Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

Day 1 of the World Sailing Valencia Sea Trials Photo credit: Michele Tognozzi/ farevela.net With the World Sailing sea trials having just started in Valencia to help determine which single-handed dinghy will be used at the 2024 Marseille Olympics, here are a few thoughts. For sure, there is lots of emotions, and many people are pretty upset that the Laser may be replaced, but reason may dictate that one of the three contenders - D-Zero, M-14 or RS-Aero - may be a more suitable choice for the long term development of single-handed sailing. Here are some thoughts at the beginning of these trials. In a nutshell, it is argued in this article that: the targeted optimal sailor weight for female athletes should be brought down from the current 68 kg (150 lbs) to about 60 kg (132 lbs), to allow access to single-handed racing to many more female athletes world-wide, and keep women into sailing. the targeted optimal sailor weight for male athletes should be increased from the current 8...

RS Feva: Endorsed by the Fédération française de voile, the Royal Yachting Association, among other sailing federations We all know about conventional youth sailing, with the Optimist, the 420, the Laser, sometimes the 29er. But we all know too that youth sailing is in trouble in many many clubs around the world. Solutions exist, and they are being tried in various locations. A 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. Some countries are making substantial efforts in that direction. For example, the first video features the 2018 French national championships for sailors under 15 - and the variety of equipments is significant. It includes several...

2018 Nacra 15 World Champions from Belgium Henri Demesmaeker and Frederique van Eupen with their coach Sebbe Godefroid With the controversy surrounding the process for revising equipments and events for future Summer Olympics, it’s interesting to analyze what has been decided, by World Sailing and IOC, in 2016, for the 2018 Youth Olympics, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October. There will be 5 competitions in the sailing category: 2 for Windsurfing, 2 for Kite boarding and 1 for Catamarans. The two windsurfing competitions, one for men, one for women, will be raced on Techno 293+. The two kiteboarding competitions, one for men, one for women, will be IKA twin tip racing.  The catamaran competition will be mixed and sailed on the Nacra 15. In total, there will be 100 competitors: 48 in windsurfing, 24 in kiteboarding and 28 in catamaran. In terms of equipment, there will be a total of 48 windsurfs, 24 kite boards and 14 catamarans. (86 « boats » -...