Here's the English version.
[hmtl]www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=windsurfingtour&e=com[/html]
Oh well, good on them for admitting it! I thought it could be a hoax because it's not up on the Spanish official site, but it is up on Sail-World.
What a stuff up!
To be honest, I'm not sure the potential problem with box rule kites have been thought through.
There have been decades of experience to show that an Olympic class is subject to a completely different level of pressure to non Olympic classes, and therefore box rule classes can get incredibly expensive.
The classic case is the GB Europe class mast for the Sydney Olympics, which cost 20,000 pounds (about $35,000 in 2000 dollars!) and that was for ONE mast on an 11' boat that is slower than a Laser and with extremely tight rules. They bought ONE TON of aluminium to carve it into a mandrel for ONE carbon mast, for a class that's slower than complete $6000 (at the time) Laser.
The multi-manufacturer Olympic Finn dinghy is about the same speed as the Laser and costs three times as much, ex tax, as the one-design Laser. The non-Olympic "box rule" Moth is smaller and much faster than a Laser or Finn and costs three times as much as a Laser.
If a rich country with an almost unlimited budget can spend over $35,000 on ONE mast for the slowest boat in the Games, as the UK did, what could it cost to be competitive in kites? I know a guy who spent about $60,000 (inflation adjusted) to tank test the back 4' of his 18 Foot Skiff back in the big-dollar days. The big-boat guys can spend $280,000 on a single sail and even on a buck-per-metre basis that's scary.
The Crawford Report said that each gold medal Australia has won has cost us $15 MILLION in funding, so an extra $100,000 on specially developed kite gear by AIS Austaxpayerkites Ltd would be a drop in the bucket.
And despite what some have claimed, history is clear that competition does not bring down prices in Olympic classes, because one someone spends a fortune on a four year campaign with coaches etc they will not buy cheaper gear; they will buy what they think is best no matter how expensive.
As a guide, before Olympic bicycles were more rigidly controlled, the British Olympic Lotus "Superbikes" cost around $52,800 in today's values (as far as I can calculate it). It seems to have cost about 11 times as much as a normal top-class road bike, and that was for a bike without gears or brakes! The bikes have now been controlled much more heavily because of the silly costs.
The petition is up to 19,500 people in a few days.
They have to listen 
www.change.org/p/isaf-keep-windsurfing-as-olympic-discipline
Even better the email addresses have been added on the home page of that petition.
With the Games coming, do you think IOC can deal with 19,500 emails in a few days? Don't just sign the petition, send an email too.
Now I am hanging out for somebody to post the email address and phone numbers for the back-peddaling Spaniard who reckons he voted wrong or didn't understand what was going on at the ISAF board meeting [}:)][}:)]
So here it is from the horses mouth one of the biggest names in Olympic windsurfing Bruce Kendall, And i agree with him 200%
"Kite racing in the 2016 Olympics?
Some say the RSX was not a good Olympic Windsurfing board & had to go.
Many say both Kite & RSX should be in the Olympics.
Many are also saying Kite should be in the Olympics but not at the expense of Windsurfing.
Most, including the Kiting community are surprised to win the vote for Kite racing to be at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Some of the Kite surfing community have no interest in the new Olympic status & will continue to do freestyle & kite surf the waves.
The kite racing community, kite & board manufactures and NMA's are scrambling to get organised to get up to speed ASAP.
Face book chat has been lively & often passionate.
There has been a lot of misinformation, ignorance and learning about both Kite racing & windsurfing from those trawling through the FB chats.
Many of the windsurfing community feel like a good friend has died or been murdered, some see it as a chance to revitalise one design windsurf racing for the 2020 Olympics.
The FB petition to reinstate RSX to Olympic status for the 2016 Olympics was started on Sunday 6th May and has been collecting 3 people per minute for a week.
What is all the fuss about?
Kite racing is very cutting edge, but represents only a very small fraction of the Kite surfing population.
Kite surfing has a record of being more dangerous than windsurfing & sailing classes, although the Kite racing community claim the dangerous aspect of kite surfing is not a problem in their sport.
The kite racing proposed for the Olympic Games is a similar format to windsurf racing.
Kite racing equipment is likely to be a “box rule” with sailors registering 3 kites & one board for a regatta.
A box rule is close to an open class, often without budget restrictions.
There will be complications of equipment choices and safety issues due to weather condition changes.
Kite launching & landing & may often need to be made with help from support boats.
Windsurf racing at the Olympic games has always been one design which has been encouraged by ISAF & sailed in a similar format to yacht races.
One design sailing classes like all the other Olympic sailing classes, Bic Techno 295 & the RSX attract the most serious sail racing people as they are more sure that their competitors don't have too much of an equipment or check book advantage. The skills of the sailor are the dominating factor for the result.
The Bic Techno 295 one-design class has been the feeder class for the RSX & currently has more entries at its world championships than the Optimist World Championships.
The Bic Techno 295 is a very well organised global one-design class & should remain so if the RSX goes. Olympic Windsurf racing on the RSX is not the only end of the road for the Bic Techno sailors. They learn water skills for many sports including wave sailing in surf, freestyle tricks & will be well placed if windsurfing gets back in for 2016 or 2020. It is also a safe way to learn racing skills for kites.
Before the RSX, the Olympic windsurfing class was the Mistral One design. Men, women & youth sailed the same equipment & it was the least expensive, most sea worthy & one of the fastest of all the Olympic sailing classes. More than 10 years of careful development had improved tolerances & durability without changing the performance or cost of the equipment. There was a good supply around the planet & a good resale market. It had become the laser of the windsurfing world. But some windsurfers were not happy with IMCO being the Olympic class as they thought Olympic windsurfers should be going faster.
Mike Gebhart was very influential in the change from the Mistral One Design to the RSX & the RSX design concept.
The RSX equipment has drawn criticism due to significantly increased costs compared to the IMCO, it is heavier than most would like & the equipment is not as reliable as some would like.
During ISAF run evaluation process for choosing which equipment for the 2008 Olympics, the RSX was chosen at a racing hull weight of 14 kilos. The RSX racing hull weight in the class rules is over 18 kilos.
This is heavier than the first Olympic windsurfing board the Windglider.
In less than 5 knots, the Windglider with its' 6.5 meter squared sail & the RSX's 9.8 square meter sail is faster.
In plaining conditions the RSX will be the fastest Olympic sailing class in 2012.
The higher speeds and the more reliance on the performance of the fin meant that small differences in shape, produced a significant difference in performance & so many have had to go through a number of fins & mast & sail combinations to get to a more level playing field.
The RSX class has become the second largest Olympic sailing class to the laser & has biggest wind range for the 2012 Olympics.
The RSX sailors are the fittest sailing athletes ever, with incredible power to body weigh ratios. True Olympic athletes.
The over-whelming majority of the RSX sailors & coaches support the RSX class to be the 2016 Olympic Equipment.
Now Mike Gebhart is joined by other ex Olympic Windsurfers with the kite racing community and “bang for your buck” is leading us to the "cutting edge of sailing." Kite racing is likely to be the most dynamic sailing sport in the Olympics.
It could also be the most expensive Olympic sailing class.
Kite surf racing leaders are currently strongly recommending that kite racing equipment remains a box rule. There dose not appear to be any cost restricting rules on equipment apart from the number of kites & boards one may register for an event.
The best kite racing fin is triple the price of an RSX fin. Then imagine [money no object] super thin & light fully non-stretch kite lines, super light boards you can throw away after a regatta, different boards for different conditions [according to the forecast for the week], super light kites with money no object fabric, possibly a solid inflatable wing kite.
The guys riding with gear like this will love it - as it would be a huge advantage, but not everyone will be able to buy it.
The majority of the MNA's voted for the RSX.
Those NMA's that voted for kite because they didn't have a sailor in the top 25, but thought they would have a better chance with kite, may be disappointed, unless they are very well organised & funded.
Apart from Mr. Predleri from Italy, the Executive Members votes & the woman's vote appear they may be voting only for their own nations self interests, as their countries do not have strong medal chances in the RSX at the 2012 Olympics. This could be construed to mean that they are not voting for the good of the sport or the majority of sailors & developing nations around the world who's best interests they should be protecting. Especially considering the likely expense of the Kite equipment needed to get near the top sailors & the financial cost of the investment lost in RSX equipment all over the world.
One could conclude the Executive committee think it is ok if kite racing will be just a few sailors [who can afford the best gear]. If it attracts TV, the financial loss and ruined dreams for the thousands of kids, parents, professional sailors, coaches, NMA's & Neil Pryde is a sad but necessary cost for the battle to keep sailing in the Olympics.
What about including both RSX & Kite racing at the Olympic Games?
The IOC will not allow extra athelets for the Yachting event & ISAF do not want to reduce the numbers in the other classes to make room for an extra event as this may reduce the number of nations in the sailing event & weaken the sports marketability.
Regardless of the executive committee vote, the lack of promotion made by the RSX class & the powerful promotion the Kite racing team made, the voting was very close between the two sports.
If Spain had not made the alleged mistake and voted RSX instead of Kite as they said in their public apology, the RSX would currently be the Olympic equipment for 2016.
The kite racing sailors for the 2016 Olympics will come from kite racing, windsurfing & other sailing classes. It will be interesting to see which athletes come out on top.
My bet is the ex RSX sailors will dominate kite racing in the 2016 Olympics.
There is no question in my mind that Kite racing will step up a number of levels in performance by the time they get to 2016 & will be a pin up event for sailing.
The performance of the Kite racers in some wind conditions may rival the Americas Cup 45's. I doubt will match the AC 72 foot versions around a course in most conditions. How ever, with all the amazing speeds, even the Americas Cup has struggled to sell TV rights. Many AC teams have had to drop out after the format shifted from one design to a box rule as the expense of the design & build of larger boats was too high.
One of the main reasons the Americas Cup could not sell TV rights was because they could not guarantee they could start on time due to light or strong winds.
While Kite Racers may boast of high performance in light & strong winds & that they don't have to pump, the RSX can race efficiently & fairly in 1 to well over 30 knots. [As long as there are not large unpredictable wind direction changes.]
Pumping races are still visually interesting to watch.
Many will argue this is not enjoyable – and for most this is correct, but there are those who enjoy the physical challenge – just as triathalletes or rowers do. Walking races or the tour de France up hill sections are still good TV viewing for the various techniques, tactics & close up shots of the pain & effort & the relief & joy on the faces of the winners. Some thing many relate to.
On the 5thof May Kite surf racing replaced windsurfing for the 2016 Olympics.
The Windsurfing community dates back to before 1975 and are trying every avenue possible to be reinstated for 2016 Olympic games.
If they can get a 75% majority vote over kite racing in the ISAF November meeting, the RSX would be reinstated for the 2016 Olympics.
If the RSX class is not reinstated for the 2016 Olympics, the windsurfing community will be trying for 2020 Olympic Games status.
In November we will be certain if we will see Kite racing or RSX at the 2016 Olympics. Either way, it will be a great show."
Bruce and Barbara Kendal
Two of the best
Barbara is coaching Jessica crisp for this years Olympic games. Australia and new Zealand going for glory together.
Go girls
Hate to say this but id rather sail a kite than a rsx but id rather formula over either of them ( i guess they cant count on the wind for slalom ).
Have you seen the other boats they sail most of them look like there from 1950 can some one tell me whats good about a fin that would make any one want to own one ?
Well, if age is what matters, does that mean that you prefer One Direction to the Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, Nirvana or whoever?
Most sports gear is old. The Tour de France or Olympic track bikes are restricted to a basic design that dates back to around 1895. The rowing eights are restricted to a design of similar age. It's like in golf - there are rules that prevent anyone from designing a golf ball that goes further, so that everyone from the club hacker to Tiger can use the same gear and feel the same challenge, and no one has to redesign courses as gear changes, etc.
In those sports and almost all others, no one bothers to create new gear that doesn't fit into rules that restrict its performance....they would think that sailors are odd because they see that the challenge lies in the athlete performing better, not in the athlete buying faster gear from a shop.
I'm no Finn sailor, but plenty of very, very smart people who are brilliant sailors say that they offer brilliant tactical racing in a boat that demands a huge amount of tuning knowledge.
I do sail Lasers which are slightly slower, and I find them fantastic. Sure, they are slow, but who cares? If pure speed was all that was fun then who would sail slalom instead of speed kiting, indeed who would sail at all? My family won Bridge to Bridge waterski races in our class and getting dragged flat stick over flat water behind a worked V8 can be boring as batcrap.
As the guy who owned, created and sailed what was until recently the world's fastest small boat says, there seems to be something about the way that medium-speed boats like Finns, Stars, Etchells and Lasers fit into the wind shift, gust and lull structure that makes them particularly challenging for most people in terms of tactics and tuning.
For example, sailing a slalom board would don't have to respond to the waves in the same way as when you are sailing a Laser upwind. At 25+ knots on a slalom board, you are crossing each wave in a fraction of a second and don't have time to react; nor do you have to change the rig in the same way as the apparent wind angles and strength don't change as quickly, and the rig does most of the work automatically.
In contrast, in a Laser you are often going slowly and must react differently, and there is a fascinating and intricate series of moves with every part of the body above the waist for every wave. As you go up the wave you steer up with the tiller and a slight leeward roll and sheet in with the mainsheet and roll your upper body aft. As you reach the crest you roll the upper body forward to push the bow down, ease the mainsheet out, roll to windward, and bear away, all in a second or two; then you start the sequence again. If you get one wave wrong out of the hundreds you will face and lose 1.5 metres, you may lose an entire championship because the racing is incredibly close.
You do that for every wave in a beat a lot of the time, while keeping your head swivelling because the fact that the boat is slow means that your opposition is close, there are lots of them, and the fact that you can tack do quickly means that a 10 second puff brings with it a whole host of questions; do you tack to take this 5 degree lift over to that bunch, do you hold this tack to stay in contact with that bunch while keeping to the right of the next bunch to get the tide, or do you split the difference because the wind is slowly going north and the tide is weakening and Bob is behind you and faster downwind and he's just 2 points behind..... It's not the sort of racing where you can largely concentrate on simply going fast while hitting the laylines.
Because lots of people are going pretty much as fast as the best guys, the racing is very tactical, lots of people can get encouraged and the fleets are huge - 47 at our club alone, and there are over a dozen other fleets just in Sydney. There are 1500 spots in the various divisions at the worlds, and yet sailors under 35 (and even many of the Masters) have to earn a qualifying spot by being in the top 5 or so out of the 100+ in your district, and that can take years of full-time sailing to achieve... it's very different from classes where you just sail once or twice a week and roll up to the 65-competitor worlds.
The boats are slow largely because the boats are designed so that everyone can sail them. And the boats are slow because they are convenient to own; as boats go they are simple to rig, cheap to run, less hassle to own. They are designed to be convenient rather than fast, so you get lots of sailors and lots of good racing.
The Finn has different but similar attractions.
In flat-water windsurfing, many people have been saying for years that it's all about the speed - and that's left the sport deep in a hole now that kites have come along and gone faster.
Oh, and of course for most of any typical day in most places, a Laser or Finn would actually be one hell of a lot quicker than a short board, because the short board is normally on the beach or off the plane because the wind is too light, or struggling to sail in the sort of narrow and fluky places many dinghies sail in. So the board is only quicker some of the time, and then if it's maximum speed that we are talking about, then kiteboards and speed boards rule.
Slalom is great (I did a lot of it at a pretty high level at times) but the other forms of sailing are just as great in different ways. If they weren't, people wouldn't do them.
i am not sure if you guys are aware or not but there is slalom in the RSX racing at current
I am curious however a lot of people seem to have a go at the RSX and how it is such a bad rig but how many of you have actually had a go at sailing one
Perhaps the WS community should focus on getting the best coverage of this years games. Not sure how much WS we will get on TV? Need quality commentary to engage the general public with what the sport has to offer. Reporting in the print press with photography of the Aus and NZ teams. Don't remember seeing much WS coverage in previous games; needs visibility and not buried in the programing.
snipped - go and read Chris's post, it's all good stuff
Latest news yet another country announcing to the public that it disagrees with the way there representitive voted this time its Venezuela. I am starting to wonder what really happened at the isaf meeting, the following is the article about the public announcement
www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=windsurfingtour&e=com
I know it's not constructive to have a bit of a dig at ISAF but I couldn't resist.
What do ya reckon, I think this must be the official ISAF voting process.
Seems pretty accurate really. Kitesurfing - the all dancing, singing bear. See below
from the Women's rep on the ISAF committee:
Mrs. Fiona Kidd letter - This is Part 2 of the Mid Year Meeting Summary and the most controversial one so far, the RSX and/or Kiteboarding decision. It is important to understand how the meeting and voting unfolded on this issue.
As you have all been aware, kiteboarding has been pushing pretty hard for several years now to become an Olympic event, which ultimately cumulated in the Format Evaluation Trials that were held in March in Santander, Spain. The result of that trial was extremely positive and proved to be very successful. There were no real negatives highlighted in the report. Safety has been an issue, but it was reported that safety systems have improved should continue to be developed by the classes and the industry. It was basically a glowing report.
However, in order to put all of this into context, it is important to understand the dynamics of the Council Meeting as it is not just simply everyone sitting around the table and just voting. There are many forces at play. Hopefully I can paint the picture.
Upon tabling the Evaluation Report at Council, the President was asked to go to the IOC to ask for 2 more medals as it was clear that the Kiteboarding and Windsurfing did not want to put one up against the other. In my view, the President should have accepted this challenge as he is an IOC member and currently has some influence. This would have meant that the decision would be deferred until November and that we would all have more information in our hands in order to make a decision. I was certainly in support of this strategy. However, the President did not support this initiative as he felt that he would probably not be successful, and that it would mean the remaining events would be diluted in numbers as sailing only has 380 athletes. At this point in the meeting, it was then suddenly declared that we had to make a decision on one or the other.
Due to the fact that we had to make a decision between the RSX or kiteboarding, the debate became very dynamic and changed considerably in terms of its focus. Almost everyone spoke on the issue. The discussion was more of a debate about the future vision of the sport of sailing, not about the RSX. It was strongly articulated that this was the time for ISAF to lead the sport and not to follow. It was about the opportunity in front of us to inspire a whole new generation of people into the sport from all across the globe and to showcase the sport in Rio and not to wait until 2020. As the Kiteboarding Evaluation report stated “ with a total number of kiteboarders world wide estimated at 1.5 million persons,..... the emerging nations have kiteboarding on almost every beach and it has the capacity to bring more new people into the sport of sailing than all other Olympic classes together”. Many members of Council argued that we(as in the sport) were at a critical crossroads and that it was the time for ISAF to lead the sport and to work with Kiteboarding early in its development to become an Olympic sport, rather than try and catch up with them in 4 to 8+ years time and see the opportunity pass by. This was very much a strategic decision that was viewed to be in the best interest of the future of the sport.
The regions that spoke passionately about the change were IRL, USA, AUS, FIN, SWE, and RSA, etc – a mixture of small and large sailing nations. This group felt that introducing the event in 2020 was just too far away. This group that voted for Kiteboarding represents approximately 78 MNA's within their groupings.
Those nations that spoke for windsurfing were currently strong in the event, FRA, POL NZ, GRE, BRA, etc all supported it for 2016. So as you can see it was very split. This group that voted for the windsurfer represents about 59 MNA's.
That does not include 5 out of the 7 voting VP's who supported Kiteboarding. It also includes the Chair of the Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee voting for Kiteboarding. King Constantine, an IOC member, also strongly voiced his support for Kiteboarding.
Personally, I was very torn. It became clear that this was never going to be a Windsurfing and Kiteboarding decision. I supported the RSX in the Events Committee and then based on the arguments at Council and how the situation unfolded and how voting took place, I changed my vote to Kiteboarding.
Rightly or wrongly, the reason for my vote for Kiteboarding was to seize the opportunity to bring new women to the sport of sailing, and for those members of ISAF that have limited access to the Olympics in our sport today due to cost and accessibility, to have an opportunity to become engaged. Council had made the decision earlier in the meeting to accept equipment that was for 2 new elite sailing events, the Women's Skiff and Mixed Mulithull, which in reality shut the door on the emerging nations,. As a result, the discussion around the Council table moved towards introducing an event that has huge media and youthful appeal and that could inspire a whole new generation to our sport from around the globe.
I apologize to all of you if I have not represented the best interests of women in sailing. I am certainly willing to change my vote in support of the RSX for the November Meeting if that is the will of the Women's Forum.
Kind Regards,
Fiona
Fiona said .... "Upon tabling the Evaluation Report at Council, the President was asked to go to the IOC to ask for 2 more medals as it was clear that the Kiteboarding and Windsurfing did not want to put one up against the other. In my view, the President should have accepted this challenge as he is an IOC member and currently has some influence. This would have meant that the decision would be deferred until November and that we would all have more information in our hands in order to make a decision. I was certainly in support of this strategy. However, the President did not support this initiative as he felt that he would probably not be successful, and that it would mean the remaining events would be diluted in numbers as sailing only has 380 athletes. At this point in the meeting, it was then suddenly declared that we had to make a decision on one or the other. "
This angers me. The ISAF president (one person) thought that if they asked the IOC to add a discipline they'd say no. So they didn't try. Fair enough, maybe they had the inside word that asking was fruitless.
But then that one person decided to make it kiting v windsurfing. Why not ask the whole board "which of the 9 classes will we remove?" Maybe everyone would have voted for Moths or 49'ers or who knows what.
I think Fiona is to be congratulated for saying she'd reconsider if it is felt that she has not represented women's interests
Its not the IOC - it hasn't reached that point yet. It is ISAF and yes the windsurfing women are now and have been lobbying Fiona - hence her letter. The kite race worlds had only 11 women last year compared to 80 at the RSX worlds - she only had to check this out.
It is not that kites want it more - it is that windsurfing had no opportunity to present itself at the meeting being an already standing class. The kites had snazzy videos etc. THe RSX class association was also told that no decision would be made until November. The day before the equipment committee voted for windsurfing 15-2. The final committee was ambushed
THe ISAF committee are all political animals - that is the problem. The spanish voting 'mistake' was dubious.
No tactics here , just drag racing. Forget Port Hand Starts.
I don't know how dumb this is, so bear with me.
Everyone seems to bag the RS:X, and I s'pose it is a bit dated and heavy. However, I'm from a dinghy sailing background, and though I did sail moths very successfully, I went back to 1 designs simply because the racing is better and I didn't have the fat wallet either. So I'm for 1 designs of some sort being the Olympic class. Also, my personal preference is for course racing.
So, what about the Techno 293? We've already heard that it has the largest fleets of 1 design windsurfers worldwide, and it's definitely more modern and lighter (12.5Kg) than the RS:X (15.5Kg). Its volume (205l) is a little less than the RS:X (220l), but still enough for real heavyweights (my "Nimitz" class board is 205l and I'm a real heavyweight). At the moment there are 2 rigs for it (6.8 and 7.8) but more could be added if necessary - say, 8.8 and/or 9.8. Here you have a windsurfing class with some of the appeal of the Laser dinghy class. With just a rig change you have a youths', a women's and an open class.
I know the 293 is aimed specifically at youth now, but I see no reason at all why it wouldn't be suitable for any ages. I don't have any clue as to how it performs compared to the RS:X, but my guess is that it'd be comparable (given comparable rig sizes), if not slightly better given that it's of more modern design and lighter.
For those who want to see more "development" latitude in the Olympic class, why not allow sails from other manufacturers? Or specify an area limit and otherwise allow open slather on the rig. Or as I would prefer, some fairly strict limitations on various parameters of the rig, but still allowing some space for innovation.
Any'ow, there's my 2c worth. How does that sound?
The headline in our local paper made me laugh. Must have been a slow news week.
Quote
"Windsurfing dropped in 2016 for more spectacular sport".
I lol'ded in the newsagents.
It just shows that newspapers don't know what they're talking about to call that a sport.
