Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

The "ILCA Magic Formula" Source: https://www.facebook.com/ILCANorthAmerica/ The international Laser class ILCA released today an announcement titled « Discussions Continue Towards Olympic Certification, » just a day after its European branch EurILCA released a comprehensive statement about how it sees the future for the Laser. See our coverage of the EurILCA announcement: «  Europeans Outline Way Forward for Laser Class . » ILCA blames UK based LaserPerformance for the absence of an agreement, particularly regarding FRAND, which must be resolved for the Laser to be Olympic in 2024. « Since World Sailing’s required FRAND policy was approved in November 2018, ILCA has reached out on numerous occasions to work with the various builders and IP rights holders towards a FRAND compliant policy.  Unfortunately, Laser Performance did not engage in this process. » « To date, both Performance Sailcraft Australia and Performance Sailcraft Japan h...

Lasers 4.7 at the 2019 Europeans in Hyères, France Source & more pictures: https://eurilca.smugmug.com The European Laser class EurILCA issued this May 30 a circular titled « Laser Standard and Laser Radial Stay as Olympic Boats, and Now? » The circular, addressed to the Laser class district officers in Europe, explains first the relative silence of the Europeans in the past weeks, despite all the actions taken by the international Laser class ILCA, including the termination of the world’s largest Laser builder LaserPerformance and the name change operated by ILCA. « EurILCA didn’t make a lot of communications during the last weeks regarding the termination of Laser Performance as a party to the LCMA (Laser Construction Manual Agreement) and the action done by the ILCA executives. The reason for our silence was to preserve the class and to not have a negative impact on the voting for the Olympics. » The document acknowledges that the vote by the World ...

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/

Could a foiling singlehanded dinghy such as the Wazsp supplant the Laser for the 2024 Paris/Marseilles Olympics? 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. There are many considerations in the tender documents, including professional qualifications, technical qualifications, retail pricing, competition law, to name just a few. We will not cover these here, but they may become paramount, as World Sailing is apparently being put on notice or sued for anti-trust / competition reasons (there is a report that it was served at its recent London meeting). There are also unknowns regarding how World Sailing will derive fees from the selected equipments (hulls, sails), as the organization seems in dire need for increased rev...

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 none of the manufacturers and classes have officially indicated they will make a submission to World Sailing. Note also that this is not intended to be a comprehensive list. At the same time, the 2024 Olympic singlehanded dinghy is very probably in this list. Here is our previously published blog post with some analysis about the selection criteria and potential contenders for the 2014 Olympics . MAIN CONTENDERS LASER   RS AERO MELGES 14 DEVOTI ZERO WAZSP OTHER POSSIBLE BOATS EUROPE BYTE  MUCH LESS LIKELY YET WORTH NOTING DEVOTI ONE RS 700

Why is World Sailing Targeting 70 Kg (155 lbs) for its new single-handed female event (part of its new single-handed mixed event)? Today, the World Sailing Council adopted the M22 submission, overruling the vote of its events committee, for the 2024 sailing Olympics, to be held in Marseilles, France. The M22 submission is from the Romanian Sailing Federation. It keeps several categories: Laser Standard, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX and foiling Nacra. It also keeps the windsurfing, but on new equipment. The 470 is still there too, but as a mixed event. There is a new « mixed kite event » on « new equipment ».  And finally, there is another new event — a bizarre « Mixed One-Person Dinghy » - that will allow for the Finn to remain in the Olympics as equipment for men, and there will be new equipment for women. After much back and forth, the 470 and Finn would remain in the Olympics, but at a cost: the 470 would be a mixed event (2 sailors instead ...

I just read the Richard Gladwell article in Sail-World — «  2024 Olympics: Scene set for a tsunami of change  » and the supporting material, particularly the letter by Kim Andersen, President of World Sailing, addressed to World Sailing’s Board, Council and Committee members and MNAs.  I have not yet fully digested or even comprehended all the information, particularly the 2024 Events & Equipment Working Party Report - it seems unfortunately that World Sailing makes things unnecessarily complicated. Yet I am a bit puzzled by the options indicated in Kim Andersen’s letter. So here is my take. The Open Bic - a Future Olympic Dinghy for Light Weight Female Sailors? Andersen writes that « to accommodate the submission for a broader representation of physiques for women and men, we should evaluate two possibilities for dealing with the issue » and he offers two options: 1) adding a new offshore mixed event, and 2) adding two single-handed technical discipl...

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 shou...

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 ...