Generation Gap

Have you ever heard of the story of the boiling frog? To borrow from that font of reliable knowledge, Wikipedia: "The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out." To learn more, click here.

Anyway, sorry, I digress from the main story, that for the second consecutive year ISAF Council has ignored the recommendations of its expert committees and sub-committees and opted - as it invariably does - for the status quo. I suppose any of us that wanted progress should be happy that the 29erXX even made it this far, and the 19:16 vote suggests it is only a matter of time before the women get their high performance doublehander. The trouble is that in the Olympic world, 'a matter of time' is measured out in batches of four years.

The earliest that women will now be able to compete for a medal in a modern high performance skiff is the 2016 Games, which would mean the women got their high performance boat 16 years after the men got theirs, the 49er having first appeared in Sydney 2000. It's a sad indictment of the inherent conservatism and lack of vision of ISAF's top table. Remember that ISAF Council can't even take credit for the 49er's inclusion. That was the then-President of ISAF, the maverick Paul Henderson, who railroaded the 49er past the selection process. Sometimes dictatorship gets better results than democracy.

So who voted 470 and who voted 29erXX? Er, we don't know, because it was a conducted under a secret ballot. And only yesterday Goran Petersson was telling us: "it is the Council who are the true democratic voice of ISAF." And here was me thinking that openness and accountability were the underpinnings of a democratic process.

Apparently the decision to opt for a secret voting process was in response to the venom and vitriol from some rather rabid supporters of the multihull lobby, who published Council members' email and phone numbers on public internet forums and so forth. I have some sympathy with that, as I came in for a bit of hate mail myself, and I was on the multihull sailors' side! So heaven knows what the Council members who voted keelboat instead of multihull were getting through their electronic letter boxes.

But even so, this is politics. You expect mudslinging, and if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. The actions of a few email terrorists are not sufficient reason for Council to go all secret on us. Quite apart from the fact that it ain't democratic, we can't learn much from what happened today either. As the CEO of the 49er class, Marcus Spillane, said to me: "We'd like to know why people voted the way they did so we can talk to them and understand what it was about the 29erXX that wouldn't have worked for them. As it is, we remain in the dark about that, and so it was an opportunity wasted."

Some Council members said they were in favour of the 29erXX in principle, but that 'now' wasn't the right time. Well, when exactly is the right time? There will never be a right time. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and get on with it.

The Council member from Singapore said it would be unfair on the 470 women who competed in the Asian Games two years ago, and that keeping the 470 was the right thing to do because their investment would be protected. Crikey! With logic like that, no longer we still have classes in the Olympics that date back to the Ark. You've got to change some time!

And by the way, those Asian Games that he refers to. How many women's 470s were competing in Doha in December 2006? Four, apparently. Four! Perhaps if the 29erXX had got in, then they could have sold their secondhand 470s to some men's teams instead? D'ya think? Or maybe all four boats were gelcoated in Barbie pink and therefore worthless to a male secondhand market...

Another Council member noted that these were grave times for the global economy and so change would be expensive. Yes, tell that to the girls who are going to have buy a new Elliott 6. Besides which, there is already a good secondhand market of 29er hulls out there in the world. The conversion to a 29erXX is peanuts by Olympic standards. Being a manufacturer one-design, the campaign costs of a 29erXX would be cheaper than a 470, which offers good value sailing but is still subject to hull and rig development costs.

For the second year running we've seen a good week of progressive discussions hit the crash barriers as ISAF Council squashes a real opportunity for change. Every four years the Olympic Regatta falls further and further behind the modern sailing world as the status quo is allowed to remain. How many more Olympic cycles before the IOC dismisses sailing as an outdated irrelevance with no youth or sex appeal?

Of course, I'm exaggerating. We're not in crisis yet. But did you ever hear that story about the boiling frog?

Question: Was this an opportunity missed? Or were ISAF Council right to stick with the tried and tested 470?

Council sticks to the old road

The women's 470 beat the 29erXX 19:16 in the ISAF Council vote. All too predictable that the recommendations of the sub-committees and committees would be rejected, but there we are. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth by young sailors around the world. More later when details emerge.

Seiko backs the 29erXX

Don't know if this was masterful planning on Seiko's part, or just good luck, but the Japanese watch manufacturer's press announcement today that it is to extend its sponsorship of the 49er class to the 29erXX is certainly timely (geddit?). Seeing as no one would have given the 29erXX a cat in hell's chance of Olympic selection a week ago, presumably this was going to happen anyway.

This is what today's press release says: "Seiko and the 49er Class have now agreed to extend the partnership for a further year, up to the end of March 2010. Under the terms of the new agreement, Seiko will have a significant presence at the 49er World Championships in July in Italy and the European Championships in Croatia in August, and will continue its financial and technical support to the Class.

"In addition, in an important expansion of the programme, Seiko will become the sponsor of the 29erXX Class, the increasingly popular sister class to the 49er. As with the 49er Class, Seiko will assist the 29erXX Class Association to develop the sport on a worldwide basis and will support its efforts to achieve the highest levels of international recognition. This new sponsorship will support the promotion of Seiko’s women’s Velatura watch collection, and Seiko will award prizes to the winners of the 29erXX Championships that will take place alongside the 49er Worlds on Lake Garda in July."

The 49er is the only Olympic class to have sponsorship, which says something about the boat's media appeal.

Question: Should media appeal be part of a boat's right to Olympic selection?

Will Council vote for old or new?

"What about the other skiffs?" has been a common question that I've heard in phone conversations, Skype messages and emails since posting yesterday's story. It's a fair question, and one I'll deal with in due course. The 29erXX was just one of a number of boats that put itself up for consideration at ISAF's Evaluation Trials in Hyeres last year, and yet here we have just the 29erXX against the women's 470. Questions need asking about how this came to be, but not now, not in the next 24 hours. Right now, the only question that matters is whether it will be 470 or 29erXX.

Photo: Dave Keane

As an ex-470 sailor I have an affection for the venerable old boat, and wish it could still remain in the Olympic line-up, rather than yield to the half-arsed, ill-thought-out new discipline currently being crow-barred into the 2012 Games, women's match racing.

But given that it's a fight between new skiff and old dinghy, I'd vote for the skiff. The 470 has had its chance to attract hoards of women into Olympic sailing. It's been moderately successful, certainly more so than the Yngling, but it hasn't exactly been a runaway success. The 29erXX has a greater likelihood of attracting young women into top-level competition. For that reason alone, it deserves to succeed.

Will ISAF Council see things the same way? I hope so, but I'm not betting my house on it. In an ISAF press release sent out today, ISAF President Göran PETERSSON (SWE) says the Council provides the final, worldwide perspective on issues. "We must remember it is the Council who are the true democratic voice of ISAF. They represent the Member Nations who combined form the International Sailing Federation, and who individually represent the sailors, clubs, classes and sailing organizations within nations." If only I could share his faith in the 'democratic' process.

The President also paid tribute to the work of all the Committees who have contributed to the debate in Madrid this week. "It would be impossible for one group to incorporate all the expertise that would be needed to review the range of issues within the sailing world. The Committees are crucial to the work of ISAF as they provide an expert forum for issues to be discussed and voted on, with their recommendations bringing a vast range of knowledge to the Council table. I thank them for all their work, both during this Conference and over the past four years," he said.

Not much to disagree with there. Except that last year the Events Committee laid out a strategy which was largely ignored by Council, where too often the thinking by individuals on the Council is self-serving, tactical and short-termist. Please, Council, prove me wrong this time. The sub-committees have made their views known, so please consider their arguments rather than do what you were going to do anyway. Otherwise, what is the point of 400-odd people flying in and staying in expensive hotels for more than a week, when little of the week's discussions comes to anything?

Council, you've been given your lead to do something out of the ordinary, to make a decision that might excite a new generation of female sailors to get on the Olympic campaign trail. To borrow a phrase from another recent vote between old and new: "Yes, you can."

Question: “Yes, they can.” But will they? Where are you putting your money on tomorrow’s vote?

29erXX set to topple the 470?

Will the 29erXX knock the Women’s 470 out of the Olympic line-up for Weymouth 2012? At the ISAF Annual Conference in Madrid, three committees have already voted in favour of the 49er’s baby sister, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the 40 members of ISAF Council will follow suit this Friday.

Remember last year’s controversy when the Events Committee made a set of recommendations that were largely ignored, resulting in the multihull being thrown out of the Olympics. So there are no guarantees.

But it is extraordinary enough that the 29erXX has made it even this far. The Women’s sub-committee voted 7:6 in favour of the 29erXX over the 470, and the Equipment sub-committee voted 11:2. And then the Events Committee recommended the 29erXX in a 9:8 vote.

This is extraordinary stuff, especially bearing in mind that no lobby is present at the ISAF Conference. Even the 29erXX’s designer, Julian Bethwaite, said he was surprised to find his baby twin-trapeze skiff in the running. “When I came here the first objective was to get the 49er back into the Olympics, the 29er into the Youth Worlds, and a third and very distant objective was the 29erXX in the women’s doublehander spot.

“I have misread the mood, but some of the visionaries in ISAF have read the mood, and there is a groundswell,” says Bethwaite, who remains aware that the big vote is yet to come. “I still give us less than a 50/50 chance in Council. If in doubt they will take the conservative route. But when I came here I would have given us no chance of being considered.”

Cory Sertl, one of US Sailing’s representatives on ISAF Council, said: “It’s surprising how strongly the skiff is gaining support. I think people are realising that younger sailors are being drawn to this kind of sailing. I look at what younger people are sailing in the US, we sail a heavier, collegiate version of the 420, which is not that exciting, and they look to the Olympics, and they see the 470 which looks like a bigger version of the 420.”

Fellow American Dina Kowalyshyn, vice chairman of the equipment control subcommittee, was head of the women’s high perfomance skiff trials which took place in Hyeres in April last year. She is delighted to see the skiff getting an unexpected shot at selection.

But why now, when it missed out last year to women’s match racing? “Possibly because the 49er got the best TV coverage from the Olympics, and people realising that this is the future of sport. I know the President of ISAF went to the Youth Worlds in Denmark this summer and marvelled at the boathandling by the girls in the 29er. I think there is a feeling that if they wait until 2016, they’ve missed the boat.”

Kowalyshyn feels it’s time that women get a boat that excites them, and that it’s time to make amends for mistakes made in the past. “We didn’t supply equipment that was right, and instead of giving them an exciting class we gave them the Yngling, a decision that I’m embarrassed to say I was involved in. I think we’ve disenfranchised an entire generation, and we need to make up for that. Women deserve a chance to expand their skills. We’ve mastered the 470, let’s move on.”

QUESTION: Which will be the better boat for Weymouth 2012? 29erXX or 470? Post your comment below...

Olympic Heroes head out to sea

Seven weeks on from the Olympics, and some of those Olympic heroes are setting out on the Volvo Ocean Race. Rodion Luka (pictured below), 49er silver medallist from Athens, had a shocking Olympics in Qingdao, but all that is behind him as he sets out from Alicante as a helmsman for Team Russia. Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez won the silver medal after that controversial 49er Medal Race in windy China. They were skinny boys six weeks ago. Each of them has piled on 10kg extra weight in the past six weeks in readiness for 37,000 miles around the world on Telefonica Blue. From a 30-minute Medal Race, to a nine-month marathon.

Then there is Fernando Echavarri, newly crowned Olympic Champion in the Tornado, and now skipper of Telefonica Black. He is one of four skippers (half of the fleet!) never to have competed in the Volvo Ocean Race before. The others are Ger O'Rourke, the Irish businessman who has put together an 11th hour campaign with Delta Lloyd backing, Andreas Hanakamp of Team Russia and Ian Walker of Green Dragons. 

Hanakamp has been Star crew for Austria at two Olympics, while Ian Walker won Star silver (ahead of Torben Grael's bronze) in Sydney 2000. And Walker's Star crew from Sydney, Mark Covell (pictured), is the media man for Hanakamp on board Team Russia. Poor little Rodion Luka - all 5'7 and 75kg of him - would love to call on the 6'7 man mountain Covell to help him with all that horrible sail stacking that is part of the daily grind on a VO70, but the race rules prevent the media men from doing anything other than their media duties plus a bit of freeze-dried meal making.

With the strength of an Ox and the experience of a silver medal, Covell must rank as the must underused sailor in the fleet, but he claims he will be pouring all his competitive spirit into beating his rival media men to producing the most spectacular coverage from the race. Will this be the race where we finally get the images to match the stories from the Volvo Ocean Race? Let's hope so.

CAS lets Denmark keep 49er Gold

Good news for Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen who still have their 49er gold medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport threw out the appeals by the Italian and Spanish Olympic Committees in Beijing yesterday.

Well done to the CAS for seeing sense and following the precedent laid down by the Jury at the Olympic Regatta, who allowed sport to prevail over legal nitpicking. I have received a request to sign an online petition to get the Sibello brothers the bronze medal that could have been theirs if the Danes had been disqualified. Much as I like the brothers, I won't be supporting the petition, set up by one of their friends. Like many teams that day in the Medal Race, they had a fair shot at a medal but for capsizing before they reached the finish. The matter should rest there. I hope it does.

My marathon journey to try to get back to the UK is now up to 48 hours and I have only reached Hong Kong so far! At least I have now emerged through the other side of the Great Firewall of China. After more than two weeks behind the electronic curtain I can now see my own blog! Nice job, the Stig.

Signing off again until back in Blighty.

Trying to leave Qingdao

It's been a wonderful two weeks in Qingdao. The sailing has often been less than spectacular, but the atmosphere has always been electric.

I went to the British team's 'end of term' party last night, and it was a riotous affair, as you would expect. Nice to see a good chunk of the Aussie team turn up, and a few other sailors besides. Some were drinking to celebrate, others to forget, but there was a great feeling of camaraderie there.

Then to get the plane out of Qingdao, back to London, via Hong Kong. But typhoon warnings in Hong Kong meant no flights there today. Back to the hotel for another night (hopefully just another night). Sailors and teams were packing up containers today, but already the vast Olympic Village has turned into Ghost Town. Never good to hang around too long after the party.

I'll be on the move the next few days, so I won't be posting until next week. That will give me a bit of time to get a bit of distance and perspective on this event, and reflect on a fascinating two weeks of high-intensity competition.

Thanks for all the compliments and messages to SailJuice.

And thanks to the Stig (fans of BBC car show Top Gear will know what I'm talking about) who has been driving the website on my behalf these past two weeks while I've been locked up behind the Great Firewall of China.

Andy Rice