29erXX or 470?

We speak to Carolijn Brouwer about the decisions being made by ISAF Council this weekend

This week the Equipment and Women’s Committee both voted for the 29erXX over the 470 as their preferred choice for the Women’s Two Person Dinghy at the 2012 Games. The Council have yet to make a final decision (this weekend), but the 29er certainly goes into their discussions as a strong candidate.

Carolijn Brouwer sits on the Women’s Committee and while she is best known for being the only woman to compete in the Tornado in Qingdao this year, has also previously done an Olympic campaign in the 470. She was also one of the Athletes to try out all the potential skiffs (including the 29erXX) at the Hyeres Trials last year (see our report here). Brouwer reveals that for the women, the vote was incredibly close, with a nine to eight vote split in favour of the 29erXX. The Equipment Committee, however, was much more definite in their decision making and the vote went to the skiff 11 votes to two.

Brouwer herself voted in favour of the 29erXX and is happy to explain her reasons for doing so: “I really enjoy sailing the 470 and competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney,” she comments. “But the situation that we were in yesterday was giving us a chance to move forward with our sport.” Although she did vote for the 29erXX, Brouwer does still have a few reservations about the skiff being put into the Games in place of the 470. “I do not really think this is the right moment for it. The right time frame, I think, was last year.” Many people were expecting the ISAF to select a Women’s Two Person High Performance Dinghy Event over Women’s Match Racing. Clearly Brouwer believes the wrong decision was made then and is still keen to see a skiff in the Games even if it comes at the expense of the 470.



Part of the reason Brouwer believes now is the wrong time to make such a decision is based around the balance of events between men and women. “Doing this now would leave the men’s 470 out by itself, with no obvious female alternative. If the 470 stayed for women and a skiff event been introduced it would be easy to see the comparison between the women’s and men’s events.” Clearly this is a problem with the events set out as they are. We have long been proponents of an even five events each split between women and men. This would enable a committee to vote in entirely equal – or at least very similar – classes for both sexes. However, this is not the case and Brouwer firmly believes waiting another five years to introduce a skiff for the women would be detrimental to our sport so voted for the 29erXX this time round in spite of her reservations about the decision.

As mentioned, Brouwer should be in a strong position when making these decisions as she has sailed competitively in the 470 and has tried out the 29erXX. However, when the Equipment Trial was held in Hyeres many of the boats trialled there were still in development and since she last stepped into the boat there have been a number of changes to the proposed 29erXX. “I am not really able to say if the 29erXX is exactly the right boat for the job as it has been changed since Hyeres and I have not been able to sail it since,” she comments. The 29erXX, though, was the only skiff to be submitted as a possible candidate at the ISAF Mid-year meeting in May and so is the only high performance option.



With the Equipment and the Women’s Committees both voting in favour of the 29erXX surely this sends a strong message to the Council, who begin to make their final decisions today, Friday, on all the issues discussed at the Conference over the last week. Brouwer, though, does not think it is very likely at all that the Council will affirm these decisions. “When it comes down to it, I feel the votes will go in favour of the 470,” she says. “Because the council is MNA – Member National Authority – driven, a lot of them are worried it is too late to make significant changes. A lot of the countries have already decided on the funding for next year and are getting their squad together in the 470. To make a change to the 29erXX at this stage will mean they all have to start buying in 29erXXs and changing their squad set-ups appropriately. I also think a lot are voting on where they have the biggest medal chances.”

If this were the case and the Council did vote for the 470 over the 29erXX, surely it would once again be a case of the ISAF Council making a decision that does not help the future of our sport for largely political reasons. Speaking to Brouwer it is clear this vote is a tough one for sailors to call. On the one hand Women stand to lose a popular class that has many poorer countries competing. On the other hand a vote against the 29erXX would see another four years of women competing with effectively no high performance class – which is of course made worse by the loss of the Open Multihull class which Brouwer competed in this year in Beijing. As Brouwer mentioned, neither of these options are all that desirable and it must be said once again this is a case of the poor decisions made at least year’s conference coming back to bite ISAF.

It would seem, this is proving once again that the ISAF voting system does not seem to work suitably at present. It does not really matter which way the Council votes on this issue as either decision is inherently flawed. It would also seem if the MNAs are unwilling to vote in changes at this late stage, having the equipment vote take place at this point in the Olympic cycle is to all intents and purposes pointless. In truth the wrong decisions were made last year and this has effectively left us with a bad legacy for the next Olympic cycle. Hopefully by 2011 when the next vote is made on Olympic equipment for the 2016 Games we will see a bit more joined up thinking in ISAF’s Olympic strategy.