100 years of the RYA and Olympic Sailing 1908-2008
The 2008 Olympics marks a special milestone for the RYA who celebrates a century of involvement with the games at the Beijing event.
The RYA first got involved at the 1908 London Olympics where the British sailing team swept the board, picking up gold in all classes and setting a pattern of success which has continued to this day.
Back in 1908 the RYA’s role at the event was limited to basic advice such as deciding on a venue for racing to be held but over the years the association has worked more and more closely with the Olympic committee.
Jump forward to 2008 and British sailing continues to be an Olympic success story with the sailors set for the Olympic coached, nominated and managed by the RYA.
In fact no country has beaten the UK’s record of 19 gold medals since sailing made its debut as an Olympic sport in 1900.
These days the RYA’s role in managing Britain’s sailors set for the Olympics is all encompassing; taking in training regimes for the sailors, right through to the development of new talent on a continuous programme.
The early days of Olympic sailing regattas
All this is a far cry from the first time committee members of the RYA met in 1907 to discuss their plans for the 1908 London Olympics.
In those days yachting was predominantly the preserve of the rich gentry. This was the era of the giant J-Boats such as Endeavour and Shamrock, owned by tycoons such as Sir Thomas Lipton.
Paid crews were the order of the day back then and the concept of an amateur event must have seemed quite novel to many of the RYA committee members of the time.
At a meeting held by RYA committee members at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in September 1907, the rules of racing, classes, dates and venues were all decided.
Racing was held on the Clyde and the Solent and all the boats were keelboats. The largest was the giant 12 metre class, which could measure up to 75ft in length, and the smallest being the 6 metre class which was still a substantial 30ft.
The success of British sailing teams has remained consistent throughout the history of the Olympics, however 1908 was a bumper year as the team achieved a complete clean sweep of gold medals in all sailing classes.
It must be added that there were only four other nations competing in the sailing event, these being Belgium, France, Norway and Sweden, a far cry from the 30 plus nations which will compete at Beijing.
First female medallist
Anyone under the impression that sailing is not the most progressive sport will be surprised to discover that the first female medallist was actually part of the British sailing team of 1908.
Although a women’s sailing event was not introduced until the 1988 Seoul Olympics, there was female success at the 1908 Olympics for Frances Rivett Carnac, who was part of the winning crew aboard the only entry in the 7 metre class.
RYA Olympic council member Charles Newton Robinson was delighted at the smooth running of the contest, he also spelt out some ideas on the future of sailing as an Olympic sport which showed remarkable foresight.
He said: “As these Olympic regattas are intended primarily as a test of amateur yacht racing seamanship under conditions as equal as possible, perhaps it would be the ideal thing in the future to sail all races in ‘one design’ boats, for which competing crews would draw lots every day.”
As the contest has modernised over the years, these principles have been adopted, boats have gradually been scaled down in size and the modern day contest as we know it has gradually taken shape.
Move to smaller classes
The first move towards the smaller one design classes we see today came with the introduction of the International 12 foot dinghy class for the 1920 Antwerp games.
These clinker built, boats were a strict one design class and were the brainchild of Gosport based designer George Cockshott. The class is still in existence today and enjoys a strong following in the Netherlands, Italy and Japan.
The 12 foot dinghy race of 1920 holds the distinction of being the only Olympic event to have been held in two countries, with the opening round being held in Belgium and the final taking place in the Netherlands.
The 1930’s saw the introduction of more familiar names such as Uffa Fox’s Firefly class, the graceful Dragons, and also the Stars.
The Star class was introduced at the 1932 games and has been a stalwart of the event ever since. The class will be making a record 18th appearance in Beijing, 76 years after making its debut.
Other favourites have gradually appeared over the years. The Finn class fittingly made its debut at the 1952 Helsinki games and was followed more recently by the Tornado, 470 and Laser.
The introduction of the high performance 49er and the Yngling keelboat at Sydney in 2004, and the addition of the Laser Radial for 2008, brings the Olympic fleet up to date.
Old favourites from the dinghy world have come and gone during this period including the Flying Dutchman, the Europe, the Firefly and the Tempest.
One wonders what the members of the RYA, who helped organise the 1908 event, would have made of the competition as it exists today.
The double trapezes of the 49er and the twin hulls of the Tornado are a far cry from the rather stately vessels which did battle in the early races, whilst the 1908 administration had little concept of youth development.
In many ways the amateur aspect of the Olympics led the path away from the elitism in yacht racing so prevalent at the turn of the 19th century.
The games opened the door for smaller classes to compete and helped establish a dinghy class culture whereby sailors did not need massive financial backing to reach the absolute pinnacle of competitive sailing.
The RYA’s training program has contributed to this by ensuring that any child with an aptitude and enthusiasm for sailing can dream of competing in the Olympics with the backing of some of the best coaches in the world.
Re-branding the sport
Perhaps the ultimate expression of the journey the sport has made since the 1908 games was made at the 2000 Olympics when officials decided to rebrand ‘yachting’, as it had been known since 1900, to ‘sailing’ thereby casting off the last vestige of a bygone era.
Past or present, sailors have always formed a cornerstone of British Olympic success and all the evidence points to a bright future, with the promise of more medals at this year’s event.