World Sailing picks four classes for single handed "sea trials"
by Daniel Smith, World Sailing 3 Oct 2018 17:09 PDT
4 October 2018
The Mens Laser is one of the big contributors to Universality - 2016 Olympic Regatta, Rio de Janeiro © Richard Gladwell
Four boats have been shortlisted to proceed to the equipment-trial phase as part of the re-evaluation process for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy Equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition.
World Sailing received eight compliant bids and following a procedure approved at the 2018 Mid-Year Meeting, the following boats have been shortlisted and will be put forward to World Sailing's Council at the 2018 Annual Conference (in alphabetical order):
- D-Zero, presented by Devotti Sailing s.r.o.
- Laser Standard and Laser Radial sailboat, presented by ILCA
- Melges 14, presented by Melges Boat Works Inc., NELO and Mackay Boats Ltd.
- RS Aero, presented by RS Sailing.
World Sailing launched the tender process in May 2018 which invited Class Associations and Manufacturers to tender for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy following World Sailing's Olympic Re-evaluation Policy, detailed in Regulation 23.6 and approved by World Sailing's Council at the 2017 Annual Conference in Mexico.
Click here to view the tender document.
World Sailing received eight compliant bids and the D-Zero, Laser Standard and Laser Radial, Melges 14 and RS Aero were shortlisted as being those who closely mirror the technical criteria for the event - easy to sail, shared hull dinghy monohull with different rig sizes for male, female and youth sailors.
Following shortlisting, in Phase 2, World Sailing undertook site visits to the manufacturers to confirm the submitted information, after which an improved bid was requested from each of them to address the supply of equipment to major events, the accessibility to the market by new builders and the standardization of equipment amongst different builders.
The Board's Re-evaluation Working Party reviewed the bids and has recommended to World Sailing's Board of Directors that World Sailing should proceed to select new equipment with the additional recommendation that the existing equipment (Laser/ILCA) is included as a full option in the process.
The Board has discussed and approved the Working Party recommendation to proceed to evaluation and trials for these four boats.
If this recommendation is accepted, equipment trials (sea trials) and evaluation will be carried out under the supervision of the Equipment Committee in order to comply with Regulation 23.1.3(e).
Following the trials and evaluation, a report will be made to World Sailing's Equipment Committee who will then make a recommendation to Council on the final selection of the equipment.
The full process and procedure in the Olympic Equipment Re-evaluation procedure is available click here to view.
Click here for a Question and Answer document for the selection of the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy.
Click here to view the Men and Women One Person Dinghy Shortlisted bids.
Click here to view the Re-Evaluation Board recommendation to Council.