The ISAF Events Committee just finished the voting procedure at the midyear conference in St. Petersburg and there was no discussion for the comeback of the Multihull. There was also a little Chance with the Submissions from the Netherlands to get 2 Multihulls (Women + Men) in with the 5:5 slide.
But finally the biggest group with same submissions went trough. The Keelboats (Starclass and Women Matchracing) are complete out. It seem the finacial crisis and less money in the MNAs make it impossible to finance Olympic Keelboat sailing.
Also Kiteboarding went out early in the voting procedure. So no colorful and action loaded flying surfers.
Tomorrow the ISAF council can change the vote again the Events Com. made. So there is still an open vote to fix it 100%. But with the view to the submissions again, it looks Keelboat Sailing has not the strong voice as in the years before. Also Sailing Nations like GBR and AUS had no Keelboat in.
Now the focus should be back on the format of racing and how we can make sailing a spectator and media sport. IOC gives pressure out to reach higher media value and better ticket sale. Also ISAF need more money from IOC. We hope the ISAF not missed the chance to upgrade Olympic sailing with a high performance Multihull. We need to have a boat like the Tornado which fly´s the hulls in any wind condition.
So there is a massive need for a spectacular class in the Olympic Arena. With our Tornado Speedsailing www.speedsailing.org and the high quality one design we have the perfect solution for Rio 2016 and the ISAF World Cup Series.
But it looks they send us again (like 1999 in Quiberon) into an expensive evaluation event. We already have one fo the best price-performance ratio in Olympic sailing and a IOC TV award and many mixed teams at the top.
But there are 20+ cats with „dollar-signs“ in there eyes who want have the Olympic Multihull spot too. So we go into a ISAF multihull battle and were we get 1 winner and 19 loosers and burn hundred thausands of €€€ Instead of burning money, we should the best and proven formula we have: The HQ OD Tornado.
We hope ISAF realize there is no need for an evaluation event. But if we get one, real olympic sailors should test the boats in all wind and wave conditions and decide what class they like for the future. We are ready for this Challenge.
More news tomorrow.
Greetings from St. Petersburg,