IOC to force ISAF to reconsider and put kiteboarding back in?

[jwlbrace]

rumour mill from this morning says so anyway... you've gotta love it, these stories coming from vested interests, but any truth in it?

From that kiteboarder linked thread:

I was told by a very reliable source that the IOC told ISAF that the whole windsports section of the Olympics was so expensive and boring that unlike all other sections of the games it was a net loss in dynamism, credibility and $$. The IOC told ISAF to jazz it up, or the ENTIRE sailing division was out, and I mean the entire windsports program was to be cancelled. The result - a quick vote in for Kitesurfing as a knee jerk - cheap to run, open format (competitors provide their own kit), and much more interesting TV. Now the blazers have reversed the decision it seems plausible that the IOC are rolling their eyes

[jamesboards]

people can vote how they like but someone else is pulling the strings, thats all that seems to have come out of this.

given that the majority of people can see that there is ALOT of back room dealing why are we all fascinated with being included?

[jwlbrace]

because it's something to talk about... the one thing I think that comes out of this, is that the board sports needs their own representation direct to the IOC. They are then free to choose their own locations, set their own budgets and work the IOC for their specific agendas.

The rowing was raced at Eton Dorney, not Weymouth.
The canoeing was at Lee Valley White Water Centre, not Weymouth.
The open water swim was in the Serpentine, not Weymouth.
The diving was in the Aquatics Centre, not Weymouth.

ISAF serves to represent course racing yachts and dinghies. These are not kiteboarders, nor are they windsurfers, what plausible explanation can anyone give that they would actually represent either kitesurfing or windsurfing interests???



Sure, they'll pull puppet strings on the boards for as long as they need to, but why oh why didn't the IKA wake up and see what the International Yacht Racing Union did to windsurfing when it too was the NKOTB? History is repeating itself, but in true 21st century ways, it's just happened far quicker and more instantly. ISAF won't give a hoot about chucking kiteboarding in the skip before it even got a cycle, really it's just 'board sailing' and they'll keep the current one if that's what the MNAs vote on.

[markski]

one minute you are in, the next you are out!

its the isaf, iko, ico hokey kokey!

[matthewb]

you keep posting that picture as if it is meant to mean anything.

Have you not looked around at the demographic of windsurfing lately? or indeed those involved in its administration, it is not so very different to your picture. vested interests? parents of high achieving sailors in some classes running the administrative sides of those classes?

I see lots of different sides to this argument but if the isaf no longer run the windsurfing in the olympics who will? the IWA? now that will be funny.

The isaf have always viewed windsurfing as some sort of weird embarrasing child.. but the reality is that windsurfing has never really been able to get its act together to present itself any other way. The pursuit of planing only classes for example...... yea great until you actually start to look at the mechanics of that, events not run, locations that such classes can be sailed reliably, physical requirements to actually sail such classes etc, in fact exactly the arguments that windsurfing put up in its defence against kitesurfing ( pathways into it, locations able to sail, safe and easy for kids, inclusive performance attributes etc)

I think the exercise of getting windsurfing back into the olympics has highlighted what any future inclusion should be based on and that is a class and structure that has the widest possible appeal( this is not just the "current" windsurf population), to be raced in the widest possible range of conditions( 0-25 knots, puddle to open sea) by the widest possible range of sailor ability, age and size ( kids to grannies, large to small).

If you have a large base of support the effects are twofold- 1 it makes it hard to exclude you, as you have a legitimate call to be there and 2 it makes it not matter so much if you are in or out , as you have a thriving scene anyway, so who cares..........

Any future decisions on windsurf racing classes in the olympics should be primarily based on the nurturing of the base of the pyramid.

[boards_ronnie]

rumour mill from this morning says so anyway... you've gotta love it, these stories coming from vested interests, but any truth in it?

From that kiteboarder linked thread:

I was told by a very reliable source that the IOC told ISAF that the whole windsports section of the Olympics was so expensive and boring that unlike all other sections of the games it was a net loss in dynamism, credibility and $$. The IOC told ISAF to jazz it up, or the ENTIRE sailing division was out, and I mean the entire windsports program was to be cancelled. The result - a quick vote in for Kitesurfing as a knee jerk - cheap to run, open format (competitors provide their own kit), and much more interesting TV. Now the blazers have reversed the decision it seems plausible that the IOC are rolling their eyes

I haven't seen any evidence to support that, but I wouldn't be surprised if the IOC had told the ISAF that sailing is not getting high enough viewing figures.
The Olympics is now very very expensive to put on and it is a huge entertainment event now, which has to come somewhere close to paying for itself by drawing as big an audience as possible.
I think sailing would be relatively expensive to run compared to its share of the viewing numbers.
So I wouldn't be surprised if there was pressure on the ISAF to improve the show.

[jwlbrace]

Have you not looked around at the demographic of windsurfing lately? or indeed those involved in its administration, it is not so very different to your picture. vested interests? parents of high achieving sailors in some classes running the administrative sides of those classes?

I see lots of different sides to this argument but if the isaf no longer run the windsurfing in the olympics who will? the IWA? now that will be funny.

The isaf have always viewed windsurfing as some sort of weird embarrasing child.. but the reality is that windsurfing has never really been able to get its act together to present itself any other way. The pursuit of planing only classes for example...... yea great until you actually start to look at the mechanics of that, events not run, locations that such classes can be sailed reliably, physical requirements to actually sail such classes etc, in fact exactly the arguments that windsurfing put up in its defence against kitesurfing ( pathways into it, locations able to sail, safe and easy for kids, inclusive performance attributes etc)

I think the exercise of getting windsurfing back into the olympics has highlighted what any future inclusion should be based on and that is a class and structure that has the widest possible appeal( this is not just the "current" windsurf population), to be raced in the widest possible range of conditions( 0-25 knots, puddle to open sea) by the widest possible range of sailor ability, age and size ( kids to grannies, large to small).

If you have a large base of support the effects are twofold- 1 it makes it hard to exclude you, as you have a legitimate call to be there and 2 it makes it not matter so much if you are in or out , as you have a thriving scene anyway, so who cares..........

Any future decisions on windsurf racing classes in the olympics should be primarily based on the nurturing of the base of the pyramid.

A great post, my point is simple- I don't think there's really much future for course racing windsurfers, certainly not here, America or outside of France in mainland Europe; quite why the Asian nations like those air-humping RS:One events I'll never understand... they'd be better in Laser Radials, it would be better racing imho.

So the windsurfing demographic I think represents the 'competitive element' are the younger slalom sailors and freestylers. They do at least do what a lot of us do, even if we don't formalise it when we burn up a mate or try something interesting instead of just tacking. That could apply to kites as well as boards. And if these guys feel they need an olympic medal to represent the pinnacle of the sport (I note a lot of surfers don't) this needs a different representative body than ISAF. Who that would be I don't know, clearly if it were a genuine demand, then someone, something would step forward.

You quite rightly say that windsurfing has never really stepped up to be anything other than the ******* child of the IYRU; I'd totally agree, but I would consider that maybe it can't, not whilst it's under the constraints of course racing that's ultimately evolved by and for dinghies and small keelboats.