Nevin Sayre
Sayre has 20 national and international titles to his name and is a five-time U.S. National Windsurfing Champion.
from www.sail-world.com/UK/Calling-out-to-U.S.-Sailing-to-explain-their-Olympic-vote/97327
Dear U.S. Sailing,
Every class chosen for the Olympics has a pathway from young kid to Olympic champion. As yet, Kitesurf racing has no such pipeline. As an avid kitesurfer, windsurfer, sailor, U.S. Sailing member, and also someone who has been very involved in youth sailing development, I would like U.S. Sailing to explain their actions.
The ISAF General Council voted 19-17 to overrule the recommendation of their own 'experts' on the Events Committee, and include kitesurf course racing in the 2016 Olympic Games. This decision comes at the expense of windsurfing, which is easily one of the two most popular classes at the Games, and has a huge junior pipeline. ISAF's own Events Committee and Windsurfing/kitesurfing Committee, which held an ISAF sponsored equipment evaluation, did not recommend kiteboarding over windsurfing for the 2016 Olympic Games. Why did U.S. Sailing place their 3 votes (more than any other country) in favor of kitesurf racing?
What is U.S. Sailing's plan to safely include kitesurfing into Junior Sailing Programs, the Olympic Youth Development Team, Youth Worlds Team, the Junior Olympic events, and all the pathways that leads to the Olympics? There are over 110 reported kitesurfing deaths in the last 10 years. That should be compared with an excellent safety record in windsurfing's 40 year history. I am personally very lucky not to be on the fatality list, and suffered a head wound with 150 stitches from kitesurfing. And I consider myself a decent kiter, and knowledgeable about the wind. There is no way I would allow my kids to kitesurf. 
In a year when U.S. Sailing has expressed deep concern over the sudden uptick in tragic sailing deaths from Annapolis to San Francisco, what is U.S. Sailing's safety plan here? Is U.S. Sailing aware that insurance companies, citing grave safety concerns, have refused to cover sailing programs which include kitesurfing?
Can you see kitesurfing at your junior program and/or sailing club?
Kitesurfing is evolving, and the very small percentage of kitesurfers who race, are clearly on the cutting edge. I welcome inclusion in the Olympics when the safety, equipment, logistics, and formats are ready. When instructional and competitive programs are developing young kitesurf racers, and safely channeling them toward their Olympic dreams, let's go. We are clearly not there yet for 2016 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile the ISAF vote itself is a sham. The President of the Royal Spanish Federation (RFEV) has issued a formal apology that their ISAF vote was wrongly placed for kitesurfing over windsurfing, and the RFEV supports the process to overturn the vote. The President of the Venezuelan Federation has informed ISAF that their Venezuelan countryman (who voted for kitesurfing) did not represent the judgement of their Federation. The Chairman of the Israeli Federation is quoted in Reuters: 'The delegates were probably confused or didn't understand the motion fully because of language difficulties, or some may have been napping at the presentations and then cast their votes without realizing the implications.' Whatever conditions enabled kitesurfing to prevail in the first round of balloting, there are compelling reasons for the issue to be put to a proper vote.
I'm concerned as a U.S. Sailing menber that USA also doesn't understand the implications. Will U.S. Sailing please publicly explain why they cast their three votes against ISAF's own Events Committee recommendation, and in favor of choosing kitesurfing over windsurfing for 2016?
Maybe he is just not very good at kiting
155 posts on this topic, why dont you guys get over it?
OK windsurfing can be radical and exiting, but how are you ever going to integrate cutting edge windsurfing into the Olypics.
No one wants to see windsurfers racing, its dead.
Bring back the Mistral Competition Superlight, 260 lts,
16kgs sailable in 0 - 30 knots the best ONE DESIGN racing. Race it anywhere anytime.
Sorta agree with you AUS4, but how is that different from the modern WOD which is also 0-30 and half the price ? (and more Aussie contents?)
For me the inherent issue is classifying kite surfing as true sailing. A windsurfer is fundamentally still a sailing vessel. It has a boom, a mast, a down haul, outhaul, centreboard, a fin, a sail with battens and functions in a similar way to modern sailing skiffs. It has a well developed history as a competitive course racing class and will continue to do so. The question is whether kite surfing offers the same contribution to 'sailing' at the olympics and around the world. There is no traditional aspect to it. You blow up the 'sail' and are attached to it like an acrobat. I don't know the details but I cant see any relation to traditional course racing skills either. You arent changing which side the wind is on the sail or aiming for those loose covers on your competitors. Maybe in the future as it develops a more solid historical foundation kitesurfing will emerge as a better option. But for now it lacks the very correlation with traditional sailing that windsurfing still boasts.
mmm.... the last 6 pages are very interesting stuff
Having grown up sailing and following sailing and windsurfing for 35 years and competed at the top level in both those sports; and now having given up those sports to only surf and kitesurf nowadays.....
Well, in my opinion regarding Olympic Sailing:
Kiteboarding should NOT be included (WTF were ISAF thinking)
Windsurfing should be on a modern kind of light wind board with a modern soft sail that would make it a sport that worked in any conditions, and any strong wind racing a real physical test.
I definately think the Olympics is living up to become a 5 ringed circus if it brings kiting into it.
Lots of interesting points here. I'll venture my 2c.
Like Nevin and Hausey (g'day old chap!) I used to race sailboards at the top level and am now a kiter. I share their opinions that kite racing is not yet ready for the Olympics for many of the reasons already listed.
Is the Olympics ready for kiting, and if so, what discipline (freestyle being far more developed than racing at the moment)? Does the Olympics want to compete with the X Games for the adrenaline side of things? The Olympics seems to have some big questions to ask about it's own identity: Is it a commercial enterprise, a TV spectacle, a platform for international community-building, a test of basic athletic skill, a vehicle for thousands of advisers, lobbyists and other cogs-in-the-machine to feather their own nests? All of the above?
Depending on the answer to that question, you'll also get a different answer to the question of what class sailboard to include. I'd rather the tactical intensity of Lechners, and stop trying to please all the people all the time with what looks like a worst-of-both-worlds compromise to me.
As for the idea that kiting is not sailing ... I've sailed boats (competitively), sailboards (professionally) and kites (recreationally) and the "kiting isn't sailing" thing really strikes me as arbitrary. It could as well be twisted around to "sailing involves mast stays so therefore sailboards and lasers aren't sailing craft but kites are because they have stays supporting their inflatable mast." I could also say my kite-sail has an inflatable mast, inflatable battens, and a very compact boom (zero length, 50cm width) that's got a pair of 25m inhaul lines attaching it to the mast and 25m outhaul lines attaching it to the two clews.
Decades ago traditionalist yachties were appalled that small recreational catamarans could whoop their expensive keelboats in some conditions and decried it as "not proper sailing." Now we've had multihulls in the America's cup for some years and somehow the world hasn't fallen apart. Kiting is sailing; get used to it.
That kiting (and most obviously kite-racing) is a form of sailing does not mean it should be in the Olympics though, and I'd prefer that the powers that be reconsidered, at least for a few more years.
got to love wiki :)
A kite is a tethered aircraft. (as quoted in Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, NASA).
so technichally a kite surfer is a wakeboarder pulled along by a tethered aircraft
To clarify my thoughts on kiteboarding (something I've actively done for over 9 yrs and now prefer over sailing or windsurfing)
Kiteboarding:
can be very dangerous
is best done in open areas away from others
doesn't make for a good racing sport
racing results will be decided by equipment and luck
competitions would be better in freestyle
Looking at the video of the kiteboarding race on this post, the riders stance looked completely unnatural and uncomfortable. Olympic games are awarded to cities, and sailing venues could be a distance away, however can you imagine the chaos if it was a sport in Sydney harbour during the Sydney Olympics. How would launching and landing work, offshore winds etc.. It would make the headlines for all the wrong reasons! It isn't a sport that kids can safely learn and practice, or work towards racing in the olympics one day - like a sailing class should
Windsurfing has steadily declined over the last 15+ years. A lot of vested interest in selling new things every year, change for the sake of change. It was a sport that was at its best and most fun when people had the same equipment, the original Windsurfer class days for example.
If there was a modern board and rig that worked in light winds, could be bought new by anyone with a couple of thousand dollars, sailed anywhere by anyone, stayed a constant with no development allowed year after year.... windsurfing might become popular again! I'd get one and go race with my old mate djdojo or the ferrari driving Swedish mullet (who should have an Olympic medal)!
There is a profound differance between Windsurfing and Kitesurfing,
Windsurfing started out on big boards, big sails, easy to learn for all. Then boards got shorter and shorter, you had to spend a year on a clunker to get close to what you realy wanted to do, so it moved away from mainstream.
Kitesurfing started out on dangerous gear, plenty of accidents, deaths etc. Gear got safer and easier to use, to the point where any office geek can learn the sport within days, so totaly mainstream.
So why dont you guys invent some thing new, like draging your gear over 5 Kms of land, with a rifle strapped to your back, you have to shoot your competitor with a paint gun and sail away over the line.
Now that would be good for a laugh at least.
^^^ I 'm ignorant of the bigger historical picture, so thanks for that more extended account. My own experience as a kid sailing VJs and the like was that many senior members of my local clubs took a dim view of hobies (perhaps in line with your point, as they made it easy for idiots to get into trouble, and I concede that kites share this problem) but some even scorned lasers for being "too simple," and this could only be construed as stick-in-mud bigotry. My point in mentioning this was simply that kiting is sailing, regardless of the other issues like safety, fleet sizes etc.
As for having strong clubs, the issues are hotly debated on the kiting pages and we are yet to find anything remotely like consensus regarding the appropriate role of clubs/organisations regarding beach access, insurance, events etc. Especially on the access and safety fronts we kiters face different issues than sailboarders.
Still, the lack of sailboarding clubs as strong as might be good for Olympic lobbying is also a healthy sign that for many sailboarders (and kiters) it's simply about the stoke of getting out in the elements on whatever gear you enjoy.
Happy Sailing!
If I was 20, had an open cheque book and wanted to represent Australia I would choose kiteracing over RSX. You traditionalist have to get with the times. I'm sure your issues can be addressed. The idea of kiting in the Olympics gets me excited and I am supprised other kiters aren't as enthusiastic. It's a great opportunity to develop the sport.
