Olympic sailing is in turmoil, with the classes to be sailed in the 2024 Games still undecided. Shirley Robertson tells Helen Fretter why the proposed mixed gender double-handed offshore class would be so positive for sailing.With just three years until the 2024 Olympics take place in Paris, the Olympic sailing classes for the 2024 Games are yet to be confirmed.
\nThis week the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave World Sailing, the sport\u2019s governing body (formerly ISAF), six weeks to come up with a new plan for the Paris Games in 2024, as well as for the 2028 Olympics. All this while the Tokyo 2021 Games is just 93 days away.
\nThe current programme is for 10 Olympic sailing medals. They will be raced in three male and three female classes (the Laser and Laser Radial, 49er and 49er FX, and men\u2019s and women\u2019s foiling windsurfing) and four mixed, including Nacra 17, 470 and kiteboarding.
\nA proposal was made in 2018 that the mixed fleets should include a double-handed offshore class.
\nDoublehanded racing is a key growth area for sailing
\nThe proposal was radical \u2013 it would create the longest racecourse in the Olympics, with round-the-clock competition over a short coastal track (the race was expected to be around three days long). The yacht class to be used would also need to be determined.
\nBut double-handed racing is one of sailing\u2019s biggest growth areas. Many of the world\u2019s biggest inshore and offshore events have introduced double-handed fleets to meet ever-increasing demand, a trend accelerated over 2020 by double-handed racing\u2019s neat fit with social distancing and \u2018bubbles\u2019.
\nThe announcement that double-handed offshore racing was under consideration for the Olympics also attracted new sailors and returning sailors into the Olympic sailing fold.
\nOne of those was Shirley Robertson, one of the most successful female Olympic sailors of all time, as well as being a highly experienced broadcaster and commentator, covering major sailing events for the BBC and CNN.
\nShirley Robertson racing alongside Henry Bomby in a Sunfast 3300. Photo: Rick Tomlinson
\nRobertson, who won gold in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004, has been racing a Sunfast 3300 with Henry Bomby. She has also been racing two-up with Jeremy Waitt on the JPK 10.10 Jangada, the RORC Yacht of the Year.
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\t\t\t\t\t\tShirley Robertson on Ynglings<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSue Pelling interviewed Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson to ask about her immediate sailing plans and her views on the\u2026<\/p>\n
Robertson believes that a double-handed offshore fleet in the Olympics could bring wide-ranging benefits to the sport of sailing.
\nThe most obvious gain is that introducing the new class to the 2024 Games, hosted in France, would generate huge spectator engagement.
\n\u201cThe Vend\u00e9e Globe, the Route du Rhum \u2013 I\u2019ve been to many French offshore race starts, and they are without a doubt the most supported sports events I have ever been to,\u201d Robertson explains.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s no coincidence that the offshore discipline was proposed for the Paris Games, the sport is massive in France, and the interest it would create within the public and the media would be huge. So as far as Paris 2024 goes, it\u2019s a complete no brainer \u2013 it would be amazing.
\nHuge crowds usually assemble in France for the start of the Vend\u00e9e Globe
\n\u201cMoving forward, I can\u2019t think of a recent Games where an offshore coastal race would not have been an exciting addition, and looking at 2028, I\u2019m sure the same could be achieved in LA.
\n\u201cBut more than that, double-handed offshore at the Olympics would represent a vast sector of the sport of sailing, and would pique the curiosity of a significant sector of participant that has no interest in dinghy racing.
\n\u201cMost importantly, to me, it would create a different pathway into long-term inclusion and commitment in the sport.
\n\u201cI\u2019m very keen to hear any opinion explaining why it\u2019s inclusion would be detrimental to the holistic health of sailing, but I\u2019m afraid, so far, no one has stepped forward with a viable argument.\u201d
\nMade for TV
\nConcerns raised by the IOC include how organisers could secure the competition field (a coastal racecourse), the challenges of broadcasting the event globally, and the fact that World Sailing has not yet delivered an Offshore World Championships (the scheduled 2020 event being cancelled due to Covid-19).
\nRobertson, who has huge experience in the logistics of broadcasting sailing events, believes the cost and challenges have been exaggerated.
\n\u201cTo be honest, taking into account the resources that OBS (the Olympic broadcaster) had in Rio to cover a medal racecourse, I find this pretty hard to accept. The early rounds of the [America\u2019s] Cup in Auckland were covered with one chase boat and one helicopter. Sail GP have to date used one helicopter, and one chase boat.
\nSignificant. resources went into coverage of a single medal race course in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio
\n\u201cThe very skilful camera operators involved in this are the same guys that film at the Games, where, in Rio, there was more than double the resource. All of those assets are already in place for the Olympic regatta, so I\u2019m baffled why it\u2019s been suggested the broadcast would cost millions more Euros.
\n\u201cI appreciate the technology of supplying onboard coverage is complex, but many of the Olympic classes run onboard [cameras], bikes in the Tour de France run onboard cameras.
\n\u201cTo my mind the multi-day offshore event should be a mouth-watering prospect for the broadcast offering from the Games, a one of a kind showcasing sailing with imaginative coverage. And tracking \u2013 what a massive interactive opportunity! The Sydney Hobart race, the Middle Sea Race, the Fastnet Race, they\u2019re all covered with a fraction of the [Olympic broadcast] budget.\u201d
\nSecuring the competition area should also not be insurmountable, as Robertson points out \u201cThe reality is the course is largely coastal, it\u2019s not full on ocean sailing.\u201d
\nLosing an Olympic sailing medal?
\nFor many involved with Olympic sailing, the risk is that if the IOC deem the mixed keelboat unsuitable for Paris 2024, then sailing might be demoted to nine medals.
\nAmong the many alternative ideas being bounced around are: splitting one of the mixed fleets to create men\u2019s and women\u2019s medal classes; reinstating the Finn, the heavyweight singlehanded dinghy which will lose its Olympic class status after the 2021 Games; or reintroducing match racing, or even team racing, to the Games.
\nWhatever solution is chosen, it will need to meet the IOC targets of gender parity for 2024 as well as reducing overall athlete numbers.
\n\u201cTo be scrambling around with a six-week timeframe \u2018looking\u2019 for another medal option that \u2018fits\u2019 the IOC criteria, when in reality we are already a year into the Paris cycle, is utterly unacceptable,\u201d says Robertson.
\n\u201cThis offshore option was discussed at a high level within the governance framework of our sport, and by a significant margin was voted in. For some time now, rumours of its apparent \u2018unsuitability\u2019 have been rife, grumblings from the IOC have been around for some time.
\n\u201cSo where is the contingency? Where is the option, readied and prepared for the inevitable refusal of the IOC to ratify the offshore event? It doesn\u2019t exist.
\nRobertson believes that \u201cif they could, the leadership of our sport would solve this problem in one easy vote: bring back the much loved Finn class, give Olympic opportunity back to the heavier male sailor, attract the biggest names back into the sport and be done with it.
\n\u201cIt won\u2019t happen of course, the optics are far too bad.
\nThe Finn is the class due to be replaced in 2024, could it make a comeback after the latest IOC and World Sailing wranglings?
\n\u201cSo they\u2019ve delayed and delayed, but the fairest thing is to split the combined kite medal. At least there\u2019s a fleet of women\u2019s kitesurfers that have actually been training for an Olympic event, so it\u2019ll impact them the least, and have the benefit of gender parity.\u201d
\nWomen\u2019s sailing opportunities
\nFor Robertson, one key advantage of the mixed double-handed Olympic sailing medal is that it creates a career pathway for experienced women sailors that is currently sorely lacking.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve just returned from Auckland, where for four months I\u2019d been commentating for the America\u2019s Cup. I\u2019ve been commentating on four teams chasing the illusive trophy, the pinnacle of our sport, in a regatta comprised of teams made up solely of male sailors, male coaches, male decision makers.
\n\u201cI am not looking for issues through which to generate a gender discussion, but this example has some very significant implications.
\n\u201cOffshore coastal racing is surprisingly accessible \u2013 boats around 30ft are available in many of the world\u2019s marinas. It\u2019s a relatable discipline, and presents a real pathway into competitive sailing, but also into a form of competitive sailing that isn\u2019t dinghy sailing.
\n\u201cIt is not an exaggeration to say that, despite claims to the contrary, there is currently no realistic, achievable pathway into any kind of decision making role in sailing for female athletes after an Olympic campaign, and this option would help change that.
\nThe all female team SCA took part in the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race and were allowed a greater number of crew than other mixed teams and all-male teams
\n\u201cIn the current, barren landscape for women in sailing, the introduction of the mixed offshore discipline presented a way to make a real dent in to the status quo. Double-handed offshore had the capacity to provide a genuine pathway, to create respected, skilled female athletes.
\n\u201cPrevious efforts to half-heartedly manufacture rules or incentives to have women on boats, thinly veiled attempts at presenting a publicly acceptable gender equality, is not helping women achieve in our sport.
\n\u201cCreating a mixed double-handed pathway, would, following a Games cycle, produce a pool of really talented women decision makers with an irrefutable set of assets [who are] as valuable onboard as their male counterparts.
\n\u201cThis would be an unprecedented step forward. It would be a stride towards the levelling of a playing field that is so very far from being equal across all aspects of our sport.\u201d
\nWhat do you think? Should double-handed offshore racing have a place in Olympic sailing, or should the 10th medal go to another class? Email yachtingworld@futurenet.com
\nShirley Robertson hosts a regular podcast with some of the biggest names in sailing. See http:\/\/shirleyrobertson.com\/podcast\/
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Olympic sailing is in turmoil, with the classes to be sailed in the 2024 Games still undecided. Shirley Robertson tells Helen Fretter why the proposed mixed gender double-handed offshore class would be so positive for sailing.With just three years until … <\/p>\n