Multihull 2016

The 7 boats to complete in the trials have now been announced

• Hobie 16
• Hobie Tiger
• Nacra F16
• Nacra 17
• Spitfire S
• Tornado
• AHPC Viper F16

The trials are being held between the 17th and 25th March in Santander, Spain.

ISAF have now released initial information and a request for proposals of equipment. ISAF will be making further announcements of the date and location of the trials closer to the time but they are likely to be in Southern Europe in early spring 2012 but this may be subject to change.

Please find attached the respective request for proposal documents and our news story here:

http://www.sailing.org/36988.php

The PDF

Quick Overview

Here are the basic requirements for a Multihull coming along to the trials:

(a) Boat Characteristics:
2-person multihull type
Sloop rig with an Asymmetrical Spinnaker
FRP construction of hulls
Two part mast
Twin trapeze
Unsinkable when holed or swamped with approximately level floatation. The boat, when swamped, shall float with some portion of the freeboard, or deck above water
Easily righted by the crew without external help
Able to be shipped in a 6.1m (20ft) container
Trailerable maximum width 2.59m (8ft 6in)
(b) Performance – per the following approximate descriptions:
Racing is expected to be held in winds in the range 5 to 25 knots
Higher winds should reward the skill and experience of the sailor
Above 25 knots the crew may be in survival mode, but the boat is robust enough to continue without breakage.
(c) Construction Manuals/Design Calculations and Support
All offerors must present preliminary documents for initial review to be invited to attend sailing trials. (See 1.b)
All materials will be considered proprietary to the offeror.
Every item that is used while racing should be included in the submittal. For example the hull, mast and rigging, appendages and sails.
Level of completeness will influence the evaluation.
As a minimum the following drawings are expected to be submitted for review; Hull Construction Laminations Plan with Bill of Materials; Appendage Construction with Bill of Materials; Plan view of Control Lines; General Arrangement; Sail Plan with Bill of Materials; Rigging Plan with Bill of Materials.
(d) Safety – Isolation of Mast from Power Lines – The proposed equipment is to provide a measure of safety from inadvertent strikes of the mast to the overhead power lines.
(e) Transportability of Equipment – Should be capable of transport by containerized shipping. For lowest cost, options to ship in a standard 20ft unit should be considered and presented, as well as the 40ft unit option.

The Main Goals

Obviously, every Multihull sailor will have their own opinion on these requirements, to me it appears that saving money on shipping around the World is the main goal for ISAF. The requirment of a 20 foot container and two piece mast also lead towards a boat under 20 foot ruling out many of the possible contenders including the former Olympic Class (Tornado) and the Narca Carbon F20.

Review by Nick Dewhurst (UKCRA Chairman)

Following the announcement that the ISAF Multihull Commission can be disbanded now that it has done its job (see below), on behalf of those on the outside, I should like to thank those on the inside who represented our common cause on this Commission. Thank you Paul, and the rest of the Commission, for presenting our case successfully to those in power. Hopefully the Equipment Committee will come up with a sensible selection of boat that achieves the best balance between widespread accessibility for competing countries and spectacular racing for spectators within the constraints of commercial reality. We can all draw our own conclusions on whether the decision to act on the idea we initially floated in 2007 for a Mixed Event was out of conviction or political expedience. However the outcome is that this sailing event is just one of three Mixed Events in the entire Games (the others being badminton and tennis), so it strengthens sailing’s case for remaining in the Games, should our sport be in the relegation zone. It also deals with those without knowledge of the historical background who say women don’t race enough cats, for if there is an event, they will flock to it, as they did for all the other Women-Only events. Hopefully it will be such a success that next time round ISAF will decide that cats should be treated equally to monohulls i.e. Men and Women Events. Good luck to the competitors and hopefully the trickle-down effects will boost support for our sport in more countries around the world.

Message from Simon Forbes, ISAF

To ISAF Multihull Commission

At the ISAF Executive Committee meeting 10-12 September, it was reported that The Chairman of the Multihull Commission considered that the Commission has been successful in fulfilling the purpose it was convened for, and requests it is disbanded.

The Executive Committee agreed to disband the Commission with immediate effect.

The Executive recorded their appreciation of the work of its members.

Multihulls back in Olympic Regatta

ISAF today voted to return the multihull to the Olympics for the 2016 event in Brazil. While the particular boat to be sailed will not be decided until November next year, this decision gives young multihull sailors confidence that there is a path to the Olympics for them.

The decision includes a Mixed gender event, so one male and one female crew member. While some people may not be happy with the imposition of Mixed gender, this will allow women to compete in multihulls in significant numbers, something that has not happened in the past due primarily to the strength to weight requirements of the Tornado, the multihull that served us well during games from 1976 - 2008.

So what happens next? The immediate task is for the Equipment Committee within ISAF to set out a plan to choose the particular boat to sail in 2016, and there will be vigorous (read "heated") debate about the ideal boat over the next 18 months. What we all need to understand is what might be a great boat for club racing may be completely impractical once the blowtorch of Olympic competition is applied to the boat. Professional Olympic sailors will push the boundaries more than any dedicated club sailor and any minor issues with manufacture, class rules, etc will eventually be identified and exploited mercilessly.

To make it clearer on the criteria by which we should possibly judge each boat, I will write an article in the next few days with my personal opinions (as an "insider" as I have been labelled) about what characteristics I feel are important in the selection of the "right boat".

The longer term task for all of us is to actually start working on the same vote at ISAF in three and a half years time. While the multihull is back for 2016, the decision that the crew must be Mixed is a complete experiment and should be challenged by multihullers. Your representatives at ISAF publicly supported the introduction of a Men’s and Women’s Event, but were well aware from the start that this was a highly unlikely outcome. In the end, the 5/5 solution with both a Men’s and Women’s in the five disciplines of board, single hander, double hander, keelboat and multihull received 20% of the final vote at the Events Committee and five votes at the Council. However it is reasonable to assume that the support for the 5/5 was more of a vote for the support for retaining a Men’s and Women’s keelboat, rather than a vote for two Multihull Events.

The main issue to obtaining a second Multihull Event is that while there are a large number of women sailing multihulls, there has only ever been two women sailors in nine Olympic multihull events, so very little visibility of women at the top level. However, over the next few years, the number of women sailing multihulls at Olympic level events will increase and we should be in a much stronger position in three and a half years time to have a separate Men’s and Women’s Events.

Finally I would like to take the opportunity to thank the people from the multihull fraternity who assisted in one way or another in getting us back into the game over the last three and a half years. From those behind the initial swift, strong and determined response at the decision to drop the boat, to those who followed, attending ISAF meetings and convincing their MNA of the need to return the multihull. Sometimes "support" means writing emails, researching historical data, making phone calls or getting on an a plane to fly to meetings half way around the world.

However, sometimes "support" also means biting the tongue in order to allow a consistent message to ISAF and sometimes this is the most difficult of all. All of the various classes did hold the party line by not engaging in public boat vs. boat discussions, making it significantly easier for those of us at ISAF meetings to project a united approach and making it impossible for other classes to attack the multihull. Everyone holding off on the discussion about "which boat", meant that we were never challenged that we were "too big, too small, too expensive, too heavy, too light", and eventually got to the point where we were virtually "untouchable".

This was born out by the fact that every submission put forward for consideration at this meeting included at least one Multihull Event. Whether people were scared of another backlash, or felt that a Multihull Event was good for the sport, it doesn't really matter - they all felt that if their own submission did not include a Multihull Event, it would not have a chance of being accepted.

Thank you all for your support and I look forward to MNA's gradually re-invigorating their multihull programs around the world.

From St Petersburg, Russia, 8th May 2011

Paul Pascoe
President, ISAF Multihull Commission

Read the full report from Paul (PDF 88KB)

It was a day of holding on in Act 2 Qingdao, day 3 of The Extreme Sailing Series. Another great event at the Ex Olympic sailing centre in Qingdao, China. Here is a video showing the action from the day.

After the latest ISAF annual conference the council followed the recomendations of the events committee and voted to have a Multihull for 2016. The Multihull event will be a mixed event which offers great opportunity for Multihull sailors such as Roland and Nahid Gaebler who sail their Tornado as a mixed team.

News from the official ISAF conference blog

Well done to Nick Dewhurst, Simon Morgan and Will Sunnucks for putting it together.

Download now (PDF 1.16MB)

Here are some background reports for your reading, the majority come from ISAF.

May 2010 - Report on Olympic Events (PDF 2.49MB)

October 2010 - ISAF Brings Olympic Selection Forward (PDF 51KB)

ISAF's Executive makes the unusual move of bringing forward its Olympic selection process by putting forward a submission of its own that the subject be on the agenda for its Annual Conference this year, rather than next. The Conference is in Athens between 4th and 13th November.

October 2010 - Multihulls back for 2016 is the recommendation (PDF 249KB)

Multihulls back for 2016 is the recommendation from ISAF's Events Committee in its submission to the Annual Conference. It proposes a complex solution, but the bottom line is more high-performance Events, specifically Women's Two Person Skiff and a Mixed Multihull Event.

October 2010 - Olympic athletes will have a voice at ISAF's highest level (PDF 14KB)

For the first time Olympic athletes will have a voice at ISAF's highest level if the submission from the Executive is passed. The athletes are generally thought to want more modern high performance boats, including multihulls.

October 2010 - 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition Events (PDF 22KB)

October 2010 - Events for Olympic Games (PDF 16KB)

October 2010 - 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition Events (PDF 19KB)

Various submissions for 5x2 Events have been carried forward from the last Annual Conference. These ask that the Olympic Regatta be one Event each for men and one for women in five distinct disciplines (One Person Dinghy, Two Person Dinghy, Keelboat, Multihull and Windsurfer). They are proposed by leading sailing nations, France and US as well as the various catamaran classes, including Tornado, Formula 18 and Dart 18.

Check out this video of Carolijn Brouwer sailing the Viper in Australia.

The Tornado UK video has had over 9000 views in 2 weeks, filmed by Geoff Gritton (www.tb4e.com) and edited by Design & Post (www.designandpost.co.uk) it shows the action from a different angle.

The next America's Cup will be sailed on wingsail catamarans - Now how can ISAF deny the World of Sailing a Multihull in the Olympic Games.

More info

All previous reports from the campaigns to bring the Multihull back can be found on the UKCRA website.

Multihull 2016 is here to show the sailors views on the Multihull and why they think it should be back in the Olympics for 2016.