Starboard says that the proposal for a Formula One Design in the Olympics is supported by "The International Windsurfing Association, representative of the Windsurfing Classes".

Our windsurfing association president down here says that we in Australia were not asked about this choice. I've seen nothing on the IWA website or anywhere else asking for the sailors of the world what class we wanted our association to support.

The IWA has therefore publicly allied itself to a FOD bit that contains lines like those below;

"Formula represents the modern planing sport of windsurfing as practiced by most recreational windsurfers all over the World.

What do racers think?
• They want to see planing windsurfing, the windsurfing that most windsurfers do themselves, reflected in the Olympics.
• They want a planing class to make it relevant to all other windsurfing classes.

What do recreational windsurfers think?
• They want to see planing windsurfing in the Olympics, to represent the windsurfing that they do themselves.
• They want to see their windsurfing heroes race at the Olympics and modern windsurfing represented in the media. Over 90% of the boards sold worldwide the last five years have hulls designed only for planing. Formula boards are planing hulls."

This is a very blinkered and probably blatantly dishonest position, as far as I can see. It assumes that all racers want "planing windsurfers"....well, that's true in that even an original Windsurfer, a Div 2 board, a Serenity or an IMCO plane.

It's not true if they see "planing windsurfing" as just meaning shortboards.... unless Starboard and the IWA polled us without telling us, and unless the numbers lie - most regular racers in the world sail longboards or hybrids, as far as I can see from adding up rankings and results from Europe, the USA and Australia.

Now, if this is correct, and the IWA has chosen what class we "want", and then told ISAF what "we" want without asking us, it seems to be very bad form.

So has anyone out there - racers, officials, etc - been asked by the IWA what class they want ?

If not, should we who play a major part in running a major part of competitive windsurfers ask some deep questions of the IWA?

Very interesting. This is from the IWA website I thought it to be also interesting.


Why doesn't the International Raceboard Association do some lobbying?


Where are the figures?

Hey 249 I think your post has started something over at Starboard.
Heres the link -

http://www.star-board.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4359

Oh man oh man oh man, there we go again.

As I was rantin' in some other fora, if we wanted to change the Olympics format, we have to work backwards from whom we're trying to please here.

Let's start with the two reasons people always point out in the fora: "In the Olympics they do not do what we do" ("not representative", etc.). And "not exciting for the average non-windsurfing viewer" ("does not help promote the sport", etc.). Those are 2 different objectives, not to be addressed as one.

Before I get started with the rant, I would add: what is it that we do, in fact, who the hell is "we"?? I think often people talk about planing, but planing in itself is not a skill, it's a state of the board achieved easily with modern gear. As such, it cannot be a goal for the Olympics. Nobody downloads Tubes of people just planing - people watch wave jumping and freestyle and bad falls and crazy stuff.

Are those two reasons given above good enough to fight to change the format of Olympic racing? Not to me, not one bit. But let's say it was, then whom do we want the Olympics to cater for, knowing that we'll never please the entire world.

Is it the racing community (and if so, what class are we trying to accommodate) ? I think if we left it at that, competitive racers would stick to RS:X or Formula type, with simple limited gear. The debate would be simple - they are the pros.

Is it the recreational community? Surely that represents the bulk of the sport, but is that a reason to yield to what recreational planers want? Windsurfers I know that plane would never spend a minute watch other people plane in excitement.

Is it the manufacturers 'coz we think it's good that they can showcase lotsa gear for the Olympics? Surely that would be their angle, fair enough. Is it the manufacturers 'coz we think that would improve the gears for coming years? Perhaps boards would be lighter by 2-3 ounces, although more expensive? Is that what we want? (This is happening anyways.)

Or should we cater to bringing more non-windsurfing viewership to the Olympics, in the hope that more people embrace the sport? That would be most commendable, but then no amount of planing and fancy gear will bring more excitement and viewership, i.e. sailors going port for 2 miles, then starboard for 2 miles. Big deal.

By the way, I have found that non-windsurfers have shown more interest and asked more questions about the Olympics than the "not what we do" crowd. Ironic that by now people I answered to at work are more knowledgeable about racing than the well-equipped recreational crowd at my local spot.

> they want to see their heroes

Sorry, but the heroes people look at in awe on the fancy Tubes are freestylists and jumpers. Perhaps the odd speed record bit. Look at the Tube counts.

I doubt those heroes would embrace the Olympics and racing (or be even good at it if it's not their discipline) just because a faster hull of the moment is chosen.