FAI, soaring and Olympic Games

SAILING NOT PHYSICAL? You obviously have no familiarity with sailing small
hot boats. Take as a good example, the Finn class, where sailors, who use
their
body weight 'hiking' (suspending themselves out over the side of the boat by
sitting on the deck with their feet tucked under straps, and leaning out
'til horizontal), to offset the force of the wind that seeks to heel (roll)
their boat, wear sweatshirts to soak up additional weight by immersing them
in the water. Each time the wind changes, they must scamper across the boat
while adjusting the sails and then get their weight out on the other side.
It is very gruelling! Studies at McMaster University Medical Research,
focused on the physical condition of sailors and its effect on their
performance, found that fatigue decreases the ability to concentrate and
make decisions on where to go, strategically and tactically, - not unlike
soaring.

For more detail, start at http://www.finnclass.org/
"iPilot" wrote in message
...
I don't buy that argument.

1. If you look at the recent winners in any soaring title championship,
you can hardly find any
fatman. Actually, in order ta win, one has to mantain full concentration
in long flights during hot
days and long competitions. Therefore one has to be in a very good
physical form. Partly for same
reasons why no fatman can win in top car racing league.
2. All shooting activities (incl. archery, clay pigeon shooting, pistol
and rifle events) in
olympics require far less physically from athletes. The same applies to
Equestrian disciplines where
physical health does not make the difference. The same applies to sailing.


Regads,
Kaido


"nafod40" wrote in message
...
iPilot wrote:
It's been under discussion for several times, but I want to bring it
up again.

While soaring is a sport, and it is competitive, I have a real hard time

viewing the participants as athletes. If you can sit in a lounge chair
for hours on end, playing Nintendo with a joystick, you've got the
athletic stamina and dexterity to be a gold medal soaring pilot.

Why isn't chess an Olympic sport? Or playing Doom on a Nintendo
GameCube?