Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

Aerial picture of the d-Zero built by Devoti Sailing in Poland.  The boat won many races at the Valencia trials, yet was ranked 4th by World Sailing World Sailing released on May 3rd the report of the Evaluation Panel of its Equipment Committee for the selection of a single-hander dinghy for the 2024 Olympics. The report follows a tender that was issued on May 25 2018, which called for bids to potentially replace the Laser.  Read our article Singlehanded Dinghies for the 2024 Olympics: Selection Criteria and Potential Contenders for more background on the invitation to bid by World Sailing. World Sailing's evaluation panel is composed of board members, staff, and members of the equipment and events committees as well as of the medical commission. There was also a coach nominated by World Sailing’s coaches commission. In total, there were 12 people involved. In addition, there were 11 sailors that were selected to participate in the sea trials that took place in Val...

World Sailing released today the much-awaited report of the Evaluation Panel of its Equipment Committee for the selection of a single-hander dinghy for the 2024 Olympics. The report favors the RS Aero, yet the Laser is also seen as suitable. This is not yet a final decision by World Sailing, as the decision will be made by the World Sailing Council. There will be lots of pressure for the Laser to be kept, despite its significantly lower score. Will the two discarded contenders be given a chance to comment on the report and possibly bring the World Sailing Council to consider them for 2024? The report is just out, but one can already suggest this report is a missed opportunity. For example, it is well-known that the Laser Radial is not a suitable boat for a majority of female sailors world-wide, because too powerful.  This is recognized in the report, which mentions for the Laser that "the women’s rig promotes a larger weight and height than desirable for worldwide av...

Trends in Participation at Laser 4.7 and Radial Youth Worlds This is a response by Jean-Pierre Kiekens to comments by Andy Roy from the Laser Class, following the Sailing Illustrated webcast with Tom Ehman - aka TFE, discussing the 2024 Olympics, the future of the Laser and the upcoming sea trials for the 2024 single-handed dinghy in Valencia. The webcast can be screened here: https://www.facebook.com/SailingIllustratedBlog/videos/813275225705785/ Note that most of what is covered in the webcast is more extensively detailed in those two articles: - The Laser at the Crossroads — https://optimist-openbic-sailing.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-laser-at-crossroads.html   //  https://sailinganarchy.com/2019/01/20/crossroads/ - Laser Class Statement on the Development of New Rigs: 10 Comments — https://optimist-openbic-sailing.blogspot.com/2019/01/laser-class-statement-on-development-of.html - Durability of the hulls This is an extremely important point, and Andy is right ...

In this webcast, Tom Ehman from Sailing Illustrated interviews Jean-Pierre Kiekens about the 2024 Olympics, the future of the Laser, and the upcoming Valencia sea trials, that will compare the Laser with the D-Zero, Melges 14 and RS Aero. Click the link below, and watch it on Facebook. Check also the various comments in the discussion. https://www.facebook.com/SailingIllustratedBlog/videos/813275225705785/

Here are ten comments about the January 21 announcement by the Laser class " Information for ILCA Members About New Rig Development " Also, if you have not read it yet, check my article " The Laser at the Cross Roads " In Europe, the Laser 4.7 is Highly Successful both for Male and Female Junior Athletes 1. The Laser class announcement is not in line with the vision of the class president, who clearly states in a June 2018 video that white sails and aluminium rigs don’t belong to the future of the Laser. Now we are told that the 4.7, Radial and Standard, with their white sails and at least partly aluminum rigs, will stay. But also that the c5 will still be deployed to be further tested, and that the selection of the other rigs will be sorted out by the market. This is vastly different. 2. The justification of the c5 rig is the lack of adoption of the 4.7 in some countries. But is it the fault of the rig? The 4.7 is in fact hugely successful in many countri...

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...

Resolving the 2024 Olympics Lineup: a Solution, by Jean-Pierre Kiekens Note: please find at this link a more recent and probably more realistic proposal:  https://optimist-openbic-sailing.blogspot.com/2019/03/2024-olympic-sailboat-lineup-proposal.html One of the most exciting moments in the history of sailing at the Olympics was the match race, within the fleet race, between Ben Ainslie and Robert Scheidt, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. So before reading this, please watch, or re-watch, this video. Ben Ainslie and Robert Scheidt Battling for Gold at the Sydney Olympics WATCH VIDEO So what about match racing at the 2024 Olympics, in the Laser, but this time, in the Radial, and in a mixed format? When one races in the Laser Radial, it’s remarkable how both male and female athletes are competitive at the highest level. That would be similar in other single-handed dinghies, as long as the optimum sailor weight to sail them would not exceed 150 lbs (68 kg), which is the ...