I kite, I love kiting.
Wouldn't watch kite racing...... Ever! Even if it was during the Olympics.
Surely they could have left things the same -or, how's this for a mad ass idea! Introduced Midget UFC into the Olympics! Now that's got my attention!
ISAF put kites against windsurfing to create a nasty public spat where we damage each other
ISAF will never be accepting of either kites or windsurfing.
ISAF should have proposed kites to be in at the exspense of all classes.
Out of the ten medals on offer there is some doubling up
two mens single handed dingys
two double handed mens classes (skiff, dingy)
two double handed womens classes (skiff, dingy)
I happy for the kites, well done to them.
Windsurfing should also be there.
Windsurfing has the most nations. the laser and RSX are the most competitive classes IMO
The windsurfers look athletic and they have all the fundamental skills that sailing requires. it fits the olympic ideal much better. it more accessible to more nations.
Windsurfing and Kites require a lot of skill just to sail 50m. it takes time to learn it. Anybody and sit down cleat the off and steer. RSX sailors are highly skillful a great test to see whos best.
people go kiting and windsurfing just for fun and we go windsurfing racing. So many people do it. Its a bit part of sailing
I's as shocked as anyone but if we want windsurfing back in, stopping the abuse of ISAF and ignoring the problems they face would be a good start. It's not easy being ISAF and trying to fit all facets of sailing into the available spots. It's a bit like windsurfing - lots of people will complain about what we in the associations do as volunteers but very few of the whingers will actually get off their bums and do something to help.
Lots of cat sailors abused ISAF after they got dumped, and some of the guys who helped get the cats back in said that the abuse simply made their job a LOT harder.
Abusing the volunteers from ISAF is about as productive as abusing a referee or a traffic cop.
Most of the ISAF councillors are keelboat sailors AFAIK and you know what, there are now NO keelboats in the Games although the majority (by far) of racing sailors are keelboaters. If they were a bunch of selfish old farts as some claim, then the Games would be full of keelboats. Maybe the problem is that they are trying so hard to seem kewl because of the shyte they cop!
Mark; "why not cancel one of those boat classes?" Simple - because just about all of them represents a type of sailing that attacts more racers than windsurfing OR kiting! We can't get back in if we just ridicule the choices ISAF make and ignore the reality they face!
The ISAF kitesurfing submission has major issues as far as I can see (some claims are wrong according to available info and some are greatly exaggerated) but if it was some cartoon villian of a one design manufacturer behind the kitesurfing submission then how come they are not talking about it being one design! Come on guys, how can we abuse ISAF for making ill-informed choices if we can't even be bothered to read about what is being proposed for kites!
There's still some discussion about how to react to the dumping of Olympic windsurfing. From some aspects it could be a good thing, if it lets us concentrate on grass-roots sailing. For decades, some boat classes have known that Games selection can be a poisoned chalice, and it didn't seem to help windsurfing in a lot of ways.
But if windsurfing does want to get back into the Games then it may need a lot more help from the sailors. One reason classes like the Star class yacht were so well represented in ISAF decisions was because they were well organised by lots of individuals who put their own time in. Hands up everyone here who is willing to help organise and developing windsurfing!
I'm as narked as anyone. One of the guys currently on the Olympic trail used my gear the first time he ever got on a board, and I was involved in training and running events for several of our recent Youth reps. But we won't get back in without volunteers from within the sport or by insulting ISAF and ignoring the problems they have.
Dam71, about "Windsurfing was always meant to bring excitement to the regatta. It failed, because just like windsurfers do daily, the class was talked up to be this amazing planing class, that would be exciting to watch."
Actually, windsurfing was brought into the Olympics because it was cheap, popular, new and fast growing. When windsurfing was brought in for '84, the choices were between the original Wally, the original Mistral, and the Windglider. All weighed around 21kg and the Windglider, the slowest planer of all, was selected. For '88 to '92 the Olympic board was the 12'9" round-bottomed Lechner.
It could be that it was the obsession about being a cool fast planing class, rather than a simple popular class like the Laser, that killed Olympic windsurfing, because as soon as something newer and faster when planing came along (like kites) windsurfing was going to be vulnerable.
The sport may have been its own biggest problem.
PS DarkHorse, you say " Yachties have tried several times to get a more up to date Keelboat in instead of the Star but to no avail.."
When did that happen????????????
I'm an ex dingy sailor and wind surfer who now kite's. Course racing with kites is stupid and boring, wouldn't watch it and wouldn't do it- ever. Honestly believe windsurfing is better suited to the format and the olympics- however water based (kite)boarder cross with obstacles, now that would be something to see on TV.I feel it would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to say- Ha ha.
This will give Windsurfing a chance to go back and work out what they did right & wrong. This gives them the chance to work out if there is a better class for the olympics.
The same thing happened to the multihull, They are back in with a better more up to date design.
We will see what the future holds.
This is actually how I imagined big fleet kite racing to be (thanks for the vid ikw777). I find it difficult to see how a fleet of 50 kite surfers could come to the top mark in a race at a similar time without half of them getting tied to each other in the water. Time will tell I suppose.
Its not so bad, we still have the beach volley ball! See attached Pic
Everyone knows the Olympics is hoax, the IOC is well regarded as one of the most corrupt organisations in the world.
So when the wind lulls to like 0-5 knts on the course and the kites fall out of the sky, will there be an Olympic jet Ski medal race to rescue for them?
I kite, would never bother with those gigantous monstors of ankle breaking hydrofoils they call courseboards! TV camera crews with Helicopters will add fun to the spectical though!
Like Windsurfing, Kiting is best done with some reasonable wind and its most fun when you keep the technical side low.
Feel so sorry for all the people that have forked out $$$ and lots of hardwork on the special boards and kit, they have been stiched up big time by the IOC.
Most great sports do well without the Olympics propping them up, Surfing, Golf, Tennis and various forms of Football etc
Windsurfing doesnt need the Olympics.
The London event is now going to be massive. Think I'll head to the pub, watch it on the big screen...
I reckon they need to head down this track.
You want an Olympic event to be a competition representative of the kind of windsurfing people do that actually keeps them into the sport.
Have you seen this from 2010? The decision was made a long time ago...
Looks like the yachties admitted windsurfing to the Olympics because they thought it was the new extreme sailing. Maybe they thought it would help their image.
RSX is not extreme enough for them now so they need the latest to show they aren't really dorks...
I sent sooo manny emails about this idea during the last few years, the Olympics was looking to make younger people watch their games..they were willing to bring in surf...or at least they were open...our door was open...niet, nothing..and specially that indoor have already been happenned in London...even just as a demonstration sport. RSX racers are real board head, dedicated...but poor guys and girls..they were under a sailing association...with poor equipement...costing $$$$$$...starboard had a better idea of what windsurfing could be at the Olympics..but NP showed them their RSX and sold them at a rediculous price with rediculous weigth! That wasn't cool!!!
I never liked the RSX but it's standard for sports have Olympic gear that's different from the normal users' gear, and from the fastest possible gear. Instead, they use gear designed to be practical for serious recreational racing, which means something reasonably fast but also restricted enough to be practical.
Look at kayaking; most leisure canoes are like this;
the fastest kayaks are like this;
but the normal racing ones and Olympic ones are like this; 
Look at cycling. This (the Flying Pigeon) is almost certainly the world's most popular bike, but you don't see it in the Games;
Flat bar/hybrids like this
are the most popular bike for leisure use, but you don't seem them in the Games;
You also don't see these at the Games;
What you do see at the Games are bikes like the ones that recreational competitors use every weekend;
. They are heavily restricted to make them slower but more practical and popular.
The problem with slalom is that it's so wind dependent, and it's not actually that popular with windsurfers who race regularly so therefore it's not representative of the competitive sport, and competitive sport is what the Games are about.
And of course there's the whole argument that presenting just the high performance face of windsurfing is actually what made its popularity crash, but that's not something to go into here apart from saying that it is not as simple as saying that having slalom or cross in the Games would have been better for the sport. Tons of kids got into Techno in Europe because it offered them something they could sail all the time.
I reckon Chris 249 pretty much nailed it.
Just want to add that as far as world sport goes, sailing is justifiably seen as both elitist and fragmented. That's right, the sport is "sailing" - not boardsailing, kitesailing, skiff sailing or keelboat sailing. There's a pretty strong argument for just having one sailing class in the course racing format, and the strongest contender for that spot is the Laser.
As for "elitist": we all know the Olympics is big business these days, but we still like to imagine Haile Gebreselassie training barefoot on a bush track in Ethiopia. In theory it can happen. But how many Tornado's or 49ers do you think there are in Ethiopia? Same goes for two-thirds of the nations in the IOC. Anyone can run, anyone can swim, only rich people sail.
So I expect things to be pared back over the next few years. In just the last couple of years keelboats are out, multihulls are out, windsurfers are out. Now kites are in and multis are back in, but I don't expect either of those to last. That leaves us with dinghies, and the point has been amply made on this forum that it's hard to justify four different classes of dinghies.
The analogy with snow sports might be looked at a different way. Snowboarding forced innovation on skiing hence the radical side cut of today's skis and their width and now new rocker / camber designs. Subsequently there has been a drift back to skiing. The technological change brought such gains in ski racing performance that next season the 'box' is being tuned down for the higher speed disciplines.
The age profile of snowboarders has of course changed through time just as it has with WS but KS is a newer demographic and it is perhaps attractive to the Olympics.
My guess is that both sports will boot strap the other and the future is dynamic.
Given the long lead times involved with training etc, a reasonable approach would have been to run both in 2016 or better still to rotate WS and KS every other games.
Correct me if I am wrong, but at the last ISAF worlds in Perth, RS:X (windsurfing) was the most participated by individual countries than any other sailing class. It has also fit into all the tight requirements that ISAF demands including sailing in very light to 30 Knots.
In a lot of the ISAF world cup events they send out RS:X in strong winds when they are not game to send out other classes.
RS:X is a sailing class that truly tests the sailors ability and keeps everyone on a level playing field and it's fun. See photo.
And when the wind drops out on a kite this is what actually does happen, you cant 'plod' back to shore?! Did anyone consider this real problem for light/no winds?
this is one really bad TV Add!
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Kitemare-Amarok-style/
Bjorn makes a good point, kiting is not sailing.
Do kiters ever refer to themselves or their activity as sailors or sailing?
Anyway it will be fun to watch the guys and girls out there on their funny boards and big kites in Rio, at least when the wind drops. Blame it on Rio.
I don't think you guys understand that if the gear changes it doesn't change the results at all. If its one design windsurfing i could name the top twenty with ease regardless of what type of equipment is chosen. Same people in the top twenty from Mistral pretty much became the same top 20 people for RSX in when the class changed over
RSX had the opportunity to change the equipment this year however there has been no great improvements made since the gear was developed and trust me they tried everything from changing through some of the latest sail designs, booms and fins. There was no extra speed or height advantage so no need to change.
As for those of you who say RSX is a non exciting class it was actually ranked second highest at the Perth 2011 ISAF worlds to 49er.
I know quite a few of you never rode the rsx so i am actually finding it hard to understand how you actually rate how the rsx performs and how this performance effects racing.
It's a touch ironic that kite racing gets into the Olympics and the general reaction from kiters is, "That's nice. I hope they have fun. I really don't care.", and the windsurfers are going ballistic about it. I would be quite happy for kiting to forgo the Olympics in favour of windsurfing.
Elite sailing in elite sailing boats is ... elitist (but the boats are cool to watch). I see the mums and dads and kids racing in dinghies and that looks like a heap of fun and very democratic (not sure about the $12m yacht club and the several hundred dollar annual membership fees.
I would not enter a kite race, but I love my kite race board. Blasting up and down the coast at speed in light winds is huuuuge fun. It just gets funner when you add in some waves and stronger wind. I had two excellent sessions last weekend in 10-12 knots and the only other boats on the water were the racing dinghies.
Firstly regarding the whole Kiting is not Sailing comments:
Its elitist bullcrap...
When I first raced boards Windsurfing (or Sailboarding as it was known) was not regarded by the establishment as "sailing" either (even now surf the web for "air rowing"). It took many years of racers showing up at events (and racing mixed dinghy events) before it was accepted into the fold as such.
Windsurfing will not get back Olympic status by knocking Kiting, only by promoting windsurfing will it regain status.
The anarchistic model loved by windsurfers has become its own downfall. We have no lobbying power at all. The reason the Star class remained in the Olympics for so long is because they tore anyone apart who even considered cutting their class. They moved in packs and with great enthusiasm ;-) For a while a few years ago the 49er was on the chopping block just to retain the Star.
The Olympics is not about youth and athleticism, never was, and never will be. The Olympics is about participation and politics. They don't pick events because they are dominated by young people, they just don't care that much. They pick events that have high participation, great appeal, provenance and organisation. They would love to pick a class where a 60 year old can compete with an 18 year old (Star class).
When I checked this morning the Australian Windsurfing Association had 726 members - thats all. That is the entire organised representation here. People like Chris249 and Brett Morris have dedicated countless hours of their time to organising events (multiple classes and racing at every level of the sport) and have received minimal support. In fact I have seen them cop truckloads of ****e even on this forum for their efforts.
In NSW StormRiders organised open slalom events last summer, allowed people to enter an event with any gear, insurance cover provided, even without sail numbers, club membership etc just to give people a go at racing. Less then 5 additional people showed up. One weekend in particular there were 50 people sailing back and forth on their own - yet no-one wanted to race.
Even my local council is more compliant to the requirements of Kiters than Windsurfers, and that's largely because Kiting has bigger organised numbers. They have mandatory insurance (how many recreational sailors have third party injury insurance?). Like it or not this is a major issue for the recognition by Councils - they are petrified by liability.
Windsurfing in the Olympics is all about racing, but the sport of Windsurfing is not about racing. Yes there are dedicated enthusiastic racers out there, but the vast majority of people are happy to sail back and forth. Racing is seen as a minority sport within a minority sport - and that's hardly a compelling argument for inclusion in the Olympics.
Kitesailing and Kite racing are growing sports, they represent new developments in watersport (just as windsurfing did many years ago) so they get a shot at Olympic glory. I hope they take it and wring it for all it is worth.
Its time to get back to grassroots, repackage the product and focus on building organised participation again.
Sorry about the rant,
JB
