Sailing at the 1900 Summer Olympics

Sailing at the Games of the II Olympiad
Olympic race at Meulan
Venues	Meulan Le Havre
Dates	May 20–27 (Meulan) August 1–5 (Le Havre)
Competitors	177 from 7 nations
Teams	±70
Medalists
Great Britain       France       Switzerland       Mixed team
	1908»

Sailing/Yachting is a Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens Greece). With the exception of 1904 and possible 1916, sailing was always a part of the Olympic program. The sailing program in 1900 consisted of a total of seven sailing classes. For six classes, the races were scheduled from May 20–27 at the Seine around Meulan, and a series of three races was held for the largest class from August 1–5 off the coast of Le Havre.

Venues

Meulan

Cercle de la Voile de Paris Bassin Olympique de Meulan Les Mureaux
Coordinates: 49°00′24″N 1°54′26″E

The race conditions at Meulan during the Olympic regatta were not ideal. A light breeze could hardly make the sailing interesting. Since the river Seine mainly runs from east to west, the light north-easterly breese was partly blocked by buildings or trees on the river bank, thus influencing the regatta.

Le Havre

la Société des Régates du Havre Le Havre
Flag
Coordinates: 49°29′24″N 0°6′0″E

During the second part of the Olympic regatta, the conditions were so good that the 10 – 20 Ton class was able to sail the complete 22 nautical mile triangulair course.

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
2	7	7	±70	176	1 (documented)

Continents

• Europe
• North America

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1900 Olympic Games.
Blue: Water
Gray: Never participated in OG
Dark Gray: Participated in earier OG
Green: Country participated for the first time
Dark Blue: Country participated also on previous games
Red: Country boycotted the sailing event of the OG

France (FRA)	Germany (GER)	Great Britain (GBR)
Netherlands (NED)	Switzerland (SUI)	United States (USA)
Mixed team (ZZX) (A combined team of United Kingdom and France)

Classes (equipment)

Sailing during the turn of the century was not so well defined as it became later during the 20th century. Racing rules were mostly defined by local yacht clubs or in some cases by a National Yachting Federation. Also, boats were not standardized to what is called One Design classes. Therefore many handicap systems or systems that put yachts into different categories were often used. In 1892 Auguste Godinet developed a formula that placed different boats in different Ton categories. This rule was adopted by the Union des yachts français and later by several other National Yachting Federations like Société Nautique de Genève. For the sailing at the 1900 Olympics this rule was chosen to determine the tonnage of a yacht.

For the smallest class, ½ Ton, among others, some Lark's were used. These Larks, copies of the Davis Lark and copies of Sorceress designed by Linton Hope became famous one-designs in France Monotype de Chatou at the beginning of the 20st century.

The Olympics were open for the following classes:

Class	Type	Venue	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
½ Ton	Undefined	Meulan		1	0	+	+	?	1900	1
½–1 Ton	Undefined	Meulan		2	0	+	+	?	1900	1
1–2 Ton	Undefined	Meulan		2	0	+	+	?	1900	1
2–3 Ton	Undefined	Meulan		2	0	+	+	?	1900	1
3–10 Ton	Undefined	Meulan		3	0	+	+	?	1900	1
10–20 Ton	Undefined	Le Havre		3	0	+	+	?	1900	1
Open Class	Undefined	Le Havre		3	0	+	+	?	1900	1

= Male, = Female, = Open

1900 Olympic Classes designs

1900 Olympic Classes in action

Lark, used in the 0 – ½ Ton   Lerina winner of the Gold medal in the 1 – 2 Ton Class   A 3 Ton racer

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
0 – ½ Ton:	France (FRA) Pierre Gervais Unknown	France (FRA) Textier(1) Textier(2) Jean Charcot Robert Linzeler	France (FRA) Henri Monnot Léon Tellier Gaston Cailleux
½ – 1 Ton:	Great Britain (GBR) Lorne Currie John Gretton Linton Hope Algernon Maudslay	France (FRA) Jacques Baudier F. Marcotte William Martin Jules Valton	France (FRA)
1 – 2 Ton:	Switzerland (SUI) Hermann de Pourtalès Hélène de Pourtalès Bernard de Pourtalès	France (FRA) F. Vilamitjana Auguste Albert Charles Hugo Duval	France (FRA) Jacques Baudier Lucien Baudier Mantois Dusbosq Edouard Mantois
2 – 3 Ton:	Mixed team (ZZX) E. William Exshaw Frédéric Blanchy Jacques Le Lavasseur	France (FRA) Susse Doucet Godinet Mialaret	France (FRA) Ferdinand Schlatter De Cottignon Emile Jean-Fontaine
3 – 10 Ton:	Great Britain (GBR) Edward Hore H. N. Jefferson J. Howard Taylor	France (FRA) A. Dubos J. Dubos Maurice Gufflet Robert Gufflet Charly Guiraist	United States (USA) H. MacHenry
10 – 20 Ton:	Émile Billard et Perquer (FRA)	Jean Decazes (FRA)	Edward Hore (GBR)
Open class:	Great Britain (GBR) Lorne Currie John Gretton Linton Hope Algernon Maudslay	Germany (GER) Paul Wiesner Georg Naue Heinrich Peters Ottokar Weise	France (FRA) E. Michelet F. Michelet

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain (GBR)	3	0	1	4
2	France (FRA)	2	6	5	13
3	Switzerland (SUI)	1	0	0	1
	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	0	0	1
5	Germany (GER)	0	1	0	1
6	United States (USA)	0	0	1	1
Total	6	7	7	7	21

Remarks

Sailors

During the Sailing regatta's at the 1900 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing (or owning yachts) in the various classes:

• Celebrities
  •  France (FRA), Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild
  •  Switzerland (SUI), Hermann de Pourtalès
• First female Gold medalist of the modern Olympics:
  •  Switzerland (SUI), Hélène de Pourtalès

Sailors at the 1900 Olympic Games

In 1 – 2 Ton: Hélène de Pourtalès   In 10 – 20 Ton: Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild

References

• D. Mérillon, ed (1901) (in French). Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1900, Concours D'Exercices Physiques et de Sports. Imprimerie Nationale. pp. 399–430. http://la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1900/1900.pdf. 
• Mallon, Bill (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0378-3. 
• "All the Medallists since 1896". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/All-Olympic-results-since-1896/?AthleteName=&Games=1333712&Country=&Sport=1314007&TargetResults=true&resultsPageIPP=30. Retrieved May 24, 2010. 
• Kubatko, Justin. "Sailing at the 1900 Paris Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1900/SAI/. Retrieved May 24, 2010. 
• De Wael, Herman. "Sailing 1900". Herman's Full Olympians. http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/sai1900.html. Retrieved May 24, 2010. 
• "Paris 1900". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/Paris-1900.