Sailing at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Sailing at the Games of the IV Olympiad
1908 Gold Medal (Obverse and Reverse)
Venue	Ryde, Isle of Wight Hunters Quay, Firth of Clyde, Scotland
Dates	Ryde: 27–29 July Hunters Quay: 11–12 August
Competitors	65 from 5 nations
Teams	13
Medalists
Great Britain       Belgium       Sweden
«1900	1912»

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 of 1908 was open for a total of five sailing classes (disciplines). It turned out that no entries were made in the 15 Metre. The planned venue of all races, named matches was Ryde, Isle of Wight.

Venue

Royal Victoria Yacht Club
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Coordinates: 50°43′37″N 1°9′42″W

Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club
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Coordinates: 55°58′30″N 4°54′30″W

At the 1907 The Hague Conference of the IOC Ryde at the Isle of Wight was appointed to host the sailing regattas, for all classes, of the Games of the IV^th Olympiad. However when there were only British entries for the 12 Metre matches, and both yacht were located at the Firth of Clyde, the decision was made to use Hunter’s Quay as a second venue.

At Ryde the race committee used the available shipping buoys as marks for the courses. 16 nm for the 8 Metre and 13 nm for the 6 and 7 Metre.

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
1	5	5	13	64	2

Continents

• Europe

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1908 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

Belgium (BEL)  France (FRA)  Great Britain (GBR)  Norway (NOR)  Sweden (SWE)

Classes (equipment)

Although one of the oldest organized sporting activities, sailing in 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 first International Rule was ratified. Delegates from this meeting went on to form the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU), the precursor to the present International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

The agreed formula gives a result in meters (Metre). During the meeting in 1907 the IOC made the decision to open the 1908 Summer Olympics for the following Metre classes:

Class	Type	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
6 Metre	Keelboat		3	–	+	+	+	1908	1
7 Metre	Keelboat		2	–	+	+	+	1908	1
8 Metre	Keelboat		2	–	+	+	+	1908	1
12 Metre	Keelboat		2	–	+	+	+	1908	1
15 Metre	Keelboat		3	–	+	+	+	1908	1

= Male, = Female, = Open

1908 Olympic Classes designs

Underconstruction

1908 Olympic Classes in action

6 Metre: 3 persons keelboat   7 Metre: 4 Persons keelboat   8 Metre: 5 persons keelboat   12 Metre: 10 persons keelboat

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
6 Metre:	Great Britain (GBR) Thomas McMeekin Gilbert Laws Charles Crichton	Belgium (BEL) Léon Huybrechts Louis Huybrechts Henri Weewauters	France (FRA) Henri Arthus Louis Potheau Pierre Rabot
7 Metre:	Great Britain (GBR) Charles Rivett-Carnac Frances Rivett-Carnac Norman Bingley Richard Dixon	none awarded	none awarded
8 Metre:	Great Britain (GBR) Blair Cochrane Arthur Wood Henry Sutton John Rhodes Charles Campbell	Sweden (SWE) Carl Hellström Edmund Thormählen Erik Wallerius Eric Sandberg Harald Wallin	Great Britain (GBR) Philip Hunloke Alfred Hughes Frederick Hughes George Ratsey William Ward
12 Metre:	Great Britain (GBR) Thomas Glen-Coats John Downes John Buchanan James Bunten Arthur Downes David Dunlop John Mackenzie Albert Martin Gerald Tait John Aspin	Great Britain (GBR) Charles MacIver James Kenion James Baxter William Davidson John Jellico Thomas Littledale Charles MacLeod-Robertson John Spence John Adam Cecil MacIver	none awarded
15 Metre:	No Entries

Medal tables

Sailing 1908

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
Total		4	3	2	9

Sailing 1896–1908

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United Kingdom	7	1	2	10
2	France	2	6	6	14
3	Switzerland	1	0	0	1
	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	0	0	1
5	Germany	0	1	0	1
	Belgium	0	1	0	1
	Sweden	0	1	0	1
8	USA	0	0	1	1
Total	8	11	10	9	30

Remarks

• This Olympic sailing event was gender independent, but only two woman, (Frances Rivett-Carnac) in the 7 Metre, and the Duchess of Westminster as extra on het 8 Metre, participated. The duchess of Westminster also distributed the diploma's of special merit to the competitors of the other Olympic sports on July, 25 1908.
• 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 the America's cup of that time.
• A second 7 Metre yacht was entered under command of Capt. Sloan Stanley but failed to make it to the starting line.
• At the end of the official report the following suggestion was made:

  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.

  Sailing had to wait until 1920 before the first “one-design” class was selected for the Games.

Sailors

During 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 Olympic Dragon, in the 8 Metre
•  Great Britain (GBR), Duchess of Westminster as owner and extra crewmember of the 8 Metre Sorais

8 Metre Sailors at the 1908 Olympic Games

In Fram: Johan Anker   In Sorais: William Dudley Ward   Crew of: Cobweb

8 Metre Owners at the 1908 Olympic Games

Of Sorais: Duchess of Westminster

References

• "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/results/search_r_uk.asp. Retrieved 17 October 2007. 
• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908) (PDF). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association. http://la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1908/1908.pdf. Retrieved 3 June 2010. 
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Sailing 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/sai1908.html. Retrieved 7 May 2006.