Reply To: Olympic Classes and the OK Dinghy
Been out of sailing for a long time –
So my old list would have been
Finn – Men (was nothing really wrong with Europe for woman but would an OK not be as good an option as a finn with scaled down rig???) Ok was always good as a finn for lighter weights so would also make OK a superb junior class for youth sailing squads etc.
470 – Always thought it was a great boat again with a very adjustable controllable rig.
Alternative or extra 2 person boat (B14e would be a good crowd pleaser so something along b14e fast skiff type affair)
2 man keelboat – FF (star was an ok boat but think FF is a actually quite like a small Soling to sail with good adjustable rig and fast esp. when weather gets up a bit.
3 man keelboat – Soling (I know there have been others but think it is the best – everything can be adjusted (inc backstay, forestay and both sets of side stays so rig can have everything including tension, rake, mast bend, jib luff sag which makes it a boat that requires you know your stuff) on flipside though they are a nice easy boat to get going in and not too likely to bite you in ass.
Cat – Tornado was and still is a seriously quick cat and very hard to sail well… An updated version with an Asymetric Spinnaker would be good as the runs were boring.
Thing is though I think it should change and not be set in stone but should be selected from established classes. I think it should be published 8 years up front and it should be 4 Olympics before it’s re-used. Why? Cos it gives a variety of classes a benefit of the publicity. it also stops the Olympic class stigma. The Finn was never sailed by a lot of people or in great numbers why? Not because it wasn’t a great boat but cos it was the Olympic class which meant that to be competitive even at national level you needed a lot of money, stiff hull, continually updating rig (sure there is a nice mix of equipment in top 10 ok at nationals – I mean older hulls, some who do not replace sails all the time, even a metal mast or two). 470 was/is a great boat but again not large fleets. Keeping a boat as Olympic boat can be detrimental to a class as well.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
