In an ideal world... But there's no saying what each nation is going to do to select its representatives. They've done some totally non-sensical stuff in the past. It wouldn't surprise me if the US ran its Rio qualifier in San Francisco!!!ronnie wrote:Yep, anyone wanting to be in Rio is probably going to have to specialise for 4 years in being the best at kiting in very light winds on flat water, with the best possible gear for those conditions.
So they should know how to compete, I think most have had a very large team behind them to get them to where they are today, and also most likely government funding.Toby wrote:'I am sure that [the RSX sailors] will be good [at kiting] because all of the people here know how to compete, they know how [handle themselves] under pressure, and they know everything about sailing in the Olympics.
Is Rio usually a light wind location? I know this is generalizing for a very large country, but don't a lot of people travel to Brazil because it's always windy? If Rio has no wind, maybe have the sailing events 100 miles up the coast?ronnie wrote:Its all about the conditions in Rio. If it's going to be flat water and about 8 knots of wind, then they dont have to learn to race in anything else. It would be much more difficult to get to a level where thay could beat Johnny in San Francisco or at Sylt on a windy wavy day.
I expect they will only train on the best lightwind gear they can get in about 10 knots of wind as we get closer to 2016.
This is a sailing regatta in August 2008 in Guanabara Bay. From the wind recorded at the airport in the bay, these look like typical conditions for August.davesails7 wrote:Is Rio usually a light wind location? I know this is generalizing for a very large country, but don't a lot of people travel to Brazil because it's always windy? If Rio has no wind, maybe have the sailing events 100 miles up the coast?ronnie wrote:Its all about the conditions in Rio. If it's going to be flat water and about 8 knots of wind, then they dont have to learn to race in anything else. It would be much more difficult to get to a level where thay could beat Johnny in San Francisco or at Sylt on a windy wavy day.
I expect they will only train on the best lightwind gear they can get in about 10 knots of wind as we get closer to 2016.
Wind in Rio city is not very good, you can kite on average 3 days a week and its usually about 15kn, 20 at most (Barra beach benefits from a local wind phenomenon created by a mountain next to it and gets a few knots more than surrounding locations).davesails7 wrote:Is Rio usually a light wind location? I know this is generalizing for a very large country, but don't a lot of people travel to Brazil because it's always windy? If Rio has no wind, maybe have the sailing events 100 miles up the coast?ronnie wrote:Its all about the conditions in Rio. If it's going to be flat water and about 8 knots of wind, then they dont have to learn to race in anything else. It would be much more difficult to get to a level where thay could beat Johnny in San Francisco or at Sylt on a windy wavy day.
I expect they will only train on the best lightwind gear they can get in about 10 knots of wind as we get closer to 2016.
It seems like they want to hold all the sailing in Guanabara Bay. Does anyone kitesurf in the bay in August?McAbe wrote:Wind in Rio city is not very good, you can kite on average 3 days a week and its usually about 15kn, 20 at most (Barra beach benefits from a local wind phenomenon created by a mountain next to it and gets a few knots more than surrounding locations).davesails7 wrote:Is Rio usually a light wind location? I know this is generalizing for a very large country, but don't a lot of people travel to Brazil because it's always windy? If Rio has no wind, maybe have the sailing events 100 miles up the coast?ronnie wrote:Its all about the conditions in Rio. If it's going to be flat water and about 8 knots of wind, then they dont have to learn to race in anything else. It would be much more difficult to get to a level where thay could beat Johnny in San Francisco or at Sylt on a windy wavy day.
I expect they will only train on the best lightwind gear they can get in about 10 knots of wind as we get closer to 2016.
If you travel only 2 hours east to Cabo Frio (still in the state of Rio de Janeiro) you find some of the best kite conditions in the world with 20kn or more almost daily and both wave and flat water spots.
If the plan is to have the competitions in the city; maybe they had wind conditions in mind when replacing windsurf with kitesurf, windsurfers need more wind to race.