Malta49er

2012 Olympics

The summer of 2012 will bring the Olympic games up to the UK. While most of the events will be taking place in London, the location of the sailing venue is 100 miles south in Weymouth bay and Portland harbour.

Weymouth and Portland

Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour provides some of the best natural sailing waters in the UK, with facilities on land to match.
The site has already hosted numerous international sailing events, including the 2006 ISAF World Youth Championships attended by over 60 nations.

Sailing at the Olympics

The Sailing events are spread over 10 classes which include: 49er, finn, laser, laser radial, 470 (men), 470 (women), RSX (men), RSX (women), star and women’s match racing.

The difference in classes is similar to say how the motor GP is split into different classes 125cc, 250cc and 800cc. The 49er would be the 800cc class for sailing!

Each class ranges between 19 to 25 competitors, who qualify at the previous world championships. In the case of the London Olympics the qualifying event will be the 2011 ISAF World Championships held in Perth, Australia.

The classes and the procedure of the event is exactly the same as the ISAF Sailing World Cup. A series of races up to 12, from which the top ten are chosen to proceed to the final ‘medal race’.