Top Windsurfers said to take up Kiteboarding for Rio 2016

[Toby]

classic picture...

I think it is great from the windsurfers to be sportsmen and take the challenge to be at Olympia again in 2016, but this time on a kite. Respect for that...this is how I think windsurfers should react. They are REAL sportsmen!

There are two sides to think about who can be at the Olympics...one per country, or the best riders.

Yes, the best riders guarantee the best being present. On the other side I like the idea having one per country as well, this way some people get a chance going to the Olympics who would never have it.

Both is good, both is bad. That's life...can't have it all!

[kitewindunite]

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.

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!!!

[wdric]

'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.

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.
Just as they will need to learn kitesurfing, the current kite racers will need to brush up on the racing side at the top level and with the same support network behind them there is no reason to think they wont also do well.

She already thinks they are in some sort of ellite level by themselves

But as mentioned it will only be one male and one female from each country and only those that have chosen to give up a normal working career and go sailing full time that will be at the top by the time 2016 comes around.

When you think about the Olympics if one country has the top five sailors in a class but only one can go to an Olympics them that gives the best guy an even better chance at winning because the other 4 best have been eliminated before the comp even starts!

Lets hope healthy competition evolves outside the Olympic movement

[ronnie]

Seems that the women too are thinking of kite racing in Rio, but hoping windsurfing is back in 2020, if not in 2016.

http://boards.mpora.com/features/boards ... views.html

[davesails7]

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.

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?

[Clarencephil]

Brazil is a very big country.
Rio is in the south and generally light wind (I was there twice, once in summer, once in winter).
Jericoacoara and Cumbuco and all that area is at least 2000 km to the North, not close.

Saying Brazil is always windy is like saying there should be wind in Florida since there is wind in San Francisco !!!

[ronnie]

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.

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?

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.

[McAbe]

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.

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?

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).

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.

[ronnie]

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.

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?

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).

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.

It seems like they want to hold all the sailing in Guanabara Bay. Does anyone kitesurf in the bay in August?

[kitewindunite]

I don't think too many kitesurf in the Bay: not just because there's very little wind, but because the water is foul... I read somewhere that 70% of the public waste of the surrounding city empties out into the Bay! Not very inviting...