Why Wasn’t the Finn on the Ballot for Single-Handed Dinghy for 2024?

The mid-year meeting of World Sailing saw voting taking place on the single-handed dinghy for the 2024 Olympics. Or more precisely, on the single-handed dinghies for the 2024 Olympics.

And that’s very different, as there were indeed two separate votes for the men and the women single-handed dinghies, which means different boats for men and women could in theory have been selected.

Contrary to the logic that governed the re-evaluation of equipment for over a year, equipment committee members and member national authorities were offered the opportunity to vote for two different boats.

This could have been for example the Devoti Zero for women and the Melges 14 for men, or the RS Aero for women and the Laser for men, or any other combination among the four contenders.

That came as a surprise, as everything seemed geared towards having delegates to vote for the same boat for men and women. When voting took place last week-end, nobody was ready to cast different votes for men and women.

Had World Sailing conducted differently its equipment re-evaluation, could the Finn have been on the ballot?

And could the Finn still be voted upon to be the male single-handed dinghy for 2024?

Background

At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, there were two single-handed boats: the Finn for men, and the Europe for women. These were the only single-handers at those Olympics, as the Laser appeared only in 1996, as an open event, at the Atlanta games, in addition to the Finn and the Europe. At the Sydney and Athens Olympics, the three boats were still present: Europe, Laser, Finn.

So, from 1992 to 2004, there were 4 Olympiads with single-handed boats different for men and women, and it was not a problem. It’s only in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics that the Radial replaced the Europe. There were just 3 Olympiads, in 2008, 2012 and 2016 with the Laser Standard and the Laser Radial being both Olympic. And of course there are the upcoming Olympics in Japan where they will be too.

On May 25th 2018, when World Sailing issued its invitation to tender for the 2024 Olympic single-handed dinghies, it introduced the requirement to have the same single-handed boat for men and women.

The World Sailing document titled « Equipment Committee Criteria for the re-evaluation of equipment under Regulation 23.6 », dated 01/03/2018,  states:

« The Men’s and Women’s One-Person Dinghy events have been retained for the 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition. The event and therefore the criteria requires that the equipment is: A monohull dinghy designed to be sailed by one person, with variations in rig and sail to accommodate men and women respectively … »

While World Sailing Regulation 23.6 does NOT stipulate that the single-handed dinghy should be the same for men and women, the criteria developed by the Equipment Committee do. There is no thorough explanation provided. The above quote is telling and constitutes a major flaw in the process.

Why this insistence by World Sailing to have the same hull for both men and women? To most observers, it was not considered that much of an issue back in March 2018 when the single-handed criteria were approved. But by May 2018, it ensured disqualifying the Finn, which succumbed to the campaign, by the World Sailing leadership and France, to have an offshore competition at the 2024 Olympics.

Why the Same Hull for Men and Women?

The requirement by World Sailing to use the same hull for both men and women was not challenged at the time it was published in March 2018 despite the fact that it was going to be conducive of either perpetuating or replacing the monopolistic Laser.

An irony is that the equipment review originated in part from anti-trust considerations and the need to avoid monopolies.

This requirement also prevented World Sailing from selecting boats from several established classes, such as the previously Olympic and still active Europe dinghy, while it opened the door to relative newcomers, with growing yet small global fleets, such as the d-Zero and the Melges 14.

Monopolies are not just an economic, anti-trust, issue. Monopolies (or quasi-monopolies) like the Laser become very hard to replace from a sailing perspective, even when the boat is significantly outdated or even recognized by many as unsuitable, as the Radial is for women. The size of existing fleets plays a huge role. This was clearly demonstrated last week-end when the World Sailing Council overwhelmingly reversed the recommendation of its Equipment Committee that had overwhelmingly voted for the RS Aero.

Note also that there has been lots of confusion relating to this revision of Olympic single-handed equipment. Most people have been brought to think that the Laser would either stay or need to be completely replaced, in every single club, in every single country. This obviously does not need to be the case, as the Laser would be expected to to continue to exist as an active class, even if not Olympic.

In particular, the youth sailing that is successfully implemented by the Laser class, at the level of national associations and EurILCA, including on affordable second-hand boats (considered uncompetitive by the top sailors), would be expected to continue, especially in the 4.7 and the Radial.

Any good sailor in the Laser 4.7 or the Radial can pretty easily transition to another singlehanded boat requiring a similar body weight.  It would take a few months to master the new boat. And not everyone aims at the Olympics anyway. There is no good reason for youth sailing to take place in the same boat as the one used for the Olympics.

Even for the Nacra, World Sailing came up with the Nacra 15, as a pathway towards the Nacra 17.  World Sailing did not impose a Nacra 17 with a smaller rig.  In a short time span, the Nacra 15 has been able to be the only boat at the Youth Olympics - the other equipments being the Techno 293 Windsurf and the twin tip kiteboard. There was no single-handed dinghy at last year’s Buenos Aires Youth Olympics.

The alleged necessity to have the same single-handed boat for the Olympics, senior and youth sailing, and to have the same boat for male and female athletes, is largely a misconception. It led many to believe it would be a disaster for the Laser to lose its Olympic status.

Finn and Other Boats Excluded from Selection Process

For a single-handed boat like the Finn, that is exclusively sailed by men, it was not possible to present an eligible candidacy for the 2024 Olympics in the context of this World Sailing tender for a single-handed dinghy.

This exclusion of the Finn is astonishing, as it represents, for many, the epitome of single-handed dinghy Olympic sailing

The Finn is obviously suitable for the Olympics. It has been Olympic since 1952, when Paul Elvstrøm won the gold in Helsinki. Many other legends of our sport are former Finn gold medallists: Serge Maury, Russel Coutts, José Doreste, Mateusz Kusznierewicz and others, and of course Ben Ainslie, who, like Paul Elvstrøm, won 3 Olympic golds in the Finn.

The Finn has evolved over the years, and with a modernized rig, it now accommodates sailors that are way lighter than before. The gap between Laser Standard and Finn sailing is not at all what it was before, with many current Finn sailors having sailed the Laser Standard previously.

If the Finn had been on the ballot last weekend, it would probably have receive substantial support from member national authorities (MNAs) at the Council level.

Actually, there would probably have been several other bids if there had not been such constraint imposed by the World Sailing for the same hull to be used by both genders.

Examples of boats that would have been probably shortlisted are the OK Dinghy, the Europe, the Zoom 8 and the Splash (the “Dutch Laser”).  (some of these boats applied but were not shortlisted)

When it comes to the evaluation of the 4 short-listed boats - Laser, d-Zero, Melges 14, RS Aero, it was also largely influenced by that obligation decided by World Sailing of having to use the same boat for men and women.

One of the outcomes of the Valencia sea trials was that all the 4 short-listed boats, with their regular rigs, are overpowered for women. None of the four boats, including the Laser Radial, were found by the Evaluation Panel to be actually suitable for being sailed by most female athletes.

For women sailors, a boat like the RS Aero, with the right rig/sail size, such an Aero 6, would be much more suitable than the Radial. As previously analyzed, there is presently no approved suitable smaller rig for women with the Laser, except the 4.7, mostly used for youth sailing.

For male sailors, a boat such as the Melges 14, with its powerful 9 square meter gold rig, probably would have received a higher scoring, if it had been evaluated for use by men only. At the time of the sea trials, Melges was one of the only 2 companies, with the Laser, with 2 active builders, in the U.S. and Portugal, and with an acceptable FRAND policy (unlike the Laser).

The Melges 14’s apparent lack of popularity with young female sailors at the sea trials in Valencia did not help the boat, which may possibly have been much more popular with male Olympic level sailors, particularly in the 85 to 95 kg range weight range, but there were no such sailors involved in the sea trials. The Melges 14 was actually a very serious candidate, but World Sailing declared it unsuitable.

Note that for the male single-handed dinghy, the three contenders to the Laser were actually evaluated to require a slightly higher sailor body weight, and could have potentially attracted at least some of the current Finn sailors, that were disenfranchised by World Sailing’s November 2018 Sarasota contentious decisions excluding the Finn.

Advantage Laser, but it Ain’t Over Yet

Critical issues remain to be resolved by the Laser Class, LaserPeformance, World Sailing and others, before an Olympic contract can be signed for the Laser. A supposedly strict deadline for the signature of such contract has been set by World Sailing for August 1 2019. The Laser will need to solve issues such as the dismantling of exclusive distribution zones, the approval of possible new builders, possible tightenings of measurements in the builder manual and the reintegration of LaserPerformance as an authorized builder, to name just a few.

Laser Radial. Note the excessive boom vang needed to depower, which
considerably reduces the longevity of the sails. World Sailing evaluated the
Laser Radial as overpowered and unsuitable for most female athletes.
Another key deadline for the Laser is September 1 2019, as it won’t be allowed to use the Laser name by that date unless a new trademark agreement is reached with LaserPerformance / Velum. This deadline has prompted the Laser class to initiate a name change to ILCA dinghy, but it’s not clear yet what option will be ultimately chosen by the Laser class: a new trademark agreement with the trademark owner, or a new name for the boat, with an uncertain outcome of the required membership vote, and all the legal perils it entails. See our extensive coverage of the issues surrounding the Laser here.

If the decision in favor of the Laser stands, the process will have led to selecting a somewhat outdated dinghy for the 2024 Olympics, that is overpowered for most women, and which can only be sailed at the top level by men within a narrow body weight around 82 kg / 180 lbs.

At the Council meeting, just prior to the voting, the chair of the World Sailing Athletes Commission warned against voting for different boats for men and women? Why?

Why not insisting instead to vote for the right boat for men, and the right boat for women? Wouldn’t it be more relevant for World Sailing to simply identify the best boats for single-handed sailing, by identifying the best boat for female athletes and, independently, the best boat for male athletes?

And why not finding a way to get the Finn on the ballot for male single-handed dinghy before a final decision is reached for the 2024 Olympics?

Could Both the Finn and the Laser be Ousted?

In a few years time, all these issues, intricacies, maneuvers, stratagems of the single-handed selection processes for 2024 will long be forgotten.

What will people see then are the two newcomers for 2024: the kite and the offshore, and to keep to 10 the number of events / medals, the 470 became mixed, and one of the two current male single-handed boats was dropped.

The Laser will stay Olympic in 2024 if it puts its house in order in the next months. If not, the Laser will likely be dropped, despite the recent vote by the World Sailing Council in its favor.

It’s hard to believe that both the Finn and the Laser could be dropped for 2024, yet that’s a possible scenario.

Which would then be the single-handed dinghy for 2024?

The RS Aero is clearly next in line and would most likely be recommended by the World Sailing board.

Unless of course the Finn finds its way on the ballot. In that case, for male sailors, it would be expected to be overwhelmingly preferred to the RS Aero 9.

For the female single-handed dinghy, in case the Radial is dropped, a logical choice will be the RS Aero.

And in that case, let’s hope World Sailing will ensure that it is equipped with a suitable 6 rig for women.

---------

 © Jean-Pierre Kiekens, 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Jean-Pierre Kiekens is an independent analyst on youth and Olympic sailing. He is an engineer, an economist and a sailor.

Popular posts from this blog

Green, White, Blue & Red Fleets: What is it all about?

20 Reasons to Choose the Laser 4.7 (part 1)

Laser or ILCA Dinghy: Which One is Fastest?