Keelboats out

Roland Gaebler reports from the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting

The ISAF Events Committee just finished the voting procedure at the Mid-Year Meeting in St Petersburg and there was no discussion for the comeback of the multihull. There was also a little chance with the Submissions from the Netherlands to get two multihulls (Women + Men) in with the 5:5 slide.

But finally the biggest group with the same submissions went trough. The Keelboats (Starclass and Women's Match Racing) are definitely out. It seem the financial crisis and less money in the MNAs make it impossible to finance Olympic keelboat sailing.

Also kiteboarding went out early in the voting procedure. So no colorful and action loaded flying surfers.

Tomorrow the ISAF Council can change the vote the Events Committee made. So there is still an open vote to fix it 100%. But with the view to the submissions again, it looks Keelboat Sailing has not the same strong voice as in previous years. Even Sailing Nations like GBR and AUS had no Keelboat in their recommendations.

Now the focus should be back on the format of racing and how we can make sailing a spectator and media sport. IOC is putting pressure on to obtain higher media value and better ticket sales. Also ISAF needs more money from IOC. We hope the ISAF has not missed the chance to upgrade Olympic sailing with a high performance Multihull. We need to have a boat like the Tornado which flys its hulls in any wind strength.

So there is a massive need for a spectacular class in the Olympic Arena. With our Tornado Speedsailing www.speedsailing.org and the high quality one design we have the perfect solution for Rio 2016 and the ISAF World Cup Series.

But it looks they will send us again (like 1999 in Quiberon) into an expensive evaluation event. We already have one of the best price-performance ratio in Olympic sailing and a IOC TV award and many mixed teams at the top.

But there are 20+ cats with 'dollar-signs' in there eyes who want have the Olympic Multihull spot too. So we go into a ISAF multihull battle and were we get 1 winner and 19 loosers and burn hundred thausands of €€€. Instead of burning money, we should choose the best and proven formula we have: The HQ OD Tornado.

We hope ISAF realise there is no need for an evaluation event. But if we get one, real Olympic sailors should test the boats in all wind and wave conditions and decide what class they like for the future. We are ready for this Challenge.

More news tomorrow.

Greetings from St. Petersburg,