With Sailing struggling to find support within the International Olympic Committee its up to the sport to be proactive in finding a solution that will guarantee its place in future Games. The 49'er Class has always been at the forefront of this and yesterday we stage a 'Stadium Race' to prove that we can deliver fast, easy to understand, exciting racing in confined spaces.
The concept is radical. 2 flights of 8 teams going head to head over a 5 race series to determin 1st to 4th ranked teams in each flight. Then its a conventional Match Race format to decide the Overall placings. The real difference is in the course. A 400 meter windward leeward course within a 100meter wide lane fenced off with swimming style buoys on ropes. Races last 8 minutes and its full on 'Crash and Burn' racing.
Yesterdays 2nd attempt at running the format went really well. 15-20kts of wind and a fierce chop meant the boat handling of the best teams in the worlds was put under intense pressure. The biggest question is will the best teams win or will we see random teams taking the Gold. Well, the early signs are that the 10 ten will remain the same but the order may change slightly to favour the teams with better boat handling. Yesterday it was Greenhalgh and Draper that prevailed with Fletcher-Sign 2nd the NZL team of Burling and Turk 3rd.
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