From the Feedback - 21/12/00

The most suitable discipline for Olympic keelboat racing is the fleet/match discipline that the world’s top sailors have been competing in for the last three Olympics. An event where the top four-to-eight from six or eight fleet races progress to a knockout match racing section exemplifies the Olympic ideal. The reasons for this I have set out below. They are based on the assumption that it would be most sensible for the men and women to compete in similar disciplines (though not the same boats).

The events committee has set out a list of criteria on which the Olympic disciplines should be based.

1 Allow sailors from around the world and of different size and weight to compete
2 Achieve a minimum of 30% participation for women
3 Give the best sailors in each country the opportunity to compete in readily accessible equipment
4 Must combine both traditional and modern events and classes, to reflect, display and promote competitive sailing

Taking these one at a time, we can see how the fleet/match discipline reflects these criteria better than either isolated match racing or fleet racing.

Different size and weight

As a general rule, keelboats require a much higher crew weight than dinghies. This extra crew weight often gives the crews a small edge in boatspeed that can prove pivotal in a fleet race. Boatspeed is less significant in match racing, where boat handling is of greater importance. This leads to a more athletic sailor and a wider weight range.

Minimum of 30% participation for women

Any women’s keelboat will increase the number of women at the Olympics. However, it is important that there are a large number of people competing in the discipline to add credence to the event. The best way to increase the number of women interested in Olympic keelboat racing is to open it up to both fleet and match racers. Match racing is easier and cheaper to get involved in than fleet racing. This will naturally lead to larger numbers of women competing. However, despite there being no women’s keelboat fleets that I am aware of, there are a large number of women who have fleet raced and not match raced, either in open keelboat events or in dinghys. Allowing them to find their feet in the class via fleet racing before tackling match racing will also encourage larger numbers of women to compete.

Best sailors

The fleet/match discipline requires sailors to master both individual disciplines in order to win medals. This makes it extremely demanding. It also allows for the medals to be decided by a discipline in which the variables are reduced. There are often times in fleet racing where one of a large number of variables decides between a gold and a silver medal, or between a bronze and fourth place, and not necessarily the difference in skill between the sailors involved. This is much less usual in match racing.

Most Olympic keelboat sailors move into keelboats having competed at the highest level in an Olympic dinghy class. This is primarily because they are in the best position to secure the funding necessary. More recently, however, there has been movement of younger sailors with match racing backgrounds into the Soling class. Through the cheaper mode of match racing, sailors have been able to establish themselves without significant funds and once established they have been able to secure funding from National Federations. Hence through the fleet/match discipline, Olympic sailing has been opened up to talented keelboat sailors who do not have a background in Olympic dinghy racing.

Combine traditional and modern events to reflect, display and promote sailing

With respect to reflecting current sailing, for the men there is more fleet racing than match racing worldwide, though the match racing has now become very popular. For the women, there is clearly more keelboat match racing currently being taken part in than fleet racing in keelboats. To combine both fleet and match allows the sport to reflect the sailing done worldwide with only one keelboat discipline for each sex.

With respect to displaying and promoting sailing, the match racing finale to the proposed medal would ensure a number of things:

1 That the winner is sailing in the final race
2 That the winner wins the final race
3 That the winner is known at the finish of the final race (rather than after a protest)
4 That the reason the winner triumphed is clear to any spectators (clearer than in fleet racing anyway)

These, among other reasons, make the discipline significantly more media friendly than just a fleet racing event.

And hence the fleet/match discipline follows the events committee’s guidelines for Olympic disciplines almost exactly.