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49er European Rules Compliance Timetable

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Do you think 'Theatre Style Racing' would be better for spectators and the media?

Theater Style Racing – 49ers to Test

Hi 49er sailors,

See the outline below and be prepared to discuss this concept with your executive at the AGM at the European Championships in Poland. Please complete this survey once you have read the article: THEATRE STYLE RACING SURVEY.

The Big Picture:

One way to increase the media and spectator appeal for sailing it to frame our sport in an accessible venue. As the regatta moves to the final stages, we have seen the top 10 move to a finals format. By advancing that formula, we can enhance the benefits to the media and spectators. See the diagram below, using lane rope to restrict the width of the course it will increase the ability of the media and spectators to see what is going on while at the same time increase the number of tactical situations sailors must navigate.

The concept is to have small fleets race in short courses (9-12 mins) with a width boundary (swim lanes-actual swim lane, like in a pool) to force the fleet into many tactical situations and keep them close together. There would be lots of maneuvering, the aspect ratio will need to be tested, visualize that 8-10 tacks are mandatory per beat!

One alternative for moving sailing forward

Picture grandstands on barges right on the edge of the racecourse with fans able to cheer loud enough for sailors to hear them! Music, a PA system with an announcers, it could all happen in this enclosed venue and the sailors should be able to race unobstructed by the fans.

The style of racing would certainly be very different. Obviously the emphasis on strategic decision making will be vastly reduced with a greater premium on boathandling, tactical decision making, and rising to the occasion. In a couple of cases I think this could be a good showcase for sailing. Yes, it’s not sailing in it’s pure form but I do believe that this would be a fair way to have a winner takes all final race.

We think that this format would work well for some of the boat types, but certainly not all of them. For example, 49ers would work well as they are spectacular when they do maneuvers and the swim lanes will come into play both up and downwind. Lasers/Radials would also work well as they are so maneuverable and can get into some great tactical situations but swim lanes would only come into play on the upwind. Windsurfers would probably be terrible as they tack so anesthetically, so this format should not be considered for them. This isn’t meant to be a solution for all, but rather just a flourish for a couple of classes to grab media attention and earn some money through ticket sales and TV. The racing should also be pretty spectacular yet still very fair to the sailors!

How to get there?

Here are two format that we have brainstormed that would allow the final stages of racing to be completed in this sailing theatre format. Both of these proposals result in the winner of the final race winning the regatta.

In both of these formats the regatta begins as regattas do currently with open fleet racing creating a low point scoring leaderboard.

Match Race Final

The regatta progresses as per normal until the top 10 are known. Instead of a one race final, that top 10 move to a day of ‘theatre racing’

They do 4 – 6 races no discards from these races. Media and spectators can watch as described above. Each race could be scored double points or what ever weighting people want to place on the qualifying.

At the end of the racing the 3 and 4 placed teams match race for the Bronze followed by the 1 and 2 placed team match racing for the Gold.

This way the top sailors rise to the top. There is no randomness and the tv get two shots at exciting racing with the overall winner crossing the line first.

“SailorCross” style

To summarize, qualifying is like normal, for example, 3 days of fleet racing. The change comes at the gold/silver fleet split. Instead of gold fleet, the top 24 move on to quarterfinals. (or just the top 12 move on straight to semi finals if there are smaller fleets, like in the Olympics)

Assuming quarterfinals, 4 flights of 6 teams each race off. See the diagram to see how it all looks.

Parallel courses for getting more races off quickly

So one race committee can run multiple courses at once

Every team does 4 races in 2 predetermined flights on side by side courses that have swim lanes for boundaries between the courses (see diagram, not to scale). At the end of the day it is scored like a normal day with a ranking from 1 to 24, low points. Finish is at the top, boats sail around the course to get back to the start for the next races to keep things moving. Spectators and Media are right in the action, so long as they aren’t driving up and down the course too much they shouldn’t interfere with the sailors at all.

Top 12 move on to semi finals… and a single course like in the top diagram.

1 – 6 race each other and 7 – 12 race each other. Three races each, only 1 course need be used but swim lanes act as boundary to keep racing tight and allow spectators right close to the action. From 1 – 6, top 3 move to Finals, 4, – 6 move to repachage. From 7 – 12, top 3 move to repachage. The repachage group races 3 races, the top 3 of that move to final. (If racing can not occur after semi finals (wind, etc. 4, 7, 8 move to finals.

Final – 1 race, winner takes all with 6 well qualified boats.

We think that a winner takes all final will be palatable to the sailors in this format as the ‘rewards’ for doing well in qualifying and quarterfinals are cashed in by having a second chance to make the finals instead of by having a points lead in the final. This should allow an excellent day of TV coverage with semi finals, repachage and then finals as a line up, just like they do for snowboardcross.

What do you think? Surve here: THEATRE STYLE RACING

Ben Remocker & Simon Hiscocks

49ers in KIELER WOCHE

video link

PINK/PEACOCK WIN KIEL

And the winners are.....

The sun returned and racing finished for the ISAF Sailing World Cup classes today in the first part of Kieler Woche, the penultimate stage of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. Competitors have had to endure some long days on the water at this years Kieler Woche, which began with blustery wind and waves producing some exciting sailing and then became a crawl to struggle through the schedule with very light and shifty conditions across all course areas. The race committee had to work extremely hard to swap the courses and re-arrange the schedule, often finishing racing late in the evening. After five days of racing the medal races were a fitting finale for the 680 crews competing in the classes of the Olympic competition.
"When we saw the forecast this morning we were a bit afraid because it said that the wind will drop again during the day. But suddenly we had the breeze we were looking for and could organise fair races in all classes," chairman of the Kieler Woche Jobst Richter explained.
49er
The breeze had just lifted a shade in the early afternoon creating an exciting finale to the 49er regatta. The medal race went down to the wire, literally! Whilst the Austrians Nico Delle Karth and Nikolous Resch won the medal race from German crew Lennart Briesenick-Pudenz and Morten Massmann, the race for third and the gold medal could not be decided by a photo finish for third, which meant the gold medal had to be decided on count back with the British pair of John Pink and Rick Peacock claiming it on a better number of third places, (both teams having the same number of first and second places). "It is our first ISAF Sailing World Cup win" confirmed John, "It was a tough week, not many races and close on points. It was very light, shifty and variable conditions. It went down the last race." "It's good to replicate medal races and a confidence boost going into the Europeans in a few days time."
This meant the Danish crew of Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang had to settle for silver with Delle Karth and Resch taking the bronze. As a result the Austrians extend their lead at the top of the 49er World Cup standings. Most of the crews racing here in Kiel will now make their way to Sopot in Poland for their European championships starting in just over a week's time.

Day 4: A Light Breeze Returns To Kieler Woche
It was a bit of a nail biting day again in the morning of the fourth day of Kieler Woche, penultimate stage of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. By noon a light breeze filled in and all classes could finish enough races before the medal races begin on Wednesday. "The forecast was really the opposite of what we saw later on the water. But to make sure enough races were completed for the Finn and Star classes, who had only raced two before, we relocated their course close to the shore. And it worked, they could sail three races," explained Jobst Richter, Chairman of the Kieler Woche
49er
Only three points separate the top six competitors in the 49er fleet going into the medal race. Of three British boats in the top five the young team of Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign have enjoyed the light conditions to lead the consistent Danes, Emil and Simon Toft Nielsen, the first of three other Danish teams in the medal race. Yann Rochierieux and Morgan Lagraviere of France sailed very consistently, winning the last race of the day and finishing in the bronze position but only one point ahead of the chasing pack of three boats including former leaders Draper and Greenhalgh (GBR).
The medal races will start on Wednesday from 11am. They can watched live on the internet by logging on to: www.kieler-woche.de

Day 3: The wind disrupted racing at Kieler Woche again on the third day of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. Only the 49er, 2.4 mR and the Womens Match Racing competition could finish races today. "We tried to get all classes on the water today but every time we thought we could start the wind dropped again," Jobst Richter, Chairman of Kieler Woche explained. And the forecast for tomorrow promises not much more wind. In this case Jobst Richter and his team may take the decision to cancel the races for the 2.4 mR, who have completed nine races in Kiel, to use this course, which is close to the shore and shows promise of a chance to sail fair races for the other classes.

49ers: It was another long day on the water in very light airs for the 49ers. They did manage two more races and the leader board resembles a real battle between the British and the Danes. Leaders at the beginning of the day, Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh scored an eleventh in race six but recovered with a second in the last race of the day to lead the gold fleet by three points from the Danish crew of Emil and Simon Toft Nielsen who have recorded very consistent results with a win and a third for the day and a lowest score of seventh all week. Chris Draper said, "It was around 2-5 knots with very disturbed water, an unstable breeze with a lot of traffic. We lacked boat speed in the first race but in the second we had a good start and more boat speed."The Nielsen brothers sit on 23 points, eight points clear of the chasing pack of four boats on 31 points including two more British teams, another Danish crew, and Swedish and French teams. The fleet is very close and in these conditions one small mistake can be very costly. As Draper (GBR) confirms, "All the best teams are here except for the other British teams, the Aussies (Outteridge and Jensen and the Sibello brothers from Italy, most of the top crews are here.

Day 2: 49ers: After the surfing conditions yesterday the 49ers were able to maintain a bit more control out on the race course but it was still very tricky for the top crews. The British teams currently hold the top two places after five races sailed. Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh started their Kieler Woche campaign with two bullets yesterday relishing the conditions, "It was a good day yesterday, really good fun conditions, flat out, what 49er racing is all about." Today they continued their good form with a third and a second discarding one bad result (12^th). Greenhalgh explained, "It was tough today, 2-5 knots in a lot of spectator boats, the wake caused us to park up a few times but it is the same for everybody so it's just about dealing with it." In second is the other British duo of John Pink and Rick Peacock and the first of a number of strong French teams, Yann Rocherieux and Morgan Lagraviere are making up the podium one point adrift.

Day 1: With strong conditions up to 24 knots of wind, Kieler Woche the penultimate stage of the ISAF Sailing World Cup started today.

"We are pretty happy with the first day of racing here. We had to postpone the start this morning by one hour because of the high waves outside but finally we could finish our scheduled programme for the day", Jobst Richter, Chairman of the Kieler Woche explained.

49ERS:

Placed third overall behind the two British teams of Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh and John Pink and Rick Peacock. The current leader of the ISAF World Rankings Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) finished sixth today right behind the winning team from last year Lennart Briesenick-Pudenz and Morten Massmann (GER).

All results Kieler Woche please use following link: www.kieler-woche.de/eng/livecenter/olympic.php

A DAY TO REMEMBER

13 year old Laser sailor, Adam Greaves enjoyed a fantastic day sailing on the Olympic 49er with Team Draper Greenhalgh at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, venue for the 2012 Olympic Games. The 49er duo held a competition to go for a sail in a 49er. Just over 200 entries received from all over the world, Australia, East & West Coast USA, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Holland and UK to spend a day with Chris Draper and Pete Greenhalgh for the ride of their life on a 49er and the winner was 13 year old, Adam Greaves from Portland, Dorset.
According to Olympic 49er helmsman, Chris Draper, Adam was beaming from ear to ear.
We had Fuzz, (Grant Spanhake) the legendary sail designer and trim coach with us, as well as our training partners, Dylan and Alain. Adam spent the first session in the RIB with Fuzz and was generally beaming from ear to ear all morning. He looked the part, wearing my Skandia team GBR Oilies which I thought I wasn't getting back! "
"His general comment was ‘amazing’, it was pretty safe to say he was loving sailing the boat. When we got a little more confidence I suggested we tried a wire to wire tack while Adam was helming. Perhaps a little ambitious and we had an impromptu swim, which had to be done really. Adam was great to have a long. We all really enjoyed his company and enthusiasm for the day. Big smiles all round."
Full report on Adam's VIP day out at: http://www.teamdrapergreenhalgh.co.uk

"It was really nice to get so many people interested in what we are doing, it gives us a great feeling of encouragement." Said Chris Draper. "I was especially keen on choosing Adam as he got into sailing through the 'Sail for a Fiver' project at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. The Chesil Trust charity, Sail Laser and WPNSA have teamed up to offer local schools the chance to send kids to the academy and I am a big fan and a patron of the project and Adam is a great example of what 'Sail for a Fiver' has achieved." --www.teamdrapergreenhalgh.co.uk

49er AGM Scheduled

The 49er Class Annual General Meeting of the World Council is scheduled for Monday, July 5 at the European Championship in Poland. The time will be posted the day prior on this website and on the regatta Official Notice Board. For those National Representatives that are unable to attend, please e-mail the office with your proxy.

A General Forum for sailors will be held later during the week and will be announced on-site.

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