The latest sailing news from Asia and the world. |
27 Aug 2016 |
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Was Rio 2016 'the best ever' Olympic regatta?
OK, just one more backwards look at the Rio Olympics, and then we'll move on. Sail-World's rep in Rio was Richard Gladwell, our New Zealand Editor, whom I worked alongside at the Qingdao 2008 event and who is perfectly capable of finding the flaws in the system – and there were plenty in Qingdao! Richard's summary of the Rio event – particularly from a media perspective – is enlightening, and something that all regatta and event organisers would do well to take note of. Folks, your media coverage is something to be embraced, not kept at arm's length (and the longer your arms are, the better)!
Richard writes, “The weather was better than Weymouth and Qingdao, the courses more varied, but from a working media perspective, it was the people running the Rio regatta who really made the difference. But the big difference in Rio came when the Media Centre Manager started approaching various groups of media and asking what they could do to improve the regatta. This was an amazing development in a world where the print and web media are regarded as the paparazzi – there to be beaten and whipped into the shape dictated by numerous pre-regatta meetings and defined processes and regularly admonished and threatened in daily lectures from the Headmaster.”
You don't have to read the “we wuz robbed” part, because that's a Kiwi licking the Kiwi wounds. However, it is worth noting from a GBR point of view, that while AUS and NZL came away with four medals apiece followed by GBR and FRA on three each, the only nation to place in the top ten of every single class (for the second Olympics in a row) was GBR. Strength in depth?
More on the international stage. Q1: who was in charge of the first AC ‘boat' to get up and fly on foils? A: Dean Barker. Q2: who then went on to crack the code and get the thing to gybe without dropping off the foils? A: Dean Barker. Q3: Who is in charge of the boat that has now perfected the foiling tack? A: Dean Barker.
Is there a pattern here? When I met Russell Coutts a couple of months ago, he remarked in a throw-away line that I rather missed, “If the AC proper started tomorrow, I think Dean Barker and SoftBank would win it.” In hindsight, he knew about the ‘foiling tack' that had been cracked on 19 April. It's a game changer of immense proportions. Current tactics in the AC boats are based on minimising down-speed tacking. Chris Draper, SoftBank's tactician, says “Foiling tacks start to open up the race course a lot more, your options are a lot wider. It's not about sailing boundary to boundary anymore, you can tack on the shifts a lot more on demand. It will make the racing a lot more exciting for the public as well.” Watch this space.
On a smaller scale, but still connected to the America's Cup (just), two Hong Kong clubs will be running component regattas for ‘Bart's Bash' on the weekend 17/18 September. This is the global charity event started in memory of Andrew ‘Bart' Simpson who died tragically in the run-up to the last AC event, and funds raised go towards the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. If you are of a mind to participate in “the world's biggest sailing regatta”, then please contact either the Lantau Boat Club (www.lantauboatclub.com) or Hebe Haven Yacht Club (www.hhyc.org.hk).
Standing by on 72.
Guy Nowell, Asia Editor
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