The endurance class

We take a look at the newest Olympic class, the RS:X

One of only two new classes to be introduced this Olympic cycle, the RS:X was developed specifically for Olympic windsurfing competition. As such it will represent the youngest class of all the 11 disciplines at the Games this year.

Athens 2004 was the last Olympic event for the Mistral windsurfer which was starting to look a long way out of touch with the rest of the sailboarding world. One of the difficulties Olympic windsurfing faces as a sport is the courses and racing formats are very different to those in the rest of the windsurfing world, with the discipline being almost a hybrid of sailing and windsurfing on the Olympic stage. This left a difficult decision to be made, where the Olympic windsurfer needed to reflect the modern trend of fast planning, daggerboard-less formula one style boards but also be capable of competing on Olympic courses, with one sail in a variety of wind conditions.

The class was designed as an extremely low cost one design and is what ISAF refer to as a ‘type one event’, ie intended to increase nation participation. Certainly the class has achieved this goal and in Qingdao will have one of the widest global spreads of all classes. At just over £2,300 for a brand new board and rig for the men and almost exactly £2,300 for the Women, the class is roughly half the price of the next cheapest classes, the Laser and Laser Radial. This low start-up cost has encouraged a number of less traditional sailing countries into the class and this has allowed nations such as Poland, Hong Kong, Israel and Turkey to occupy top positions on the International stage.

The new RS:X windsurfer was specifically designed as a hybrid board, so in anything over ten knots it behaves like the sort of windsurfer the man on the street might own. In these conditions the board will plane upwind and the daggerboard will be fully raised taking all the lateral load on the long fin at the back. Below ten knots when planning is not possible the daggerboard is lowered and the board goes back to behaving more like windsurfers of old, though in this mode the RS:X is considerably slower than the old Mistral.

This significant difference in sailing style is perhaps the hardest thing to get to grips with for the RS:X sailor. When the board is in sub-ten knot pointing mode it has a tacking angle of about 90 degrees, similar to most dinghies. However, when the wind is up around ten knots and the board is able to plane with its daggerboard up it is only able to do so by sailing a lot lower, with a tacking angle of as much as 140 degrees. Obviously if sailors foot off and start planning too early they have to sail far too low and this destroys their VMG.

All this makes transitional weather conditions particularly tactical for the RS:X class and it is often a case of who dares try it first will make a huge gain. However, it is not just the angles that make these conditions tactical as if a sailor heads off low and fast to a layline and then the wind drops they will suddenly find themselves a long way away from the mark and going very slowly. With the wind conditions in Qingdao expected to be very light with the occasional race up around ten knots getting this transition right could well spell the difference between victory and off the podium.

For most sailors, the aspect of Olympic windsurfing they find hardest to get to grips with is the unlimited pumping rule. Back in 1992 a decision was made that due to the nature of the windsurfer – having a free standing rig that is regularly adjusted to help steering – trying to implement a rule against pumping was a fairly pointless exercise. Since that time windsurfing has been a free-for-all on the pumping rules and is sometimes sneered at by dinghy sailors for that reason. However, pumping a windsurfer around a course is far from an easy thing but equally is not simply a case of brute force either. Pumping requires a great deal of technique and done wrong can mean putting a lot of effort into something that ultimately slows you down. In essence most of the pumping upwind is done in the pre-planning conditions of under ten knots, however, downwind sailors may still be pumping in anything up to around 20 knots. With the class being a one-design, only one sail is allowed (a 9sqm for the boys and 8sqm for the girls) and so this, single powerful rig is the main limiting factor as to when sailors will cease pumping.

Due to the pumping involved in RS:X sailing the athletes themselves must be extremely fit. Skandia Team GBR has what they refer to as ‘Gold standard fitness levels’ for each Olympic class which dictates the level of fitness one must reach before they are deemed suitable for a specific class. Of all the Olympic classes the RS:X has the highest level of fitness required, cementing it as the endurance class of the Games. In fact the word endurance is regularly used in reference to RS:X sailors and it is true they tend to look more similar to marathon runners than anything else. In part because of this the average weight for an RS:X sailor is relatively low, at around 65kg. There are sailors that get away with being heavier, perhaps up to around 75kg but they must make up for this extra weight in extra pumping ability and so any extra weight tends to be in muscle alone and so makes very little difference overall.

The RS:X fleets use roughly the same courses as the Olympic dinghies, with either trapezoids with an outer and inner loop or a windward-leeward course being used at the Games. It seems most likely that a trapezoid course will be used which will enable the male and female fleets to race at the same time, so ensuring the scheduled number of races can take place in the predicted very light winds. Originally the RS:X courses were supposed to have a short, three buoy slalom at the end of the final downwind leg. This was conceived so the viewing public would get a good idea of who is leading at the very end of the race, making it easier to follow. However, this course format is now only going to be used in the medal race at the very end of the series.

Contenders:

Tom Ashley (NZL):

Ashley is the current RS:X World Champion and as such must go into the Olympic Games as one of the top few favourites to take the event. In recent years he has won a significant number of top events, including the Princess Sofia, Hyeres and the 2007 Olympic test Event in Qingdao.

However, it has not all been victories and podium positions for the young New Zealander as he came away from the 2006 Olympic Test Event with a ninth position and, took 15th position at the 2007 World Championship. Other than these two slight wobbles Ashley has been impressively consistent on the RS:X and looks to have every chance at a Gold.



Nick Dempsey (GBR):

Dempsey has been Britain’s top ranked Olympic windsurfer for many years and really came into the limelight when in 2004 he came home from Athens with a surprise bronze medal. Since the transfer to the RS:X Dempsey became a more familiar face at the very front of the fleet, winning a number of high profile regattas.

2008 has been somewhat of a turbulent year for the Brit, as he started well with a first place at the Princess Sofia Trophy, only to end up 20th at the RS:X Europeans, his worst result at a major regatta in around eight years.

Joao Rodriguez (POR):

Rodriguez is the current European Champion, following his win earlier this year in France. He was also second to Ashley at the World Championships in New Zealand and has taken a variety of top five finishes throughout the last Olympic cycle, though actual wins are a bit thin on the ground.

Now 37 years old there is some speculation this may well be Rodriguez’s last realistic shot at a gold medal. That being said, it is often commented that in sailing in general, and Olympic sailing in particular, experience is essential for victory. Experience is something Rodriguez has in spades, with this set to be his third Olympic Games, so he should be at home in the unique Olympic environment.

Julien Bontemps (FRA):

Like Rodriguez, Bontemps has a number of impressive results to his name, but relatively few actual wins. The Frenchman was a very talented Mistral sailor, winning the World Championships in 2004 – although he went onto take a disappointing ninth at the Athens Olympics. Most recently Bontemps took victory at the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland, which will have been important to the Frenchmen as the event was widely recognised as having very similar conditions to Qingdao.

Women

Marina Albeau (ESP):

Albeau has been sailing Olympic windsurfing classes since she was competing as a youth. However, she tended to lack many really impressive results in the Mistral class of old. In the RS:X Albeau seems to have found a class she can really relate to and has picked up a number of wins over the last few years. Most recently she has come first at the Delta Lloyd Regatta, the European Championship – for the second year running – and Sail Auckland. She was also third at the World Championships this year, and it is this string of good results, in addition to a number of others, that sees her ranked number one in the world.

However, Albeau did not go to the Pre-Olympics in 2006 and when she went to the event in 2007, she walked away with a very disappointing tenth place. This single result at the Olympic venue will be something she is trying hard to put out of her mind.



Bryony Shaw (GBR):

Shaw goes into these Games having won the 2007 Test-Event in Qingdao and several other ISAF ranked events. She was one of the first really to get to grips with the RS:X winning the effective first World Championships – though the class had not yet received ISAF status.

However, the last year has not been great for the Brit as a series of relatively disappointing performances, such as eighth at both the World and European Championships, have seen her slip in the world rankings. In fact the best position Shaw has managed this season at an ISAF ranked event was a fourth at the Princess Sofia, something she will want to remedy in Qingdao.



Barbara Kendall (NZL):

New Zealand’s representative is the epitome of consistency in the RS:X class. She is an old hand in Olympic windsurfing and Qingdao, will represent her fifth Olympic Games. She is also by far the most medalled Olympic windsurfer: In 1992, she walked away with gold, in ’96 she took Silver, in 2000 Bronze and was fifth in 2004. This is a trend she will want to buck as she aims to repeat her 1992 performance in China.

Recent wins have been a little thin on the ground for the New Zealander but she was second at both the 2007 and 2008 World Championships and the recent Delta Lloyd regatta so she is still clearly a strong contender for Qingdao.

Zofia Klepacka (POL):

Klepacka is somewhat of an erratic sailor in the RS:X class. When she is fast, she can be very fast, thrilling spectators with a phenomenal Medal Race in 2007 to take the World Championship title. However in the same year she scored a 36th at Hyeres Regatta and followed this up in 2008 with a 12th at the Worlds. Besides the Worlds, Klepacka has had a solid 2008 season so far with a couple of podium finishes at Grade One events and a fourth at the European Championships in France. Hailing from Poland she fits the ISAF Type one event ideal perfectly and it would be fantastic to see her walk away from China with a medal.