Broken Glass
Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 06:10AM Former 470 campaigner from the US, and now sailing a 29er, Jen Glass wrote her response to the ISAF Council decision for SailJuice:
"As a young female skiff sailor and the 29erXX Representative on the 29er Executive Board, today's ISAF Council vote brought me great disappointment. Following six years' campaigning in the 470 I gave the 29er a try on a whim in between quadrenniums. I was instantly hooked on skiff sailing and the true athleticism it brings to the sport.
Not long after stepping into the 29er I had the opportunity to try out the 29erXX. It was amazing! A boat where both the skipper and crew needed to be coordinated, acutely aware of their actions, and work together with the boat. And when you get all of these things right, you're generously rewarded with amazing boatspeed.You can't sail the 29erXX without grinning from ear to ear. Now here's a boat I can spend a few quadrenniums in!
The 29erXX is the future of sailing. We want something fast, fun, physically challenging and extreme. But today ISAF chose to keep us in 1963.
Photo: Dave Keane
So I just have one question for the Council. Why put the folks on the Equipment, Events and Women's Committees through the countless hours they put into their research and eventual decision, if you're not going to follow what all three of them recommend?
Lady sailors, let's vote by sailing.
The 29erXX will join the 49er at their World Championship July 12-19th on Lake Garda, Italy. The class is now sponsored by Seiko and the event promises to be amazing. Come and join us!"
Question: What chance of a women's high performance skiff being voted in by ISAF in four years' time?
29erXX, 470, ISAF, Jen Glass, Olympic Sailing 
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Reader Comments (3)
Q: What chance of a women's high performance skiff being voted in by ISAF in four years' time?
A: Nil. Sailing will not be olympic in 2016. When the media statistics for the 2008 olympics are published, look for sailing in the DFL position. The IOC will certainly notice a sport with excessive costs in venues and TV production - taking up athlete places from sports with more media appeal and lower production costs. ISAF depends on media incomes from the Olympics for around 70% of its income - and by the way has never collected 1$ for media rights for ISAF events. Its very distressing to see such abundant ignorance of the need for ISAF to deliver events that attract media.
I am an ex-470 sailor and now coach olympic and junior sailors. This week my sailors were so excited that ISAF were considering the 29erxx as most of them would never even consider sailing a 470. We will now lose a generation of sailors to kitesurfing and other exciting sports. As one of my kids said "these guys at ISAF do not truly represent us or know what we want - or what the public wants" This was a purely political decision - Jen - ask how your US rep voted - but I can assure you that it was FOR the 470 and not the 29erxx. A sad day for the sport of sailing, again.
Maybe it's a good thing if sailing comes out of the olypmics - that way the people who want to do top class campaigns can do so in a 14/ 29erXX or other ace non olympic class and those classes can put on their own world circuit/ championship events. Takes a bit of organisation/ buy-in/ sponsorship - but no reason that the pinacle of dinghy sailing should take place under the ISAF umbrella. If it doesn't want to represent the future - or even the present - let's found something else that will.