Gladwell's Line - Medals in Rio dress rehearsal...Cup coup for Team NZ

by . on 29 Aug 2015 Sail-World New Zealand editorial from the newsletter of August 25, 2015 on the Pre-Olympics - Pollution and Kiwi performance plus the imminent passing of Construction in Country rules in the America's Cup.

New Zealand sailors emerged from the Pre-Olympic regatta in Rio de Janeiro with five crews in the top five overall and two medals.

Only seven New Zealand crews competed in the ten classes despite all having qualified in the first round of qualification for the 2016 Olympics.

Across the Tasman, Australia is still to qualify in several classes, and it is a safe bet that were they in New Zealand's qualification position, all ten would have been competing in Rio.

Even so the Australians came away with two Gold medals and one Bronze. They beat us, again.

A top five placing is generally reckoned to be a good launching point for Olympic Medals, with a conversion rate of about 50% being the benchmark. On that basis, New Zealand should win two or three medals in 2016.

The elephant in the room at Rio 2016 is the pollution issue in Guanabara Bay - the sailing stadium for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Regatta.

We look at this issue in a couple of stories in this edition of Sail-World.com.

Sail-World was taken to task by the International Sailing Federation for publishing photos and a story about a Korean sailor being taken to hospital with allegations that his malaise was pollution inspired. They didn't have a crack at other media who did the same. By the end of the week, the same ISAF was talking about moving course venues offshore and out of the bay. But even that move doesn't solve the issue of having to sail through sewerage to get to the course area.

Further, it was revealed in a story published after the regatta, that some countries are apparently gaming the pollution situation - ensuring their sailors don't get ill - and able to pounce if other sailors do fall by the wayside with ailments from ingesting polluted water.

In some countries, notably the USA, the sailors and coaches shrug off the pollution issue, but it would seem that a high percentage of sailors - about 40% were affected, according to one source spoken to by Sail-World.

The point with the pollution issue is that potentially the Medals in 2016 will be determined by who has ingested a teaspoon of water from the wrong place on Guanabara Bay, and who has not. Regardless of whether you think sailors should just tough it out, that is not the way the Olympic Sailing Regatta should be.

As a sport, sailing has built a clean and environmentally friendly image. Yachts are powered by free, pollution free fuel.

The legacy of the 2016 Sailing Olympics, for the build-up at least, is that every mention Olympic sailing gets in mainstream media, there will be some comment dropped in about sailing in a polluted venue.

The simple fact is that Sailing finds itself in this situation because politicians were prepared to make promises they either knew could never be delivered or on which they had no intention of delivering.

In short they lied to get the Venue nod from the IOC.

We look at the implications of the situation for the sport in this issue - it spreads beyond the immediate Olympic competition and those participating in 2016.

Ironically Sir Peter Blake was killed in the host country for the 2016 Olympics.

Those who knew Blake's uncompromising attitude toward the environment would be in no doubt about what he would saying now on the water pollution issue on Guanabara Bay.

In this edition we also break the story of Emirates Team NZ's deal with former Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa acquiring a foiling AC45, a chase boat, and other pieces of kit. Several members of the Luna Rossa team will go on the Emirates Team NZ payroll.

The move is significant for the NZ Team, who are now able to get up onto the same level in terms of sailing kit as the billionaire-backed teams.

Maybe their biggest problem is going to be finding the sailing crew to sail the two AC45 Surrogates - but it's a nice problem to have.

Our second breaking America's Cup story relates to the near elimination of the Constructed in Country rules.

It used to be in the 1956-1983 era of the New York Yacht Club's tenure, that the designers and sailors had to be nationals of the country of the Team, and the boat had to be built in the country of that team. At it's most extreme, even the materials from which the sails, spars, and boat were built had to come from that Country.

Then the rules got watered down so that US constructed sailcloth was permitted for use by the Challengers. But nothing else.

Fast forward to 2013 America's Cup and the Constructed in Country rules got watered down so that only the hulls of the AC72's had to be built in the country of the team. The wingsails, cross beams, foils and the rest could be built in any country the team pleased. Good for New Zealand - as the majority of the work was done in either the Cookson Yard, Core Builders Composite, or Southern Spars.

That situation remained in place until Version 6 of the Protocol for the 35th America's Cup was finally published when the Constructed in Country Rules got watered down yet again. Now just a section of the bow of each hull 2.7 metres long (that's about 20%) of the AC50's length has to be built in the country of team/yacht club origin.

While New Zealand. France and Britain have the infrastructure to build the whole boat, for the rest of the teams their boats, save the 20% bow sections will be most likely be built in New Zealand - with Core Builders Composite picking up the majority of that work.

While that is good for New Zealand and the Marine Industry, it's not what the America's Cup is supposed to be.

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed] Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on www.sail-world.com, scroll to the bottom of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com or call (+6421) 301030

Don't forget to check our website www.sail-world.com, scroll to the bottom of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.

To access the Sail-World NZ newsletter archive http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/newsletter_archive.cfm!click_here and read the past issues.

To subscribe to Sail-World's FREE newsletter http://www.sail-world.com/nz/newsletter_subscribe.cfm!click_here including special America's Cup and other major event editions

If you are an potential advertiser and want to understand how Sail-World can work for your company, website or product, then drop a line to Colin Preston at nzsales@sail-world.com

Stay up with the latest sailing news, as it happens, on our website www.sail-world.com/nz