MULTIHULLS IN 2016 OLYMPICS! ISAF Request Proposals For Mixed Multihull

[Dave]

From ISAF website (http://www.sailing.org/36988.php):

At the 2011 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting ISAF Council adopted submission M10-11 which confirmed a Two Person Women's Skiff and Two Person Mixed Gender Multihull as Olympic Equipment.

ISAF have released the initial request for proposal of equipment for both evaluations with trials likely to take place at a suitable venue in Southern Europe in early spring 2012. Full details on the venue and dates will be announced nearer the time.

ISAF will invite Member National Authorities to nominate sailors to test sail and report back on the proposed boats and ISAF will also appoint an evaluation group with representations from the relevant ISAF committees

The final decision will be made by ISAF Council at the 2012 ISAF Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

Dr Jason Smithwick, Head of Technical and Offshore at ISAF said, "We look forward to seeing well-developed boat proposals that will not only challenge the best athletes in the world but also be cost effective for our sailors and MNAs.

"Safety and transportability are a crucial part of the selection criteria and it is also important for the proposed equipment to appeal to spectators, media and sailors.

"ISAF will ensure the evaluation and trials process will be thorough and objective with a clear selection plan."

A notice of intent to participate, the application fee and supporting documentation shall be supplied to ISAF no later than 90 days prior to the trials date.

Further information is available in the two request for proposal documents.

See the "Multihull Request for Proposal" document (3 pages) at http://www.sailing.org/36974.php

Dave.

[TornadoSport260]

Interesting requirement that states it must fit in a 20ft container!

So the Tornado is out (imo) and all of the F16/F18's need new rigs courtesy of this and the fact it also states that the boat must have a 2piece mast.

Combined crew weights of 120-140kgs are a bit low, I'd have thought 130-150 would be better.

[dee]

20ft container, do you mean cargo container? if so you can get a bigger hull then 20 foot in that, maybe even 22.

[TornadoSport260]

Yeh a 20ft shipping container. Its more that the masts need to be 2piece to fit in one which makes me believe the Tornado is all but cooked...

[TornadoSport260]

Here is Roland Gaebler's (Tornado president) comments:

We are shocked. We cannot believe it. The ISAF presented the rules for the Mixed-Multihull evaluation trials yesterday, and incredibly, they have excluded the Tornado Class from competing in the trial! The Tornado class is the forerunner in Mixed Multihull Sailing, is an amazing performer, and has a great Olympic History. None of this matters to the ISAF Technical Committees. Their rules for the trials:

20-Foot Container

ISAF restricted the length of the new multihull to be a max of 5.898m (the inner length of an 20 Foot container), but no one will travel with a 20-foot container. Anyone who ships boats around knows that a 20’ box is too small to be economically (or environmentally) friendly for long distance travel when shipping anything bigger than Lasers, and that 20-footers are frequently more expensive to move than 40 footers. If you want eco-friendly, economically efficient transport, the Tornado has been doing it for literally decades (10 Tornados plus coach boat plus all equipment in one container) with 40 footers. Why the unreasonable restriction?

2-Piece Mast Required

A two-piece mast is heavier than a one-piece mast. It’s more complicated and far more expensive to construct. It’s less reliable and more subject to breaking. It’s harder to make it watertight. Over time, the juncture can loosen up and change bend characteristics; you can even change mast bending just by playing with the joint. Two piece masts do only one thing well: Fit in 20-foot containers that won’t be used anyway.

120-140kg Crew Weights

Wow – another class like the 470, windsurfers, and 49ers goes the featherweight route! For 2016, an average man of 80 kg has no chance any more. With the Star and Eliot out for 2016 and the multihull going the waif route, only the thinnest and wiriest of athletes will be able to sail for a gold unless your name is Ainslie.

Many mixed-multihull teams, including some extremely successful ones, weigh well above 140 kg. And the new average weight of a mixed team should be 130kgs? This could disqualify 50% of all mixed sailing teams even with dieting.

What weight statistics ISAF used? If you watch real Olympic Athletes and normal average weight statistics, we end up above 140kgs. The 120-140kg team weights with an average of 130kg forces bulimia for Olympic Athletes. Check this.

National Sailing Federations - MNAs

They lost the Starboat. They lost the Elliots. Now they lose the Tornados, which are ready to sail on all continents today. Let’s ask the MNAs what they think about this. Every 4 years the MNAs have to buy new Olympic sailing equipment? Who should finance this?

Media

ISAF want have a small boat. The media will have less interest in it. Sailors get fewer sponsors because the boats are less impactful. This means: Downsize Olympic Multihull Sailing…so the media won’t pay attention…

ISAF Committees

If you looked carefully inside the technical committees of the ISAF, you see sailors with great commercial interest who create the rules the way it fits perfectly to their boats/products they sell. The Tornado Class is a real non-profit organization, but what about the commercial interests of some sailors on the inside? Is it possible that a few bad apples, with a say in the rules, weren’t happy enough to have kicked the Tornado out of the Olympics four years ago so they kicked it out again – but this time, even before reaching the starting line of the ISAF trials? It might just be.

ISAF must act now!

There is only one way to come out of this dilemma. Change the rules and allow the original “Tornado” to sail the ISAF evaluation trials! E-mail me if you think you can help!

Best regards,

Roland Gaebler, Tornado Class President

www.mixedsailing.org