I think you are failing to recognize the point of one-design sailing. All the Olympic sailing classes of boat are outdated compared to what is on the cutting edge. However, programs in countries have to be built and supported and the equipment needs to stay the same. How do the national sailing federations support a team from junior to youth to Olympic level if the equipment is changing every three months? There are four years between Olympics and most of the time someone new to the scene will take more than one four year stint in the sport to make their push. You learn one-design equipment in and out. It becomes like walking or even breathing using that equipment. Focus turns to building skills of actual sailing rather than constantly having to learn to master a new set of equipment. Additionally, whether the boat (or kite gear) is the fastest isn't the point. The Olympics is about the best athlete, not the best equipment. The sooner people recognize this, the better. When everyone races on exactly the same equipment, no matter what the opinion of the equipment itself is, the best sailor wins - period. The rest of us that don't care about being in the Olympics for sailing or kitesurfing (that is the vast majority of us and even the vast majority of the current kite racers) can continue to ride on cutting edge equipment. In some cases, we can outspend our pals and competitors in order to beat them (such as racing has become).edt wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:12 amif kiting gets into the olympics I suspect it will start as a 100cm wide race board straight out of 2001, and a one kite quiver some sort of tube kite from 2006, something like that. That's the kind of stuff they pulled for windsufers who have RS:X, 286 long board, 93 cm wide, 15.5 kg, total weight of RS:X is 19kg with a single sail, 9.5m. There you go. Sounds like fun? It's not. It's not fun to do. It's not fun to watch. It's slower than anything in the water today that ordinary windsurfers use, from large race boards to hydrofoils, it's slower than an ordinary windsurfer at slow speeds, slower at medium speeds and can't go out when it gets too windy. The entire reason for the olympics is that for windsurfing at least you have nations that build sailors by getting them started in these junior olympics things and are able to raise up a generation of sailors that love the water. I say, "Let them windsurf!" If they are at all smart they will quit windsurfing when they come of age and can afford their first kite. Other sailing classes are hit and miss, some are great some are dumb, such as the Finn, which is for large men that like to go slow it's a terrible class, there's the 470 which I actually do like quite a lot quite small dinghy, then there are the 49er and 49erFX, again which are nice, and the laser which is fun but they race their lasers in 2 or 3 knots and it's a torment to watch as the winner is whoever can pump his sail for the longest. I also like the Nacra 17 which is a beautiful foiling cat and last the already mentioned turd of a windsurfer the RS:X.
Once you get into the olympics it is like you are frozen in time. The Finn class mentioned above has been unchanged since 1952, the 470 since 1976, the 49er is relatively new first built in 2000.
If we get into the olympics be prepared to have a single 12 meter kite, a 100cm wide race board raced in 10 knot conditions on a standard olympic triangle. I would rather watch paint dry. I would rather eat paint. No olympics for kitesurfing thank you very much.
If you think they will allow modern foil kites and hydrofoils into the olympics you don't know what kind of people are at the ISAF. They hate that kind of stuff and will not allow it.
Some one designs are awesome (the nacra) some are shit (the olympic windsurfer, and the finn). If the IKA is able to use the same designs they use for their races, we will see some awesome and fast foil + foil combination an allowed quiver of 2 or 3 kites and an exciting race. ISAF (I guess they are "World Sailing" now) I don't trust at all. They might saddle us with the steeplechase that the juniors do now. That's worse than doing nothing at all. Most of the olympic sailing is a turd. It's unwatchable, boring and turns people off the sport.Cab Driver wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:31 pm
I think you are failing to recognize the point of one-design sailing.
A one-design class for kitesurfing has not been selected for the Olympics. I am simply pointing out that all the other Olympic sailing classes are one-design and the IOC will likely not get buy in from the participating countries for a non-one-design kite class.PinkNorthPride wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 11:10 pmOne Design sailing tends to favour a particular weight/body shape which makes the activity all the more exclusive. Trust me, for 99.999% of us Olympics bring nothing, it's a totally corrupt and corruptible monetising sport bullshit organisation. It has no place in our world.
This is mostly just your opinion. If you want to be in the Olympics, you have to play Olympic, World Sailing/ISAF, local sailing politics. Again, the Olympics is about the athlete and not the equipment. I agree that the Finn sucks, but the USA used to have a group of big boys that were f'ing fast and US Sailing used politics to keep the Finn in the Olympics. This is how it works. What difference does it make what the format of kiting would be in the Olympics anyway? It's not like I'm going to change the way I ride or anything.edt wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:06 amSome one designs are awesome (the nacra) some are shit (the olympic windsurfer, and the finn). If the IKA is able to use the same designs they use for their races, we will see some awesome and fast foil + foil combination an allowed quiver of 2 or 3 kites and an exciting race. ISAF (I guess they are "World Sailing" now) I don't trust at all. They might saddle us with the steeplechase that the juniors do now. That's worse than doing nothing at all. Most of the olympic sailing is a turd. It's unwatchable, boring and turns people off the sport.Cab Driver wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:31 pm
I think you are failing to recognize the point of one-design sailing.
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