2024 RS:X

What the?

It looks to me like Branson has paid NP to develop a windsurf rig that can convert to a kite rig and leave the back door open for kites to compete at the Olympics.

....and the sport will continue to disappear......

The facts are pretty clear. The sports that are strong are the ones where the rules mean that the gear is simple, comparatively cheap, accessible, popular and affordable. Foiling windsurfers don't tick any box.

The facts are also clear and spelled out in the IOC's own Olympics rating figures. The sports that rate on TV have simple, comparatively cheap, accessible, popular and affordable kit. The facts are simple - faster gears does not create higher ratings.

Sometimes in modern sailing it's as if we stepped back 2000 years, before things like evidence, facts and reality predominated. When the facts are clear how in the world can Pryde come up with something that goes so completely against those facts?

I agree with Chris. Are the Olympics only about television appeal? Is it really about going as fast as possible? How are people from less advantaged nations supposed to compete in this class?
I would think that the primary criteria for a successful class for the Olympics is one that offers close racing which is accessible by and inclusive of as many of the world's people as possible. After all, the Olympics is a meeting of Nations and a chance for all to shine on the world stage. Why would we want to narrow that down to an exclusive subset?

I also think that continuity from one Olympiad to the next is greatly under-rated.

What has me a little puzzled is the size of the sails. The Horue guys seem to favour wavesails. I assume this is for ease of control and a 7 or 8 metre race sail could present a bit of a challenge.

Looks like Horue already has a similar product http://www.horue.fr/windfoil2/combo-tiny-200-vini

The board looks ideal for foiling but I don't see myself using it for windsurfing. Maybe as a chop hop board depending on how wide it is and how it feels.

There's no need to resort to disparagement to make your case Jonesy, it's perfectly valid without.

But the foilers haven't helped sailing. The last AC attracted the smallest number of competitors since the 1930s. The crowds and ratings were so far down on the predictions that San Francisco basically wouldn't have the AC back in town - and that was with one of the world's richest men throwing gazillions at buying TV time, amazing graphics, etc. The evidence seems to be that the overall interest in sailing has really dived the last two years.

The semi-foiling Olympic cat has attracted so few sailors that one year they did not build a single new boat - not one. The much-vaunted GC32 foiling cat series has just 8 entrants despite a massive spend by a millionaire backer. The last two times the foiling Moth class puts its annual meeting report on the web they reported "stagnant" membership despite a $2 million loss by a class builder who went bust promoting foiling. Meanwhile, some new boats (and some old boats) that are cheaper and simpler are going gangbusters and selling much faster than the foilers.

Foiling is great fun, but the issue is that giving too much promotion to an extreme view of a sport does not help. The two major market surveys of the sport said that people do not think it's boring, they think it's inaccessible, expensive, and elitist. Spending too much time promoting foilers just makes it seem even less accessible.

The "high end action sports" that are growing are ones where the gear costs a few grand, not about $28k (if I recall correctly) at a minimum for a Moth plus regular big chunks to upgrade kit, or $55k (for a one design foiling cat). Effectively people are being told "sailing is like this, and you can't afford it to buy this stuff and you can't go and sail on someone else's gear because there are no boats like this around", which is not an enticing idea.

Lots of people talk about the growth in "high end action sports" but a lot of it seems to be an illusion. Slow-paced sports like SUPping, bobbing around on plastic kayaks and sea kayaking are major growth areas, and they are not "high end action sports". What they are is modern sports that use new tech and ideas to make the sport simpler and easier in a time-short world. Look at a sport like road cycling which is growing like crazy, partly because even the top-line Tour de France road bikes can be used by just about anyone.

As guys like Robby and Svein are saying, windsurfing messed it up by just pushing the extreme side years ago, so why stand back when sailing goes down the same blind alley?

None of this means that foiling isn't fun - it is. I love fairly extreme gear and a lot of my own gear (like one of my racing dinghies and my racing cat) is much more extreme than the typical boat, just like some of my bikes are. But the fact that some of us love extreme gear doesn't mean that it's the best way to market a sport.

About getting publicity - it's dead easy to find out which Olympic sports rated best on TV. The figures have been released by the IOC's Olympic Programme Commission. The figures show clearly that "spectacular" sports don't rate as well as "accessible' sports. Whitewater canoes rate much lower than flat-water canoe racing. Mountain bikes and BMX rate much lower than road and track cycling. "Extreme" sailing including 49er skiffs and Tornado cats rates lower than flat-water rowing in a straight line. Little girls doing gymnastics, people swimming at about 6 kmh and people running are what gets the ratings and the participants, not people bouncing down rapids or mountainsides or over waves at 25 knots. Them's the facts.

Comments on living with the foil on a daily basis:

Elegant design: foil for medium wind speeds, fin for higher, sail or kite.

Cost: foil about the same as a race sail? But need fewer sails.

Ease of sailing: highly athletic to sail. Tacking and gybing on the plane?

Shallow water: probably no.

Ease to launch and retrieve: a real arm full

Beach starts: don’t see how.

Steering on water for up-haul or water start: unknown

Will the foil fit into the boot of my (large) car: no

Given the above, were I a young gun sailor would I want one: yes

Or Starboards new compact raceboard

^^^
Jock,

Good to hear from someone involved like yourself! All the best with the Finn if that is what you decide to do? Now they have been around for a very long time !
There couldn't be a much bigger contrast in that of a single handed sailing dinghy - from that of a Finn to a foiling Moth ?

Goes to show - that perhaps, a Div 2 would have been the best and fairest Olympic windsurfing board!?

If I had my way the Olympics would have....


... a one board, two sail combination. A one design longboard with a balanced design focus between strong and light winds.
And.... two weight divisions, Heavy and light. Sharing the same course but entirely separate.


Anyone else care to finish the opening sentence?

I think it is time the rs:x gets a makeover, it is too old, heavy, slow and nobody sails them in Australia anymore. After sailing the techno I have moved to formula knowing that the current rs:x class does not lead into anything. The problem also lies within the lack of effort made by coaching and funding. Opportunities that once existed for one design racing are no longer present. What hope does anyone have in one design racing if Y.A will not even send luke Ballie, Steve Allen or one of countless other athletes to the 2012 olympics.

Why would young people throw away there 420 or laser ambitions knowing that the windsurfing option is not going to progress them very far at all if not lead them no where. Another problem is that the class is really only available to people with prior course experience, it is not a cheap option, and it is certainly not gear to learn on. So why would any one get into a class that no one sails, is expensive, no/limited coaching options exist, as well as a very dull future.

The laser class for example does so well in Australia because of the numbers, it also provides excellent coaching as well good funding for rising athletes. The numbers also provide the people sailing them with valuable experience and skills, which did not have to have been previously acquired. Where as the current rs:x situation limits progression of athletes due to vanishing numbers, for the reasons stated above.

A new, improved design would regenerate interest in the sport, increasing numbers. Therefor increasing the opportunities athletes have. A new design should incorporate what modern windsurfing is "fast, fun, enjoyable" and make it easier for windsurfers, not just experienced sailors to be at the top. After all it is windsurfing, it is very different from the other classes and should remain like that. Whether they go foil or no foil, as long as it is faster and comes out for sale faster still, windsurfing athletes in Australia just might make it to 2020.

As for the moths
isnt a new one design model coming out soon ?