Olympics

Windsurfing Event safety check-out / check-in board

At the recent Eastbourne Windsurfing Fun Slalom event we trialled a check-out / check-in board system for managing safety. I first encountered this at the National Slalom event in Dunedin and it worked well, so I decided to try it here. It worked well so here's the details on how to make and use your own (total cost $6)

ISAF Olympic Committee restores RS:X windsurfing to the Olympics for 2016

The ISAF General Assembly have voted to restore mens and womens RS:X windsurfing to the RIO 2016 event. This is a great result for windsurfing to correct a decision that on paper should never have been made. Hopefully the momentum for both windsurfing and kiteboarding that has come out of it will not be lost.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/7934503/Windsurfing-voted-back...

ISAF Olympic Committee reconsidering windsurfing decision

The ISAF is currently meeting in Dublin, and the controversial windsurfing vs kiteboarding decision is very much on the agenda. The Windsurfing & Kiteboarding Committee proposed a new compromise of mixed windsurfing and mixed kiteboarding (male/female) events. In its attempt to keep everyone happy the committee has arrived at a result which will please no one and probably do both sports a disservice, not to mention reducing rather than increasing participation, particularly by smaller countries, the very group it's supposed to help. http://www.surfertoday.com/windsurfing/8139-isaf-committee-proposes-wind...
Meanwhile the Events committee has recommended that the original decision be overturned - a much more sensible approach, and an opportunity to get kiteboarding into the Olympics in a much better managed way. http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/ISAF-Conference:-Committee-votes-to-re-inst...

Yachting New Zealand Statement: The Board Sailing Debate

The ISAF Annual Conference being held on 1st -11th November in Ireland will hold special interest for supporters of windsurfing and kite boarding, with the ISAF Council to decide whether the decision on Kite-Board Racing’s inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games is to be re-visited.

The ISAF Council is the decision making body of ISAF and is made up of representatives elected by 12 groups of countries, known as Areas. Each country in the Area has one vote in determining matters before Council.

Australia and most of the Pacific Island nations support the decision for kite-board racing for the Olympics

Yachting New Zealand has confirmed that both Area L (SW Pacific) representatives will be voting in favour of kiteboards at the upcoming Annual meeting of the International Sailing Federation, despite lodging its own submission which supports the re-reinstatement of the Windsurfer as an Olympic event. Understandably this has created a great deal of consternation and anger in New Zealand, particularly in the windsurfing community.

ISAF Windsurfing & Kiteboarding Committee Agenda - Olympic decision revisited

The Windsurfing & Kiteboarding Committee will meet on Sunday 4 November 2012 at the Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland to consider a large number of submissions on the earlier selection of kiteboarding over windsurfing for Rio 2016. The submissions themselves make interesting reading (see below) as they are more considered (less emotive) than the discussions that have been taking place in the media, including social media.

Windsurfing is awesome - kids and parents watch this!

RIO 2016: The RS:X Class takes the ISAF decision to court

Since the ISAF Mid Year Meeting and the narrow vote to deselect windsurfing and the RS:X for the 2016 Olympic Regatta in Rio de Janeiro, the class has been working on many levels to get this decision reversed under the direction of its crisis management group within the Executive Committee

The opinion of our legal team is that the decision was perverse and unfair and so accordingly we have issued a claim for Judicial Review [dated August 1st 2012] in the High Court in London which had to be lodged within 3 months of the date of the decision on May 5th

2012 Olympic Mens RS:X Windsurfing - J P Tobin - news and results

Jon-Paul Tobin is the New Zealand Olympic Sailing - RS:X Windsurfing representative. 3rd at the World Champs, he's a top contender for a medal.
Final result:JP Tobin remained consistent finishing 7th overall. Dorian Van Rijsselberge (netherlands) his training partner won the event easily, and the other member of the team Zachary Plavsic (Canada) finished 8th behind JP. A great effort, the end of an era? Follow this link for more information.