tautologies wrote:Ronnie: Incompetent sure..but there must be something more going on. If they were only incompetent they would not have allowed passing the 68% vote...unless they all failed at basic 2nd grade math.
I'm sure there are other things going on. There are a lot of influences in the Olympics and the ISAF involving politics and money.
There never was a majority in favour of kiting. Kiting got in by one vote and the Council member who represented Spain was supposed to vote for windsurfing and claimed that he voted for kiting by accident.
A woman who represented Canada said she voted for kiting to get more women into sailing. Well she got more women into kiting because some of the many hundreds (maybe thousands) of women racing RSX and the Techno feeder class switched over to join the few kite racers (there were 3 women entered in the PKRA 2012 O'Neill Kiteboard World Cup)
http://www.prokitetour.com/news.php?id=303
It was a big surprise to everyone (kiters included) when they won the vote in April. So its not like something really changed. Some council members believed the 'estimates' of numbers for kiting in April and by November the full picture was made clear to them.
I have no doubt that by 2016 kite racing will be ready and able to have put on a great show in Rio (if the wind blew consistently). The council basically accepted that they were removing a very big, well established and successful part of their Olympic sailing with one where an RSX girl could take up kiting in June and finish 11th in the World Championship in September.
It makes sense to show the 68% majority if they knew the decision could be made at the AGM.
There is a new or increased respect for kite racers among windsurfers and some RSX sailors who have tried it may continue to race RSX for the next Olympics, but they are going to keep on kiting too.
https://twitter.com/BRYONYSHAW
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=374739879268030