Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

by Jean-Pierre Kiekens, Oxford educated development economist, former lecturer at the University of Brussels, and sailor. This is just a short piece to express a very straightforward viewpoint, a viewpoint of reason.  There shouldn’t be any Olympics before it is safe, and it will not be safe before we have a vaccine. While the coronavirus pandemic is growing, stock exchanges are plunging, many governments are taking draconian measures to deal with the pandemic, there is kind of a surreal approach when it comes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. « The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive. » stated the International Olympic Committee (IOC) just 2 days ago, on March 17. « The IOC encourages all athletes to continue to prepare for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as best they c...

The Aero 6: the New Rig Recommended for Women by RS Sailing The continuation of the Laser saga is now putting World Sailing in a very difficult situation. Yes, there was an August 1 deadline for the international Laser class ILCA to get FRAND and other agreements to be signed by its builders and  to get its house in order. It seems that the deadline was missed. ILCA has been betting on a highly contentious change to its internal class rules, and we don’t know yet the result of the vote by the membership. But as discussed in this blog, even if ILCA announces that the Yes won the rule change, there are substantial hurdles still to overcome. This includes whether World Sailing will approve the proposed generic or renamed boats, whether a Yes to the class rule vote, held via the inappropriate Survey Monkey app, will resist legally, and whether LaserPerformance will mount legal challenges against ILCA, dealers and other parties, which may completely paralyze the supply of hul...

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...

Un jour triste pour la voile - par Jean-Pierre Kiekens 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. (If you prefer to read this article in English, please click here ) Il y a quelques mois, on m'a raconté ce qui est arrivé à une régate internationale de premier plan dans une classe jeunesse. Le jeune athlète était clairement en tort, et il le savait. Devant le jury, il a tenté une explication, peu convaincante. La plupart d'entre nous sommes passés par là. Rien d'exceptionnel. Mais ce qui s’est passé ensuite fut beaucoup plus intéressant. Le jury a expliqué en détail, de manière très pédagogique, ce que le jeune aurait dû faire. Dans ce cas particulier, il aurait dû abandonner la manche en question. Oui il y a eu sanction, il y a eu disqualification, mais bien plus important encore, le jury a agi de manière pédagogique, a bien...

A Sad Day for Sailing - by Jean-Pierre Kiekens Today, the delegates of the World Sailing Council are asked to either vote for their conscience or for offshore. This is a sad day for sailing. (if you prefer to read this article in French, click here ) Just a few months ago, I was told what happened with a protest at a prominent international youth regatta. The sailor was clearly in the wrong, and he knew it.  In front of the jury, the sailor attempted an explanation, but unconvincingly. Most of us have gone through that. Nothing exceptional. But what occurred then was much more interesting. The jury explained at lengths, an in a very pedagogical manner, what the sailor should have done. In this particular case, it was to have retired from the race. Yes there was a sanction, a disqualification, but much more importantly, the Jury acted in a very sensible way, explained at lengths its decision, and provided this youth sailor with a lesson. A lesson for life. The lesson wa...

An impressive press conference took place on December 6 at the Nassau Yacht Club, in the context of the 2018 Star Sailors League Finals. On that occasion, Paul Cayard, Zsombor Berecz and Mateusz Kusznierewic responded to questions from journalists, along with 5 other prominent sailors participating in the event. Paul Cayard is one of the world’s most famous professional sailors and a former Olympian, with considerable experience offshore as well as in small keelboats and dinghies. He has won multiple world titles in the Star and other classes. He won the 1997/98 Whitbread Round the World Race, the 1995 Admiral's Cup and the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1992. Asked by journalist Michele Tognozzi from the Italian news outlet Farevela about the World Sailing’s recent decisions regarding the Finn and offshore, here is what Paul Cayard had to say. "Offshore sailing in the Olympics is a little hard to understand." "They kicked the Star out because it was too expensive...

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 ...

Journalist Richard Gladwell from Sail-World, conducted a far reaching and most interesting three parts interview with Kim Andersen, the President of World Sailing. The interview was made in anticipation of World Sailing’s annual conference this week-end, in Sarasota, FL. Here are key highlights. See the links towards the full interview at the bottom of this page. Regarding the Laser Andersen is adamant that the Laser has not been kicked out of the Olympics. "We are running that process with the Laser. It is not true that the Laser has been kicked out. We are just applying "anti-monopoly" so that we don't get into trouble. The Council has the freedom of choice to say they would like a Laser." About Anti-Trust, Monopoly and the Finn Andersen raised a novel view of what constitutes a monopoly in sailing, claiming that the EU believed that when World Sailing was selecting a class or discipline at the Olympics, a monopoly was created because "you are n...

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...