Olympic sport Sailing

Sport

Sailing

Kind of sport

Summersport

Old sport

Description

At the Olympic Yachting Regatta, various classes of boats are taking part. Every class sails seven races on a circuit with three buoys. Since 1968 score keeping has been as follows:
First place: 0 points
Second place: 3 points
Third place: 5.7 points
Fourth place: 8 points
Fifth place: 10 points
Sixth place: 11.7 points
Seventh place: 13 points

After the last race, every participant is allowed to drop his/her worst race. The remaining points are added and the team with the least amount of points wins.

FINN

The Finn has been used in the Olympic one-design class since 1956. It is an open single-manned boat with a lee-board. The boat is 4.50 metres long, 1.51 metres wide and has a total sail area of 10 square metres. It has no spinnaker and the boats are divided among the participants at random. Since 1976 every participant has been allowed to use his/her own sail and mast.

INTERNATIONAL 470 (men and women)

From 1976 to 1984 this class was mixed. But since 1988, the 470 has been divided into a women's and a men's competition. The 470 is a two-person glass-fiber boat with a length of 470 cm. It is an open yawl with a keel-lee-board and trapeze.

INTERNATIONAL SOLING

The Soling is a small three-person lee-board-boat with a length of 8.15 metres and a width of 1.90 metres. Total sail surface: 24.30 square metres.

INTERNATIONAL STAR

The Star is a two-person lee-board-boat with a length of 6.92 metres and a width of 1.73 metres. The total sail surface is 26.13 square metres. The design is American.

INTERNATIONAL TORNADO

This class of boat was introduced in 1976. The Tornado is a two-person catamaran and belongs to the fastest Olympic classes.

EUROPE (women)

Since 1992, this class of boat has been on the programme for women.

WIND SURFING (men and women)

The extremely popular windsurfing has been on the programme since 1984 for the men and since 1992 for the women. All participants use the same material. In Los Angeles the first-medal winner for this discipline was the Dutchman Stephan van den Berg.

In 1996 the Laser is admitted to the programme.