Sailing/Yachtingis anOlympic sportstarting from the Games of the 1stOlympiad(1896 Olympicsin Athens, Greece). With the exception of the1904and the canceled1916 Summer Olympics,sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1908 was open for a total of five sailing classes (disciplines), but actually only four Sailing events were contested. The planned venue of all races, namedmatches,wasRyde,Isle of Wight.
| Sailing at the Games of the IV Olympiad | |
|---|---|
  1908 Gold Medal (Obverse and Reverse) | |
| Venues | Ryde,Isle of Wight Hunters Quay,Scotland |
| Dates | First race: 27 July 1908(Ryde) Last race: 29 July 1908 First race: 11 August 1908(Hunters Quay) Last race: 12 August 1908 |
| Competitors | 64 Male and 2 Female (Documented) from 5 nations |
| Boats | 14 |
Venue
edit| Royal Victoria Yacht Club | |
|---|---|
 Clubhouse of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde, 1909  | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Clubhouse |
| Town or city | Ryde |
| Country |  GBR |
| Coordinates | 50°43′58.92″N1°9′44.91″W/ 50.7330333°N 1.1624750°W |
| Elevation | Sealevel |
| Construction started | 1846 |
| Client | Royal Victoria Yacht Club |
| Owner | Prince Consort Building |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Italianate style Regency architecture |
| Royal Clyde Yacht Clubhouse | |
|---|---|
 The Clubhouse of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club Clyde at Hunter’s Quay (GBR) was made available for the Organizing Committee of the B.O.C. and the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club for the 12 Metre Matches.  | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Hotel & Clubhouse |
| Town or city | Hunters Quay |
| Country | GBR |
| Coordinates | 55°58′11.31″N4°54′31.78″W/ 55.9698083°N 4.9088278°W |
| Elevation | Sealevel |
At the 1907 The Hague Conference of the IOCRydeat theIsle of Wightwas appointed to host the sailing regattas, for all classes, of the games of the IVth Olympiad. However, when there were only two British entries for the 12 Metre matches, and both yacht were located at theFirth of Clyde,the decision was made to useHunters Quayas a second venue.[1]
The RVYC was founded on 24 May 1845 by Prince Albert to give Queen Victoria a Yacht Club which she was entitled to enter as a mere female![2]
For the Olympic matches the race committee used the available shipping buoys as marks for the courses. for the classes the following course lengths were used:
- 6 Metre: 13 nautical miles (24 km)
- 7 Metre: 13 nautical miles (24 km)
- 8 Metre: 16 nautical miles (30 km)
Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club,Hunters Quay
edit- 12 Metre: 26 nautical miles (48 km)
Course areas
editThe following course areas were used during the 1908 Olympic sailing regattas:
Competition
editOverview
edit| Continents | Countries | Classes | Entries | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 64 | 2 |
A maximum of 2 boats per country per class was allowed.
Continents
edit ●Green= Participating for the first time ●Blue= Participating ●Light Blue= Have previously participated |
|
Countries
editSource:[1]
 ●Green= Participating for the first time ●Blue= Participating ●Light Blue= Have previously participated |
|
Classes (equipment)
editSource:[1] Although one of the oldest organized sporting activities,sailingin the early first part of the 20th century was not uniformly organized. This had a lot to do with national traditions as well as with the fact that there were no standardized boat types with uniform building instructions and measurements. Also a lot of development was done in the area of boat design and boat building. The shape of a boat, specifically its length, its weight and its sail area, are major parameters that determine the boat's speed. Several initiatives were started to create a formula that made it possible to have boats race each other without having to calculate the final result. But the different countries initially could not agree on an international system. At the Olympics of 1900 it was clear that sailing was not ready for international competition, and something had to be done.
In 1906 international meetings were organize to solve the problem. Finally in Paris, October 1907 the firstInternational Rulewas ratified. Delegates from this meeting went on to form theInternational Yacht Racing Union(IYRU), the precursor to the presentInternational Sailing Federation(ISAF).
The agreed formula gives a result in meters (Metre). During the meeting in 1907 the IOC made the decision to open the1908 Summer Olympicsfor the following Metre classes:
|
| ||||||
| Class | Type | Venue | Event | Sailors | First OG | Olympics so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Metre | Keelboat | Ryde |  |
3 | 1908 | 1 |
| 7 Metre | Keelboat | Ryde | |
4 | 1908 | 1 |
| 8 Metre | Keelboat | Ryde | |
5 | 1908 | 1 |
| 12 Metre | Keelboat | Hunters Quay | |
10 | 1908 | 1 |
| 15 Metre | Keelboat | No show | |
Unknown | 1908 | 0 |
| Legend:= Mixed gender event
| ||||||
Race schedule
editSource:[1]
| ● | Event competitions | ● | Event finals |
| Date | July | August | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Mon |
28 Tue |
29 Wed |
30 Thu |
31 Fri |
1 Sat |
2 Sun |
3 Mon |
4 Tue |
5 Wed |
6 Thu |
7 Fri |
8 Sat |
9 Sun |
10 Mon |
11 Tue |
12 Wed | |
| Sailing | ●●● | ●●● | ●●● | ● | ● | ||||||||||||
| Total gold medals | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
Medal summary
edit
Medal table
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Great Britain(GBR) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 |  Belgium(BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Sweden(SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 |  France(FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (4 entries) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 | |
Notes
edit- This Olympic sailing event was gender independent, however only two women,Frances Rivett-Carnacin the 7 Metre, and theDuchess of Westminsteras extra on her 8 Metre, participated. The duchess of Westminster also distributed the diplomas of special merit to the competitors of the other Olympic sports on 25 July 1908. Gender specific events however had to wait until1988.
- The matches at Ryde were held in light air conditions.
- All members of a team had to be a citizen of the country they represent. However the boats used did not have to be built in the same country that the team was representing since the Olympic games are considered a test of skills and handling for the team and not a test of the yacht. This in contrast with the matches for theAmerica's cupof that time.
- A second 7 Metre yachtMignonettewas entered under command of Capt. R. Sloane-Stanley but failed to make it to the starting line.
- At the end of the official report the following suggestion was made:
Sailing had to wait until1920before the first "one-design" class was selected for the Games.It has been suggested that in the yacht racing of future Olympic Games it might be better to select a fleet of "one-design" boats in the waters where the Games are held, and let all the crews entered draw lots for them every day, with the proviso that no crew should have the same boat twice.
Other information
editDuring the Sailing regattas at the 1908 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:
Norway(NOR),Johan Anker,Multiple Olympic competitor and designer of many Metre yachts as well as the 1948 OlympicDragon,in the 8 MetreFram- Great Britain(GBR),Duchess of Westminsteras owner and extra crewmember of the 8 MetreSorais
- Great Britain(GBR),William Dudley Wardin the 8 MetreSorais
- Sweden(SWE),Harald WallininVinga
-
Johan Anker -
Duchess of Westminster -
William Dudley Ward -
Crew of Cobweb -
Race committee of the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club
Further reading
edit- "Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896–2008)".Digital Library Collection at la84.org.la84foundation.Retrieved3 March2014.
References
edit- ^abcde Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908).The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report(PDF).London: British Olympic Association. pp. 339–354.Retrieved2 February2015.
- ^ "Royal Victoria Yacht Club".Royal Victoria Yacht Club.Retrieved2 February2015.
"London 1908".Olympics.International Olympic Committee.