The Cost of Olympic Boats- Not a Simple Formula

by Andy Rice on 30 Oct 2007
This is Part 3 of a series of articles looking at the Events and Equipment that will be contesting the Olympic Sailing Regatta in China next year.

On 9th November, just a few days from now, the International Sailing Federation will vote on which 10 Events will constitute the Olympic Regatta in Weymouth 2012. An interesting task, considering that there are currently 11 Categories, so ONE MUST GO. This is your opportunity to have your say, by taking part in the SailJuiceBlog.com Olympic Classes 2012 Survey. Read on, and then if you want to add your voice to the Survey, click on the link below,

Olympic Classes Survey

The cost of Equipment is a major point of debate when it comes to discussing the relative merits of Olympic Classes. Yet in the five criteria that govern ISAF’s decisions over which Equipment to choose, nowhere does it say anything explicit about cost. The closest it gets to mentioning cost is that it 'must give the best sailors in each country the opportunity to participate in readily accessible equipment'.

I remember interviewing Robert Scheidt in 2002, when he’d already won a gold and silver medal at the previous two Olympics. I asked him why he was still sailing the Laser, why he hadn’t considered moving into another class. He said he’d like to move into a Star, but didn’t have the financial means to do so.

If Brazil’s second-most decorated Olympic sailor – after Torben Grael – couldn’t afford to sail a Star, then this suggests the Star is not 'readily accessible'. Of course, since then Scheidt has won a third medal in the Laser, and has made a very strong transition into the Star, this year winning both the Worlds and the Olympic Test Event. So at last he can afford that keelboat campaign.

Equipment cost is a big issue for our Survey respondents, where many of the comments in the Olympic Classes 2012 Survey have focused on cost as a major determinant of a class’s suitability for Olympic status. And yet this does not seem to be high on ISAF’s selection agenda. 'Accessibility' is not the same as 'affordability'.

Perhaps ISAF is right not to focus too hard on equipment cost. Talking to a coach and project manager who has been closely involved in high-level Olympic campaigning for more than 20 years, Mr X (he didn’t want to be identified, but he is one of the most knowledgeable sources of real campaign costs) says that equipment cost forms a negligible percentage of the overall cost of a campaign. For a serious campaign - by which we mean a campaign that is making a serious attempt at winning an Olympic medal, not just competing at the Games – Mr X claims that equipments costs will not even amount to 10% of the total campaign bill.

'The cost of your equipment comes way down the list,' he says. The single biggest expense you’ll face is putting a value you on your own time, according to Mr X. 'This is your ‘opportunity cost’. To have the opportunity to do a full-time campaign, you’re going to need to get money from somewhere, just to keep a roof over your head and keep yourself from starving. So either you need to find a sponsor, or get funding of some kind, or you need a private income.'

For the remainder of this story, please see http://sailjuiceblog.com/2007/10/29/the-cost-of-olympic-boats-not-a-simple-formula/