At the 2008 Olympic Games, the sailing will take place at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre, approximately 340 miles South East of Beijing, between Saturday 9 August and Thursday 21 August.
A total of 18 gold medals will be awarded across the 11 sailing classes:
• Star - two-man keelboat.
• Yngling - three-woman keelboat
• Finn - single-handed heavyweight dinghy for men
• Laser - single-handed dinghy for men
• Laser Radial - single-handed dinghy for women
• 49er - double handed high performance twin trapeze dinghy for men or women (although only men tend to compete in this class due its the physical nature)
• Tornado - double handed high performance twin trapeze catamaran for men or women (although only men tend to compete in this class due its the physical nature)
• 470 - double handed dinghy sailed by men and women
• NeilPryde RS:X - windsurfer sailed by men and women using 9.5m2 and 8.5m2 sails respectively.
Whilst the smaller boats can be launched by hand, the Star and Yngling are craned into and out of the water due to the weight of the keels which help counterbalance the power of the sails to stop them tipping over.
The Star is the oldest of the Olympic classes.
The Laser is the most popular of the Olympic classes sailed around the world whilst the Tornado is the fastest.
Both the Radial and the RS:X make their first appearance at an Olympic Games in Beijing, replacing the Europe women’s single-hander and Mistral windsurfer.
Race series
For the first time at an Olympic Games in Beijing, a medal race will determine the final top 10 placings.
The Olympic Regatta is scheduled to consist of an 11 race series for all the classes except the 49er, for which 16 races are scheduled. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening series races and one as the final medal race.
For the opening series, the sailors accrue points depending on where they finish in a race (ie: 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 etc) – the fewer points you have the better. Once five or more opening series races have been completed, the sailors can discard their worst score from the opening series.
During the opening series, the 49ers are scheduled to race three times a day while all other classes are scheduled to race twice.
After 10 (15) races, the 10 boats with the lowest scores in each class move on to the medal race. The medal race is a required, non-discardable race which counts as double points (ie: 1st = 2 points, 2nd = 4 points etc). The final points from the medal race are added to each sailor’s running score and the sailor with the lowest overall score will win the event.
The medal race is officiated by on-the-water umpires with sailors required to make any protests during the race. If two boats have the same overall score at the end of the medal race, the final overall placings will be determined by which boat finished furthest up the field in the medal race.
In Qingdao, six races are required for the series to go to a medal race. If six races are not completed, the winner will be the sailor with the lowest overall score from the completed races. One race is required to constitute a regatta.
Race times
Qingdao will be seven hours ahead of Great Britain during the Olympic Games.
• Racing is scheduled to start each day at 1pm China time (6am British time).
• During the opening series, no race will start later than 4pm China time (9am British time).
• For all the medal races, no race will start later than 4.30pm China time (9.30am British time).
Courses
Each class competes over several laps on a course designed for its own specific type of racing and the length of the courses may vary according the type of boat and wind speed.
You can find out more on the specific courses for the different boat classes in The Events
Starting
In sailing, races begin with a rolling start. The start line is set between a committee boat, from which officials run the racing and a pin end boat. Starting lines vary in length according to how many boats are competing in the event.
Sailors aim to cross the line immediately following the starting gun.
During competition sailors have two main objectives, to get a good start and to sail as fast as possible. By getting a good start sailors are able to take advantage of the changing weather and of their competitors’ position on the course.
Unlike other sports, sailors can start anywhere on the line, which means sailors continually jostle for the best position determined by the course, the wind direction and the fleet. This leads to very intense moments during the timed countdown to the start.
A premature starter does not necessarily result in a re-started race. Instead, the race officer will sound another signal and raise the ‘X’ flag. This informs the sailors that one or more boats jumped the start and those boats must return and start again.
However, if several boats start early the race officer may start the race again – this is known as a ‘general recall’.
If the race officer displays a black flag during the starting sequence, any boat over the line within a minute to the start signal will be disqualified from the race.
Boats that are on the course side of the start line before the start signal and do not return and re-cross the start line will be noted as 'On Course Side' (OCS) and will be disqualified.
Competitors have four minutes after the start to cross the start line, or else they will be recorded as 'Did Not Start' (DNS).
The winner of a race is the first boat to sail the course and cross over the finish line that is between the committee boat and pin end boat.
Rules
If a competitor believes a fellow sailor has broken the rules the helm will instantly call protest to signal that they believes a rule infringement has occurred.
Depending on the type of infringement made, a sailor can negate the protest by immediately completing a 360 or 720 degree turn.
After each day's racing there is a protest period in which sailors who believe they have been wronged can protest other sailors who have failed to negate their protests. They appear before an official protest committee that will listen to all parties involved and decide which boat was in the wrong and penalise the offending boat. Protests will be adjudicated in a series of hearings conducted by the International Jury. Protests may result in scores being adjusted by disqualification (DSQ) or redress (RDG).
With the exception of the RS:X windsurfer, sailors may only use the natural action of the wind and waves to propel the boat around the course. In the Finn and 470 classes the sailors may use kinetics above certain wind speeds (normally 10 or 12 knots) but otherwise pumping the sails and the use of body kinetics to move the boat is illegal.
There is on-the-water judging on kinetics with a yellow flag signalling an infringement. If a sailor gets one yellow flag, they have to do a 720 degree turn, if they get a second yellow flag, they are disqualified from that race and three flags mean you are disqualified from the whole event.
Not enough detail for you? Find out more via the downloads below:
Notice of race
Sailing Instructions
Racing Rules