Olympics

Second wind for board sport

AUCKLAND HERALD ON SUNDAY 20 /2/2011
Windsurfing lost out to cheaper extreme sports but is again attracting the attention of the young - and not so young. By Dennis Cole
FIND A breath of wind and you'll also find collections of little sails racing round the harbour, and closer to shore than the Lasers and Pclasses you will find windsurfers.
The sport has died down since its hey day in the 1980s — a combination of expensive, inaccessible equipment and a rise in other extreme sports such as snowboarding and skateboarding took the wind out of the sport's sails. But recently windsurfing has been changing its look: rather than racing from buoy to buoy youngsters are being drawn to free style windsurfing—flipping and spinning in the air to land tricks you'd more likely see on a snow or skateboard.

What does 'or' mean? Lets have both board sports at the Olympics!

'Kite Cross is only one of the possible kiteboarding formats for the Olympic Games, but surely a spectacular crowd pleaser !' Rick Schwendtner
The deadline for the submissions to be made for the 10 Olympic Sailing Events is approaching fast - it will be March 10, 2011. One of the most debated issues behind closed doors is surely the question on what 'Board OR Kite-Board' exactly means, as it was decided by the ISAF council during the 2011 ISAF annual conference in Athens.

Rio 2016: It's Time To Bite The Bullet - windsurfing at the Olympics

The deadline for making submissions to the ISAF Mid Year Meeting in St.Petersburg, Russia is 1200hrs UTC on March 10th. The statistics show that there are 2.9 million windsurfers in Germany alone. Extrapolate that world wide and it's easy to come to the conclusion that there are more windsurfers on the planet that any other sort of sailor. The bad news is that there are supposedly serious and responsible people within ISAF who think that windsurfing and kiteboarding should be combined into one event as a biathlon. If this was not so serious, it would be laughable. Both the windsurfing and the kiteboarding communities are strongly against this idea. Small and emerging sailing nations will be quick to understand that this will double the cost of the 'boards' medal and exclude a lot of them because they either don't have a kitesurfer or a windsurfer worthy of a place in the Games.

10 Reasons Why Windsurfing Has Earned Its Place in The Olympic Games - reprint

With the submission deadline for the 2011 ISAF midyear meeting in St. Petersburg approaching
fast, here is a short roundup why every proposed slate for the 10 sailing medals should include
windsurfing
Windsurfing is the biggest sailing discipline on the planet

The competition between windsurfers and kites for Rio heats up

The heat between kiteboarders and windsurfers is on. As the wind riders fight for the last sailing ticket into the 2016 Olympic Summer Games, in Rio de Janeiro, the International Kiteboarding Association and the RS:X Class have published an identical article on the "10 reasons why..." their sport should go Olympic.

Olympic sailing looks to go extreme

The world’s top Olympic sailors were in South Florida reading wind and waves aboard two-person dinghies, keelboats and windsurfers at the recent Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. The sailing lineup has not really been altered much in the last 20 years. But that is about to change, and this regatta provided a sneak peek into the sport’s future.

Sail Auckland starts today - includes Olympic class RS:X

Sail Auckland is an ISAF Grade 1 Olympic Classes Regatta to be held 2 – 6 February 2011. In 2011 for the first time the event will be hosted from the Takapuna Boating Club on the North Shore of Auckland. Competing classes include RS:X, Laser, Laser Radial, Finn, 420, 470, 29er, 49er, Tornado & 2.4R. The World’s best will be on the Men’s RS:X race track with both NZL Sailing Team representatives – Tom Ashley and Jon-Paul Tobin in the fleet plus top international Dorian van Rijsselberge from the Netherlands. Former 470 helm, and one of New Zealand’s youngest Olympians in 2008, Carl Evans is now on the board and will go head to head with Ashley and Tobin at Sail Auckland 2011. Kate Ellingham and Natalia Kosinska line up in the Women’s fleet. http://www.sailauckland.org.nz/

Kiteboarding Olympic demonstration misfires in Miami

The 2016 Olympics will hold some big changes for the sport of sailing and if the Kiteboard Class has its way the inclusion of Kiteboarding will be one of those changes. The Class is making a big push to put Kiteboard racing in to the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro and as a prelude to the big show had set up an exhibition race this past weekend as sort of a litmus test. So how did it go? (report from Waterhound.com)

Barbara Kendall leaves big shoes to fill - new kiwi Natalia Kosinska aims to do that

NZ Herald: Even in Poland, Barbara Kendall was famous and now a young Polish boardsailor is keen for the name of Kosinska to rate up there with Kendall in New Zealand windsurfing. The Poles have some of the best sailors in the world; their men took gold and silver at the 2010 world championships. One of their former champions, Natalia Kosinska, now calls New Zealand home and aims to represent her adopted country at the London Olympics in 2012.
"Even in Poland Barbara Kendall was a guru when I was young," recalls Kosinska. "I don't know if I can be the next Barbara - but I certainly want to try."

Tom Ashley - Aiming for 2012

NZ Herald: Tom Ashley can't remember the last time he was asked for an autograph. The Beijing Olympic boardsailing gold medallist says that, other than some local Devonport kids, he hasn't been recognised in public since late 2008. The lack of profile is no problem for the 26-year-old; in fact it seems to suit him. "I think it is great, it's an advantage," he says. "It would be quite tiresome being a celebrity."