Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

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...

TIME TO UNRIG AND TAKE A PAUSE: THE LASER AT THE CROSSROADS by Jean-Pierre Kiekens. The author is an engineer and an economist, having sailed the Laser back in the 70s as a junior sailor and in the past 10 years as a master sailor.  He regularly writes about youth and Olympic sailing. The 4.7 - the Laser's Smallest Rig, Attracts Huge Fleets in Europe Major developments have come to the fore in the past weeks relating to the Laser - so far the most successful one-design sailboat ever, with the Optimist. These developments, including the announcement of not less than 5 new rigs, come at a time when the Laser is being evaluated against 3 other single-handed dinghies for the 2024 Olympics. These developments are complex and hard to fully understand. Yet one thing is clear is that the thousands and thousands of Laser sailors around the world have not been consulted. Those in charge of the class, along with the manufacturers, are making decisions that, although in theory well-...

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...

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...