Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

Andy Rice

DINGHIES

W

hen looking at the

recent Mid Year

Meeting discussions

on the future of the

Olympic Regatta, it’s

easy to get cross with World Sailing as an

organisation; however it’s hard to know

exactly where to pin the blame. Not least

because World Sailing has inherited a

system of governance which has always

been unwieldy and mostly incapable of

forging a clear direction for the sport.

Despite the change of name a couple

of years ago from International Sailing

Federation to World Sailing, the

organisation remains mostly focused

on one speciic aspect rather than the

sport as a whole. Contrary to its all-

encompassing name, the primary aim

of World Sailing is to do whatever is

required to keep sailing in the Olympic

Games. his is because the lion’s share

of World Sailing’s income spins out

of a once-every-four-years pay-out

from TV rights for the Olympics. Any

business with so many eggs in one

basket is not in a healthy situation.

he International Olympic Committee

is making a lot of big demands that

appear very reasonable on the face of it:

50:50 gender equality; appeal for younger

audiences; parity of events (i.e. if there

is a Men’s Heavyweight Singlehander

then there should be an equivalent for

women). However, to me it seems it is the

speed at which sailing and other Olympic

sports are expected to achieve these goals

that is creating the problems. At no level

of the sport has sailing ever been enjoyed

equally by male and female. Yes, it’s

possible to create 50:50 representation –

but it won’t come without great cost to the

quality of the competition. here simply

aren’t that many women competing

at world class level, and that’s even

in developed sailing continents like

Europe, North America and Australasia,

let alone regions such as the Middle

East and large parts of Africa where

women’s rights have a lot further to go.

So the IOC has created an admirable

problem to be solved, and then thrown

it over to sailing and other sports to

Are restrictive time scales and conflicting pressures what’s holding back World Sailing

from making a sensible and strategic decision on the future of the Olympic classes?

established classes have managed to

keep their feet under the table for so

long. And rightly so, when there’s no

time to make any big changes. Just

look at what a disaster – predicted by

me and others – women’s match racing

proved. Yes, it was an excellent inal day

medal-decider on a sunny, windy, wavy

day in Weymouth back in 2012, but that

was scant reward for the preceding three

years which had done nothing to increase

women’s participation in Olympic-level

competition. Ideas discussed in air-

conditioned committee meetings need

trialling in the real world on the water

before they’re parachuted into the Games.

Six years is a step in the right

direction, but it’s not nearly far enough;

strategic planning needs 10 years or

more. Until then we’ll be on the same

merry-go-round; the Events Committee

makes well-researched recommendations

and Council ignores them. Einstein

once said that the deinition of insanity

is doing the same thing over and over

and expecting diferent results.

he time frame has to change for

the discussion to have any opportunity

to scope out a sensible vision for the

future of sailing in the Olympics. And

then we might not be let with weird

selections like ‘Mixed Singlehander’.

Know what that means? Nor do I.

Answers on a postcard please.

Musto Ski sailor

Andy Rice has

unparalleled

knowledge of

the dinghy sailing

scene, from

grassroots to

Olympic level

solve. In rugby parlance, this kind of

hand-of is known as a ‘hospital pass’.

he speed of change expected by

the IOC is unreasonable, and World

Sailing should have the moral courage

to say so, even if they broadly agree

with the direction. I bet they’re not

the only sporting body to feel more

time is needed to implement change.

he Mid Year Meeting was therefore

caught between World Sailing’s desire

to make strategic changes, and pressure

to keep the status quo. Put simply, and

leaving aside an enormous amount

of detail, World Sailing wanted to

introduce kiteboarding and an ofshore

doublehanded keelboat, on the basis of

perceived media appeal; whereas two

of the oldest classes - the 470 and the

Finn - fought tooth and nail to stay in

the Games, and sort of succeeded.

his conlict between long-term

strategic aims and short-term tactical

battles by incumbent classes will

continue so long as the time frame

between discussion and implementation

remains so short. World Sailing deserves

some credit for raising this discussion

now, some six years before Paris 2024.

In the past these big debates have

happened just three and three-quarter

years before the next Olympic Regatta,

i.e. in the November ater an Olympics

has just taken place. No wonder the

Above

The 470 fought

hard to hold onto

one spot – as

the new mixed

doublehander

RICHARD LANGDON/SAILING ENERGY

Ideas need trialling in the real world on the water

before they are parachuted into the Olympic Games

July 2018 Yachts & Yachting 17