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Five-Ring Circus

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Five-Ring Circus

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June 8, 2011

One Quarter of the Way There

149
by Stuart Streuli
image-110608 clark sfg
© Courtesy USSTAG
Isn't summer right around the corner? Not in Weymouth, England, apparently. 470 skipper Amanda Clark joined forces with crew Sarah Lihan, a former Laser Radial sailor, just a few months ago, but the duo has clicked well enough to be in the hunt for the U.S. Women's 470 Olympic berth at the first half of the U.S. Olympic Trials at the Skandia Sail For Gold Regatta. After six races they trail the top U.S. team, Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar, by just 15 points.

With the first half of the 2011 U.S. Olympic Trials half over, we check in to see which favorites are living up to their billing and which have some work to do before Saturday.

The general rule of thumb for sailing’s Olympic Trials is that if you’re looking for upsets, for underdogs breaking through, you should probably look elsewhere. Perhaps more than in any other Olympic sport in the United States, the sailing trials—usually decided by a grueling 9-day closed regatta—have rewarded the team with the most talent and the most thorough preparation. 

November 11, 2010

Critical Olympic Vote Still to Come

112
by Stuart Streuli

A closer look at two critical submissions to the ISAF General Coucil shed some light on the re-vamped Olympic event selection process and reveal that the Council itself still holds the final vote.

Many sailors see the exclusion of multihulls from the Olympics regatta in November 2007 as a low-water mark for the sport. But it could also prove to be a crucial turning point that helped spur a more logical and forward-thinking method for managing the events and boats for future Olympic regattas.

November 10, 2010

Dark Star?

91
by Stuart Streuli

Is the Star on its way out of the Olympics? The venerable design was not included on the initial proposal for the Olympic sailing events for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

ISAF’s Events Committee has produced a slate of disciplines for the 2016 Olympics that includes a mixed multihull and doesn’t (gasp) include the Star. Now before everyone (or at least all the current and former Star sailors) gets too excited, remember that this is simply the recommendation from the Events Committee. As logical as it would be to have this committee decide the final slate and not the biased, self-interested, and extremely political general council, that’s not how it works. The ISAF Council will vote on the slate this weekend.

July 9, 2010

It Wasn't Broke, But Trials System Needed Fixing Anyway

85
by Stuart Streuli

The new selection process for the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team is a move in the right direction, but it does have a cost.
July 7, 2010

US SAILING Announces New Olympic Trials Format

117
by The Editors
image-140-USTrials07-Day5 7
© Stuart Streuli
TrialsFormatThumb

US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) has finalized the selection procedures for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.

To access SW's latest podcast, in which senior editor Stuart Streuli interviews Dean Brenner, chairman of US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee, click here.