Gobsmacked to see that the Olympic RS-X gold medalist has swapped his kit so quickly!
Apparently Dorian's first kiteboarding event:http://www.sailing.org/news/32656.php
Check out the video here featuring an interview with Dorian:
www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Kitesurfing/World-Kiteboard-Racing-Championships-show-whats-to-come_6484321.aspx
Gotta admit that kiteboard course racing appears to be very spectacular (on the vid), though wondering what gear Dorian will be on if windsurfing happens to get voted back into the 2016 games considering the much talked about Olympic windsurfing vs kiteboarding voting fiasco!
He really didn't have a choice.
He is a professional athlete and thanks to Yachting Australia driving the dumping of windsurfing from the Olympic's, he no longer has a job.
I see Izzy Hamilton entered. She was a real up an coming UK RS:ONE sailor.
34 female competitors - a lot more than last year.
FFS - why don't they just windsurf? The boards look like windsurf race boards. Alternatively make it open class and put windsurfers and kites up against each other.
Kiting is a pretty easy change over for a windsurfer with decent coordination. I would imagine that any talented rsx or formula sailor could easily swap over in time for the next olympics. It is a shame to see the continued animosity some people still have between the two sports, it really is very immature. If I had spent years training for olympic competition I would certainly not want to see it go to waste.
i reckon kite course racing has a lot of potential to be amazing - the biggest challenge would have to be light wind - what are the minimum consistent winds required for kite racing?
I can totally understand why a sharp trained sailor would side step on formats- why waste all that learned tactical excellence?
And what will be the ideal body type - rsx had s definite window / body size that you had to be - i wonder if the kiting dynamic will yield the same - or be more rangey.
So much easier for the guys to travel around with the gear
And with good camera coverage - such as a live go pro feed from each kite as well as a helicopter - and great commentary- it would be spectacular. The olympics sailing coverage was spectacular this year.
I know Formula gear if left to go to 75 cm fins and 12m sails could be consistently on the plane in 6 knots. But boy boy the gear sure is heavy and unpleasant (to me ) to sail. Whereas from what i know of kites 8 knots and a big kite and big race board are a lot more dynamic / manoeuvrable
Of course RSX or long boards could be sailed in 0- 1 knot (i often used to race in these conditions) - but that makes for some pretty boring racing for the spectators
All the Olympians are switching to kites ... my whole FB feed is dedicated to it. Even the Gold Medalist from Spain ...
So far, the windsurfers are pretty behind. From what I could find out, Dorian has killer angle but he was really slow in the tacks/gybes as he'd only been on a kite a couple of weeks.
Enter 3 years of an intense Olympic training program with the highest tier of funding behind it and I think we might even see the EXACT SAME sailors who were on the podium for RS:X on the podium for Kites in 2016.
So what did we achieve here? ha.
The YA decided that they were too far behind to win a medal in windsurfing, even though they opted not to send a represent to the Olympic's (FYI, Australia had qualified)...
The thought process was that it would be better to level the playing field with a new discipline and start again. Hence Australia lobbied to change to Kites and voted to dump windsurfing.
I'm sure the YA have a different story, but we will never know since they have gone into hiding....
For the record, I don't have an issue Kites being in the Olympics, in fact I'm actually Pro...I have an issue with windsurfing being pitted against Kites and being dumped in extremely dubious circumstances. Hence the pending court cases...
RSX sailors are light weight !!
^ There are some people on some bay that complain about the other sailors being too light and having an unfair advantage. cough cough.
Kiting should prolong the competitive life of the athletes as you remain hooked in. You dont pump with a kite.
Alex Aguera came 20th
Ken Winner came 30th
old time windsurfers will know these legends. Good result for these two guys.
Mike Gebhart not so good
Dorian is super athletic and his fitness pumping skills wont be so important but he is the complete sailor so I will not be surprised if he wins the kite worlds.
