Official RS:X Olympic Windsurfing Class Website

To be able to plan for the future, one must first understand the past.

When the population of Boston decided they wanted paved roads, they simply followed the age old routes that had been imprinted on the land by cattle and farmers. No thought was given to planning their city in a more logical way. Hence the chaotic road traffic system of today.

When the first settlers moved west in north america, they simply followed the trails imprinted on the land by the moving herds of buffalo. In this way they found water and grazing for their cattle.

They did not blaze new trails. That came later with the introduction of the railway and later 4 lane highways. Even now when a driver piles into Boston off one of the latter, he still has no option but to accept the city as it is and struggle through the chaos.

When windsurfing became two parts of the Olympic Regatta, it  simply inherited the format that sailing had developed over many years. No thought was given to adapting existing windsurfing formats. The windsurfing events simply adopted the format imprinted on the regatta by all the sailors who love to sit down and race.

If Windsurfing was to blaze a new trail and introduce a unique format in terms of Olympic Sailing, a lot of confusion would result. Athletes on the Olympic pathway would have to stop doing what they had trained for years to master and do something possibly completely different.

Race officers and mark layers around the world would have to be the subject of an intense training program so that they developed the skills necessary to manage the racing. Members of Juries might well find themselves making decisions on a windswept beach between heats.

This may all be possible, However one has to remember the context. Windsurfing is just two events in 10. To remain so, we have to make it as easy as possible for any race team anywhere to run our racing.

Remember that the ISAF World Cup Organisers still do not put the 'slalom end' in the water of the windsurfing trapezoidal course at their events!

And why not? Probably because the race officer who just happens to be managing the windsurfing course this year and more importantly his mark layers still do not properly understand how to lay it quickly and efficiently... and just as importantly adjust it to suit changes in the wind speed.

It may therefore be better perhaps to think in terms of the evolution of the existing windsurfing format.

Evolution comes from testing and tweaking ideas and getting feedback from the sailors. At the recent youth world windsurfing championships, shorter races were tested in planing conditions allowing more races in a day for smaller groups with some success.

More races mean more starts. More starts mean that the PRO has to be sharper about his sequencing. Shorter target times for the first leg require race committees to have a better idea of the fleets VMG in different wind speeds.

All this knowledge and experience takes time to develop and refine. Data has to be produced and distributed so that everyone has the same information and therefore can benefit from the knowledge gained. 

Further testing is probably called for. But have no doubt that within the existing framework and constraints, futher ways to optimise the windsurfing racing format will be tested. Those that meet the sailors approval should be introduced.