerpt: « In sailing, when you are at fault, you take a one-turn, or a two-turn penalty, or you retire, according to the situation. This is what juries end up explaining to youth sailors, when it comes to be discussed in the jury room. And that’s the right thing to do. World Sailing and its allies did not do their one-turn or two-turn penalties, and are unlikely to retire, faced with the contentious Sarasota vote. »

Related Stories
- Un jour triste pour la voile This is the translation into French of « A Sad Day for Sailing » Excerpt: « Aujourd'hui, les délégués du Conseil mondial de World Sailing sont invités à voter soit pour leur conscience, soit pour la course au large. C'est un jour triste pour la voile. »
- Cayard, Berecz, Kusznierewicz Weigh in on World Sailing, the Finn and Offshore At the Star Sailors League finals, some of the world’s most prominent sailors expressed their views about offshore, the Finn, World Sailing. Those sailors are obviously critical of the World Sailing’s decisions and governance. And doubts are expressed not only about offshore sailing in Marseilles in the summer of 2024, but also of a similar light/no wind scenario to be expected in Long Beach in 2028, in the context of the Los Angeles Olympics.
- Resolving the 2024 Olympics Lineup: a Solution The « mixed single-handed dinghy » concept was approved at the World Sailing May Council, yet it seems that no real effort was done to find a solution to make it work. This article presents a solution not only to the mixed single-handed dinghy concept, involving match (or team) racing, but also for keeping the Finn in 2024 and introducing a new single-handed dinghy geared towards light weight female sailors.

Singlehanded Dinghies for the 2024 Olympics: Selection Criteria and Potential Contenders This May 25th, World Sailing issued an invitation to tender for the 2024 Olympic single-handed dinghies, both for male and female sailors. While the tenders have to be submitted to World Sailing in a short time frame, by June 27 2018, the selection process could last well over a year, up to November 2019.

Related Stories
- 2024 Olympic Singlehanded Dinghies: Videos of the Main Contenders Here are selected short videos of what might be the single handed boats for the 2024 Olympics. They are into three groups : key contenders, other possible boats, and much less likely yet worth noting. Note that 4 out of the 5 key contenders identified in the blog were actually selected by World Sailing. The fifth one, the foiling one-design Waszp, didn’t stand much chance because of it’s a foiling boat, and it’s not even clear it was submitted to World Sailing for a possible selection.
- Four Singlehanded Contenders for Paris 2024 Olympics This July 13, World Sailing announced that four boats were short listed by its Re-Evaluation Working Party. It mentions it received 8 bids, but the 4 discarded bids are not indicated.
- Four Single-Handed Dinghies Still in Contention World Sailing announced this October 3rd that the 4 single-handed dinghies, already shortlisted on July 13 2018, would be recommended to the Council for undertaking on the water trials.

Light Weight Female Single-Handed Dinghy Sailors Again Excluded from the Olympics?
In this 14 May 2018, post, one analyzes the M22 submission that encompassed the « mixed one person dinghy » and its implications in terms of offering opportunities for light weight female sailors.  « In its current form, the M22 submission clearly fails « to enable a wide range of physiques and weights to compete. » Actually, it reduces the range of physiques and weights, as it forces the 470 into a mixed event.

Related Stories
- Sail Canada Calls for a Very Light Weight Female Dinghy for the 2024 Olympics In its recent submission to World Sailing, dated April 11 2018, Sail Canada is recommending a new female single-handed dinghy. The submission calls for a target athlete size of 150-165 cm and 50-60 kg — which is extremely low in terms of weight.
- Olympic Sailing May Need to Learn from ... Weight Lifting!  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. 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.

2018 Optimist Worlds: Which Countries are Particularly Present in the Gold Fleet
A look at how many boats the various countries have in the gold fleet is significant. The Gold Fleet is made of 66 sailors, and racing in that fleet will determine who will be the 2018 Optimist World Champion. With 5 out of 5 Sailors in Gold Fleet: Italy, Israel and Thailand. » Italy not only has 5 out of 5 sailors in the Gold Fleet, but also the World Champion, Marco Gradoni, for a second year in a row!


Related stories
- World Class Optimist Events for 2019: a Provisional List  Some of the World's top Optimist sailors are now attending the most significant national regattas, making them de facto world class events.  Some of these events are really large, much larger in fact than the official IODA events.
- From Top Optimist Sailor to Laser 4.7 and Radial World Champion Here is a youth athlete - Dimitris Papadimitriou from Greece - who did already a lot, including bronze at the Opti Worlds at age 14, Youth 4.7 World Champion at age 16, and Youth Radial World Champion at age 17. Watch the interview we did with Dimitris Papadimitriou, discussing his transition from the Opti to the 4.7 and then the Radial.

Transforming Youth Sailing - A Youtube PlaylistA key is to diversify the equipments, particularly for sailors below age 15.  It's critical to provide more opportunities, to accomodate a wide range of
physiques and weights, to address the desire of some sailors to do double-handed rather than single-handed sailing, and to provide more opportunities for learning core sailing skills through the diversity of platforms.


Related Stories
- Moving to the Open Bic after the Optimist?  A critical question, in places where the Optimist dominates youth sailing under age 16, is if there is a place for the Open Bic after the Optimist.  So let’s have a look at some critical factors: weight and age.
- Jumpstarting the Laser 4.7 in North America  A striking difference between Laser youth sailing in Europe and North America is the role played by the Laser 4.7. Huge fleets of Laser 4.7 are competing at national and international events in Europe. While, in North America, the Laser 4.7 has until now had a limited, sporadic, presence only.

From the 2019 O’Pen Bic Worlds in Manly, NZ

Everyone’s a Winner! «To become a champion, you need to show a lot of different qualities, including skill, determination, vision, understanding of your sport and your own limits, an ability to push those limits a little bit further, and above all, good sportsmanship and the sense of "fair play ». »

https://worlds2019.openbicclass.org/news/everyone-s-a-winner

2019 O'Pen Bic World Championships - Day 4



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82PzFejD628

Particularly Popular Videos from our Facebook Group

2018 French Minimes Championships in Martigues — shows the variety of equipments for competitive sailing in France


2018 Optimist World Championship - Day 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y_Gq6ihVYI

RS Feva World Championships 2018 - Day 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqaHPitm_qk

Open Bic 2018 Euro-Challenge in Garda - Aftermovie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWjZbhd5MU

29er Eurocup 2018 in Garda - Aftermovie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcEYAo_hkjU

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Thanks for reading. Kindly share the story if you like it!

Also, you may want to join this discussion group focussing on youth sailing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/optimistopenbicsailing

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