Among the ten events for the Paris 2024 Olympics is Men’s and Women’s Windsurfing, and a review is underway to determine whether the RS:X equipment, which has served the event since the 2008 Games, will continue beyond Tokyo 2020.
Following an invitation to tender released on July 15, 2019, World Sailing received seven tenders by the deadline on July 26 from Class Associations and Manufacturers.
Tenders have been received from the following Classes / Manufacturers:
• RS:X, Neil Pryde – Non-foiling one design
• Glide, Glide Class – Non-foiling one design
• Windsurfer, International Windsurfer Class Association – Non-foiling one design
• iFoil, Starboard – Foiling (convertible) one design
• Bow-4Z, Gun Sails von Osterhausen GmbH – Foiling (convertible) one design
• Formula Foil Limited, International Formula Windsurfing Class – Open Registered Series Production scheme – foiling
• Windfoil 1, Founding industry partners: Starboard, Severne, Phantom International – One design for the board – Open Registered Series Production scheme rest of equipment – foiling
World Sailing’s Paris 2024 Windsurfer Evaluation Working Party is currently analyzing the supplied information against the criteria outlined in the invitation to tender. The Working Party will propose a shortlist to the Equipment and Events Committee for their approval before August 16, 2019. Shortlisted Equipment will then be invited to attend the sea trials.
MNAs will be contacted to nominate sailors for the sea trials at a venue and on dates soon to be announced.
Following the invitation to tender, World Sailing has engaged with the windsurfing community to obtain their feedback on the Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer Equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Separate questionnaires for existing RS:X sailors and for members of the wider windsurfing community were distributed. World Sailing received 160 responses from RS:X windsurfers and 964 from the windsurfing community.
The results from both surveys are available below:
• World Sailing Survey for RS:X windsurfers
• World Sailing Survey for the Windsurfing Community
The responses generated will provide feedback to World Sailing’s Paris 2024 Windsurfer Evaluation Working Party for their consultation.
Under Regulation 21.1.3 (e), the decision on selecting the Equipment has to be made before December 31, 2019 and a decision is expected to be made early November at the 2019 World Sailing Annual Conference in Bermuda.
