cammd said...

Makes you wonder what ISAF were thinking when you look at the big picture.

Based on that CNN video they were probably thinking about the friendly kitesurfing girl and whats for lunch.

I have windsurfed for nearly 30 years. I do not kite.

To "me" the windsurfing in the olympics is irrelevant. I have no objections to kites being in it instead, as the rsx is only of interest to 1-2 % of the windsurfing world.
I do feel the loss for those striving for the olympic dream and the many people that were involved that now have no alternatives, and the feeder classes like the bic techno crowd that hopefully will stay relevant to those that do like this dicipline.
I hope the guys that like the rsx can keep the manufactures intersted as they seem to have a good fleet when they do race. And while I will never do it, i respect the talents of those that do - the top guys are true althetes and the weekenders are probably better long board sailors than I am anyway.

The loss of windsurfing from the olympics will not affect the image, promotion of, or future attraction of participants to the sport of windsurfing. Let's face it the wave guys are not going to take up rsx, the gps crowd are too focused on speed, the formula guys like what they do and while the grooveriders keep doing the back and forth, there is very little cross over of sailors doing one or more discilines seriously,and not many that will take up rsx any more than have done so already.
The sport has many faces and not everyone is attracted to the same thing and that's fine.

Windsurfing was the "it" sport in the 80's and at its peak for sponsors and tv coverage in the early 90's. But that ship has sailed and isn't coming back, but I take objections to those that think windsurfing was best back then. Windsurfing has never been better than today. The gear is cheaper, plentiful and brilliant to use. The ease with which we can have fun and the windrange of one set of gear is excellent compared to the "Glory" days.
We have to take any coverage we can get now-a-days but the olympics isn't going to change our image whether we are in it or not.

I hate kitesurfers as a group (not the people as such personally) because of the attitude of many and the damage (read beach restrictions now placed on all users) to the spots I have sailed for years and years, as a result of kiters' actions.

But if they are in the olympics then good on them. I think that kite racing looks just as good as windsurfing slalom racing and course racing and will improve.

The world champ in the CNN piece was all very diplomatic and one of the most well rounded of the kiters to be interviewed I have seen so far. The interviewer even seemed to know what she was talking about for a change and made a good piece for the kite side of the arguement. Nevermind the old biddies club the Isaf is! Tea and scones anyone?, perhaps a sherry later?

BUT, I see many problems as it is, that has already been discussed such as cost (3 expensive fins per board, then sets for different boards/conditions currently) , water access, and wind limits.
It could and will improve but will need all the restrictions that windsurfing had on it for it to be an inexpesive option for the "developing countries" to be equal in as stated elsewhere. For the cool image they want they should have chosen the freestlye side like the snowboard x-cross and half pipe that gets all the snow "buzz".

The BIG travesty I believe is the submission to the IOC/ISAf submitted by the Kiters as it so full of holes it should smell like swiss cheese if not BS.

For a start the "developing countries have kiters on nearly every beach" statement is bull**it. It should read -The developing countries have many foriegn cashed up "generaly white" kite tourists visit a few popular beaches.
Every photo used in the submission was of a world cup event of shipped in competitors on deserted beaches for a contest - of which 10 kites in the air make it look like hundreds, as we know from Mr and Mrs general publics usual comments at your local. How many locals can one expect in Namibia?

The growth of the sport into the future is well inflated, as those in the industry already suggest a plateau has been reached. Kiting is easier for travel, but can be just as expensive as windsurfing with the constant refinement and development. I just don't know how many Namibians, etc can afford to kite.

The colour of the kites was a factor for TV, but it is possible to make all the sailing classes tv friendly with a bit of thinking, a jet ski and a few cameras. I don't sail but the skiffs look good on tv. I remember watching the Americas' cup on TV in the 80s when camera technology sucked and it was good.
The last rsx race photos I saw looked colourful to me with 50 odd yellow sails on the start line.

The basic premise for the submission was baloney and could have had windsurfing substituted for kitesurfing and it would have made the same amount of sense. The basis of their arguement is the bit that provokes the WTF questions.
I recommend everyone read the submission if they can be bothered.

Personaly I am not sure what all the fuss is about except for those actually involved in rsx. I say good luck to the kiters as they find out how hard it is to get everything together to make a success of a "sailing" race class.

Jungo said... I take objections to those that think windsurfing was best back then. Windsurfing has never been better than today. The gear is cheaper, plentiful and brilliant to use. The ease with which we can have fun and the windrange of one set of gear is excellent compared to the "Glory" days.

Slightly off topic, but with respect I think you may be coming from a very WA perspective there. On the east coast, and most places in the world, an old style piece of gear may have had a wider wind range than modern gear. The wind range of old gear was often 2-22 knots or so or more, and it could handle the big lulls of the lakes, inlets and rivers that are most people's closest sailing waters.

To have fun today on modern gear in Sydney, for example, can mean having free time on the few afternoons when it's breezy, and then driving through heavy traffic a lot of the time (Saturday traffic is often worth then weekday peak) for an hour or so, then going for a sail for one hour before packing up and driving home and not sailing for a week or two because of the time involved. That's not easy for those who have busy lives with other things scheduled in.

To bring it back on topic - if the sport didn't have such a (IMHO) Narrow view of what it could be about, we'd be so much stronger than we would not have lost our Olympic spot. But we staked it all on being faster/more extreme/better in planing winds on open water, so as soon as kiting came along and did better in those limited areas we were in trouble.

Windsurfing has a range of disciplines/areas/activities/winds that kiting will never be able to match, but we threw that away for a narrow range of the sport that is only popular in windy places like WA, and that narrow focus cost us the Games IMHO

www.sail-world.com/NZ/Gladwells-Line:-Further-retributions-follow-2016-Olympic-Events-vote/98743

Good spot Brett. 1 female, 4 males. What a load of BS!

Any reply from Australian Yachting why they voted kite boarding?
also they sent some reps to the kite boarding nationals i would like to see the reports.