Olympic fly-boys

We take a look at the fastest Olympic monohull

After a trial in 1996 of fast, high performance, trapeze boats the 49er was controversially pushed through by then ISAF President Paul Henderson for inclusion in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. With the benefit of hindsight few would argue this to be anything other than a good thing as this quick, unstable boat has since proved to be one of the most spectacular classes in Olympic sailing.

Since its inclusion in the Games the 49er class has been held up as the media darling of the Olympic scene and its sailors viewed as the rock stars of the sailing world. A series of developments to the strict one design have seen it stay at the forefront of technology while ensuring even racing for all.

The 49er remains one of the fastest monohulls in production and is the second fastest Olympic class (the Tornado takes the title of fastest). With a Portsmouth Yardstick number of 750 the boat can pace many of the most modern development classes. However, all this speed comes at a price as the boat remains very unstable. Early on crash and burn racing was the name of the game, but as sailors have adapted to and mastered this high performance machine, racing has got much much closer. Spectacular wipeouts still feature, but they have become a rarity at the very front of the fleet.

Designed by skiff legend, Julian Bethwaite, in Australia and echoing the 18ft Skiffs Bethwaite had previously penned, it is hardly surprising the Australians were first to get to grips with the class. Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips (and later Gary Boyd) were a force to be reckoned with in the early years, winning the 1997, ’98 and ’99 World Championships. Due to these results many tipped Nicholson for Olympic success at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. However, the European teams had quickly caught up and it was Thomas Johanson and Jyrki Jarvi of Finland who clinched the first ever Gold Medal in the class. Recently the young Australian team of Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin have shown Australia still has what it takes, winning the World Championships this year ‘down-under’.



Technical

When the boat was first put up for Olympic selection it was to be a supplied equipment event, like the popular Laser. Sailors would turn up to the games and be given their boat for racing at the regatta. However, with a significantly higher number of component parts than the Laser many sailors were finding a variety of ways to gain marginal speed advantages by spending hours on their boats. This took a variety of forms, from simple rope work all the way up to gear testing and selection based on preferable characteristics. Generally it was considered a shame these hard won advantages could not be carried through to the Games themselves and the class now sails the Olympics in their own boats.

This culture of boat tweaking ran riot for a number of years, with teams choosing to fair and even reshape their hulls for that extra speed edge. Some viewed these speed differences as insignificant while others became obsessed with adapting their boat as much as possible. Fortunately for the class this fad all but died out in 2004 as the Spanish team of Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez took victory in the 2004 Worlds and Olympics in a boat fresh out of the factory and barely touched.

Although a number of manufacturers built the 49er early on, two separate builders from opposite ends of the Earth now dominate. Ovington Boats from the UK is a popular choice as is Mackay in New Zealand. These two manufacturers vie to produce the fastest boats while still adhering to the strict one-design rules of the class. In reality there is little to choose between the two and a fairly even spread will be seen in Qingdao this year.

Today, much of the testing done by crews focuses on the rig and most specifically the mast. The 49er has a two-piece mast, consisting of an aluminium lower section and a whippy glassfibre top. Although each of these masts is theoretically the same the bend characteristics of each section varies slightly. Due to this many of the best teams will spend significant amounts of time bend-testing section after section to find the right mast for them. This has led to the current situation of many teams having a favorite mast that is kept under wraps for much of the year, only coming out for big events. The glassfibre top section was designed to be very flexible so it bends and de-powers the sail when a gust hits. It is this that allows 49er teams to carry such a large (59.2sqm) amount of sail. However this self de-powering rig is now seen as slightly old fashioned with a stiffer mast and a square topped mainsail – which does much of the de-powering work – now being used on many of the leading development classes. Due to these two points the 49er will have a new, more modern rig for 2012, so this will be the final Olympics in the boat’s current configuration.

Changes to the class happen on a relatively regular basis, for an Olympic one design. Up to the Sydney Games, North Sails provided 49er sails, but a change of contract saw a move to Pryde/McDiarmid from 2001 onwards. These are made from a heavier cloth than the North’s, but there has been little noticeable change in performance and longevity of the sails has been greatly improved. Due to this teams tend not to spend too much time sail testing.

As previously mentioned many European teams were slow to pick up some of the finer nuances of proper skiff sailing. In particular the off-the-boom sheeting was something of a culture shock for many. The arrangement – inherited from the 18ft Skiff – sees the crew playing the mainsheet upwind, while the helm trims the jib. This set-up allows teams to use more mainsheet, as the crew has both hands available, and so keep the boat hammering upwind extremely quickly. The obvious difficulty with this set-up is it requires an almost telepathic link between helm and crew with the big sails and small rudder meaning both sailors are effectively steering upwind. Typically the helm spends much of the race standing on the wing ‘holding the stick’ while the crew works like a madman the whole way round the course. It is not uncommon to see a 49er crew all but collapsing at the end of the day while the helm has barely broken sweat. Because of this uneven work rate the crew is normally the bigger of the two and more athletic.



The most significant difference in the class between Athens in 2004 and now is the change to the weight equalisation system. Since the birth of the boat there have always been lead corrector weights and sliding wings, which theoretically allowed the 49er to be sailed by a wider range of sailors. Inevitably at an Olympic level top sailors soon found the optimum target weights and weigh in became troublesome. Some teams had been known to dip 10kg the day before a weigh-in at the beginning of a regatta, by doing the usual keelboat racing tricks such as going on long, sweaty runs in their drysuits, avoiding drinking any fluids, and sitting in hot saunas until they have dropped into the correct weight band.

Typically the accepted wisdom with the weight equalisation system was to stay within the lightest band (under 148kg combined) with almost all teams slotting into this category. However, this thinking was blown out of the water in 2004 when Martinez and Fernandez won both the World Championships and the Olympics weighing in at a relatively hefty 160kg. Following the 2004 Olympics the class dropped the weight equalisation as it was felt to complicate things without really achieving any benefits. Since then teams have mostly been gearing up for a light wind Olympics in Qingdao this year so it is difficult to define a target weight. However, currently many crews are sitting at around the same weight as before with current World Champions, Outteridge and Austin weighing in at 150kg.

Another change to befall the class since 2004 was a slight re-design of the foils. Where previously the class had a relatively fat leading edge on both the centerboard and rudder, the new design has a finer point of entry, though the overall width remains the same. This change means the foils are more efficient once up to speed but are less efficient at low speed which has put an even larger premium on manoeuvres and boat handling. Teams now have to work much harder to get the boat to accelerate out of tacks and gybes than before.

Contenders:



Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin (AUS):

In late 2004 this young team switched from the 470 to the 49er and have since made a huge impact on the class. They are currently sixth in the ISAF ranking lists. Earlier this year the young Australians took the World Championship crown in their home country and look set to be a force to be reckoned with in Qingdao.

In 2007 at the ISAF World Championships in Cascais they came away with the Bronze medal. At the Olympic Test Event in China they had an impressive series and may have won were it not for equipment failure in the final race which pushed them back to fifth overall. With Australia being the home of the skiff and the home of the 49er they will want to do what multiple 49er World Champion, Chris Nicholson, never achieved and walk away from the Olympics with a gold.



Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes (GBR):

After a long time sitting as the second ranked British 49er pairing Morrison and Rhodes have had a phenomenal last couple of seasons, culminating in their toppling Athens bronze medalists Draper and Hiscocks and being selected as the British 49er representatives for the 2008 Olympics. Their impressive set of results shows why: In 2006 they came first at the European Championships and third at the World Championships. They followed this in 2007 with a win at the World Championships in Cascais and a win at the pre-Olympic regatta in China. Earlier this season they went to defend their World title, which they lost to Outteridge and Austin but came out of the regatta a close second.

The Brits are particularly strong in the 49er and have a number of teams doing well. Morrison and Rhodes have clearly benefited from this strength in depth and are now one of the most consistent pairings on the circuit. They are rarely seen outside the top five in regattas. However, they have had equipment troubles of late, most recently at the European championships where they finished a disappointing 18th.



Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez (ESP):

Back in 2001 this Spanish pairing were second at the 49er World Championships in Italy. Since then they have won the 2002 World Championships and European Championships and the 2004 World Championships, won the gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and in 2007 won the European Championships again, a title they successfully defended this year. Their list of ISAF Grade 1 wins are more or less endless. They are one of the highest achieving and long standing 49er partnerships ever and are currently ranked number one on the ISAF rankings.

However, as much as Martinez and Fernandez have achieved they are still prone to posting the occasional disappointing result in pressured situations. At the 2006 World Championships they scored a lowly - for them - tenth position and then repeated this again last year when they scored tenth in Cascais and again this year with a seventh at the Worlds in Australia. At the 2006 Olympic test event they were 11th, another disappointing result, although they made up for that by finishing in second at the 2007 test event. Certainly this is a pair that have what it takes to win in Qingdao. The question is when it really matters will they post the results they need?



Rodian Luka and George Leonchuk (UKR):

Rodion Luka and George Leonchuk are another team with a wealth of experience. They have been sailing the 49er for ten years and took the silver medal at the Athens Olympic Games. But like Martinez and Fernandez, Luka and Leonchuk had a disappointing season in 2007 with a 14th position at the Worlds in Cascais, a 12th at the Olympic Test Event and a 13th at the European Championships.

2008 has been better for the Ukrainian team walking away from both the World and European Championships with a bronze medal. In spite of these results there have still be some inconsistancies in form for the pair with a win at the Princess Sofia regatta in March but a 16th at the Delta Lloyd (formerly SPA regatta) in May.



Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA):

The Sibello brothers are well known for their big breeze boat handling skills and speed. Although one of the top teams in the world it is interesting to note their results are also surprisingly erratic. A number of podium finishes has seen the pairing do well in the ISAF Ranking list (they are currently second), however, they do tend to struggle at some of the bigger events. A series of top five results this year has shown better consistency by the Italians and a fourth placing at the last two World Championships is encouraging.

Interestingly for a pair considered heavy weather exerts their most recent win came at the very light wind 2007 Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland. Realistically they could be almost anywhere inside the top ten at the Olympics but it is unlikely they will be outside of it and most likely they will be top five.

Realistically in the light winds of Qingdao and with such a strong fleet any number of teams could see the front. The German Peckholt brothers are fast and have consistently made the top ten in big regattas. Similarly Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen (DEN) have shown they have what it takes. One thing about the 49er fleet is clear, only a few have consistently good results throughout a range of regattas, but many have found the form to place well occasionally.

Olympic Entries:

Australia - Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin
Austria - Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch
Brazil - Andre Fonseca and Rodrigo Duarte
Canada - Gordon Cook and Ben Remocker
Croatia - Pavle Kostov and Peter Cupac
Denmark - Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen
France - Emmanuel Dyen and Yann Rocherieux
Germany - Jan-Peter Peckolt and Hannes Peckolt
Great Britain - Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes
Italy - Piero Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello
Japan - Akira Ishibashi and Yukio Makino
Norway - Christopher Gundersen and Frode Bovim
Poland - Marcin Czajkowski and Krzysztof Kierkowski
Portugal - Jorge Lima and Francisco Andrade
PR China - Li Fei and Hu Xianqiange
Spain - Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez
Sweden - Jonas Lindberg and Kalle Torlen
Ukraine - Rodion Luka and Georgiy Leonchuk
USA - Timothy Wadlow and Christopher Rast