ISAF voted this morning on the events/equipment for Rio 2016.
The 38 submissions were reduced quickly to 8 before a debate
took place. From this it became apparent that the Council was
faced with a choice.
Either select 5 events which would be common to both men and women - something that the ISAF have been considering for 10 years - OR remove the keel boats completely from the slate and continue with the duplication of single handed -Laser/Finn - and double handed dinghies - 470/Skiff -
Who would win depended very much on the strategy employed by the opposing camps and it was the balanced slate camp that somehow managed to split their vote and therefore fatally weaken their position. The ISAF Executive supported submission #29 which included the 470. The others supported submission # 39 from the Royal Dutch Sailing Federation which was identical except they included the skiff.
The door was therefore left open fore submission #10 to get 51% of the votes in the first ballot by claiming 19 votes.
In the end it was a surprisingly easy victory for the 'duplication' camp. No one really expected it to be over so quickly.
Here is the final slate selected for the 2016 Olympic Regatta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Single handed Men - Laser
Singe handed Women - Laser Radial
2nd One Person Dinghy Men - Finn
Two Person Dinghy (Spinnaker) Men - 470
Two Person Dinghy (Spinnaker) Women - 470
Skiff Men - 49er
Skiff Women - Evaluation
Two Person Multihull - Mixed
Boards M- RSX/Kite Evaluation
Boards W - RSX/Kite Evaluation
The boards could be either the existing RS:X, the RS:X Evolution or Kitesurfing or both in one novel and new format. The decision will be made by the ISAF Council in November 2012 after the evaluation process is complete.
From a windsurfing perspective, you've got to be in it to win it and we are. The discussion here in St Petersburg has effectively been about which boats to delete from the program. The boards lobby have essentially been maintaining a 'watching brief' to make sure our 2 existing medals are not threatened.
