Sailing

Sailing has been at every edition of the modern Olympics. The first edition in 1896 had to be cancelled due to bad weather. Therefore, the first time sailing debuted was at the Paris 1900 Olympic Games. Sailing has constantly evolved since the first races in 1900.

New Zealand Sailing

New Zealand Sailing debuted at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games. Sailing has appeared at every Olympiad since (except Moscow 1980, when the Games were boycotted) – 16 Olympiads.

Sailing is one of New Zealand's most successful Olympic sports with 23 medals.

The first New Zealand sailors competed at Melbourne 1956.

• Jack Cropp OLY#80 and Peter Mander OLY#107 in the Sharpie.

• Albert Cuthbertson OLY#83, Peter Mander OLY#107, Robert Stewart #120, William Swinnerton OLY#122 in the Dragon Open class.

The first females were Fiona Clarke (nee Galloway) OLY#551 and Jan Shearer-Jones OLY#576 crewed together in the 470 at Seoul 1988.

New Zealand has had 114 Sailors compete at the Olympic games (91 males, 23 females). 38 of these sailors have competed at two or more Olympic games.

Sailing Terminology

470 - A double-handed (two person) mono-hull dinghy with three sails. One sailor is attached to the boat via a trapeze (harness) allowing them, among other things, to counterbalance the force of the wind in the sails by standing on the edge of the boat and leaning out.

49er/49erFX - A double-handed high performance skiff dinghy characterised by its speed and ‘wings.’ Both sailors are in trapezes.

Bow - The front of a boat.

Buoy - A floating marker used to designate key points on the course.

Dinghy - A small boat characterised by having one hull and a centreboard. Laser, Laser Radial, 470, Finn are the classes of dinghy raced at the Olympics.

Centreboard/Daggerboard - An adjustable fin primarily used to stop the boat moving sideways through the water.

Finn - The men’s single-handed Olympic dinghy class. It features one main sail and is heavier than the other classes of dinghy.

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Fleet racing - A format of racing where all entries race against each other around a course. Points are awarded relative to where a boat places in the race and are tallied over a set number of races.

Hull - The watertight body of a boat.

Laser/ Laser Radial - A single-handed mono-hull dinghy class with one main sail. A light, simple standardised design – very common around the world – means sailors rely more on their own fitness, agility and strength than other classes. The Laser Radial features a smaller sail than the standard Laser.

Leeward - The side furthest away from the wind.

Mark - A corner of the racecourse as defined by a buoy.

Medal race - The final race of fleet racing format where the points awarded for placings are doubled. This result cannot be discarded from the total score.

Multi-hull - A boat with more than one hull. A boat with two hulls is also known as a catamaran. The Nacra 17 class will debut in Rio as the multi-hull class, featuring mixed crews of one male and one female.

Sailboard - Combines elements of surfing and sailing with a sail attached to a long board. Sailboarding or board sailing is also known as windsurfing. The Olympic sailboard class is the RS:X which has been in place since 2008.

Skiff - A type of light, open dinghy with a self-draining hull. In Rio the 49er (men) and 49erFX (women) are the two skiff classes, each featuring two-person crews.

Stern - The rear of a boat.

Windward - The side closest to the wind. The windward mark is the mark at the end of the upwind (into the wind) leg of the course.