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Olympic Sailing Coverage?

© Anne Schwab

Have you noticed the prime time Olympic coverage of sailing has been woefully lacking? It seems that only one in a rare while are we, the viewing public, given a rare snippet of the sailing results. And then it's usually only the results, and none of the race.

Well, for a minute or two, let's pretend we're down under, and the races are going on before our very eyes.

If you'd been watching the women's 470 dinghy class, you would have seen the first gold medal for Australia in the past 28 years.

Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell won in high winds and what sounded like an exciting race.

Picture winds gusting past 15 knots, spectator boats galore with shrieking fans, and a huge lead by the Australian boat as they sailed to an easy victory.

Wouldn't that have been great to see?

The US team ended up with a silver, although in the last race of the series they finished sixth. The bronze went to the Ukraine, who fittingly finished third in the final race.

I think the races would be terrific television. Picture a group of boats, flying along in high winds and choppy seas, with a backdrop of the unique Sydney Opera House.

Other standings include a gold medal for Finland in the men's 49er, with the silver going to Great Britain, and the bronze to the US brothers Jonathan and Charlie McKee.

There are many other races yet to be sailed, and hopefully the weather over there will improve for our fellow yachtsmen.

It's been light and squirrelly lately. So much so that the men's and women's 470 medal races were called off on Wednesday. OK, so that, I admit, wouldn't have made for riveting television. Especially the women who were initially sent out, but only floated around for awhile before being called back in. Been there, done that, don't really need to see it.

But what about the other days? The days the wind blows and the competition is fierce? What about watching tacking maneuvers and spinnaker sets? What about watching sailors work together to make their boat virtually fly across the water, jumping waves and port-tacking the opponent?

What about watching the tacking contest that left the men's 470 Ukranians disqualified for the third time in the series, and out of medal contention? That would have been exciting television. The protest hearing would have been pretty good too, if it was anything like protest hearings for lake regattas in the Midwest. They can get pretty crazy.