Sailing at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Sailing at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Official pin of the 1952 Summer Olympics
Venue	Harmaja
Dates	20–28 July
Competitors	227 from 29 nations
Teams	93
Medalists
United States       Norway       Denmark
«1948	1956»

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 1952 consisted of a total of five sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 20–28 July 1952 of the coast of Harmaja.

The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses. The start was made in the center of a set of 8 numbered marks that were places in a circle. During the starting procedure the sequence of the marks was communicated to the sailors. By picking the mark that was most upwind the start could always be made upwind. This system is, at least in certain certain German lakes, still in use.

Venue

Island Lighthouse Harmaja
Coordinates: 60°6′16.88″N 24°58′26.93″E

Liuskasaari Olympic Harbor
Coordinates: 60°9′6″N 24°56′52″E

Two course areas were created in front of Helsinki. One for the Finn just outside the island Liuskasaari. The Finn course was 5.4 nm long and triangular in shape. For the keelboats a course area near the Harmaja lighthouse was used. A 13.1 nm course was set for Star, Dragon, 5.5 & 6 Metre just over one nm South of the lighthouse. Specially the keelboat course was situated in an area of fair sailing conditions. No currents or tidal movements, and no obstacles around the course that could create wind shadows. On the other hand the Finn course was set near sheltered islands and thus safe for this type of sailing. This course give the spectators also a nice view of the races.

The races were held from 20–23 and 26–28 July. In between the sailors could recover or made boat repairs.

Three yacht clubs were involved:

• Nyländska Jaktklubben
• Helsingfors Segelsällskap
• Merenkävijät Yachting Club (also for the prize giving ceremony)

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
6	29	5	93	227	3

Continents

• Africa
• Asia
• Australian continent
• Europe
• North America
• South America

Countries

Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1952 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

Argentina (ARG)  Australia (AUS)  Austria (AUT)  Bahamas (BAH)  Belgium (BEL)  Brazil (BRA)  Canada (CAN)  Cuba (CUB)  Denmark (DEN)  Spain (ESP)  Finland (FIN)  France (FRA)  Great Britain (GBR)  Germany (GER)  Greece (GRE)  Ireland (IRL)  Italy (ITA)  Japan (JPN)  Monaco (MON)  Netherlands (NED)  Norway (NOR)  Portugal (POR)  South Africa (RSA)  Switzerland (SUI)  Sweden (SWE)  Soviet Union (URS)  Uruguay (URU)  United States (USA)  Yugoslavia (YUG)

Classes (equipment)

Class	Type	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
Finn	Dinghy		1	0	+	–	–	1952	1
Star	Keelboat		2	0	+	+	–	1932	4
Dragon	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	1948	2
5.5 Metre	Keelboat		3	0	+	+	+	1952	1
6 Metre	Keelboat		5	0	+	+	+	1908	9

= Male, = Female, = Open

1952 Olympic Classes designs

1952 Olympic Classes in action

Finn: single handed dinghy   Star: double handed keelboat   Dragon: triple handed keelboat   5.5 Metre: triple handed keelboat   6 Metre: Five persons keelboat

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Finn:	Paul Elvstrøm (DEN)	Charles Currey (GBR)	Rickard Sarby (SWE)
Star:	Italy (ITA) Agostino Straulino Nicolò Rode	United States (USA) John Price John Reid	Portugal (POR) Joaquim Mascarenhas de Fiúza Francisco de Andrade
Dragon:	Norway (NOR) Sigve Lie Haakon Barfod Thor Thorvaldsen	Sweden (SWE) Per Gedda Sidney Boldt-Christmas Erland Almqvist	Germany (GER) Theodor Thomsen Erich Natusch Georg Nowka
5.5 Metre:	United States (USA) Britton Chance Sumner White Edgar White Michael Schoettle	Norway (NOR) Peder Lunde Vibeke Lunde Børre Falkum-Hansen	Sweden (SWE) Folke Wassén Carl-Erik Ohlson Magnus Wassén
6 Metre:	United States (USA) Herman Whiton Eric Ridder Julian Roosevelt John Morgan Everard Endt Emelyn Whiton	Norway (NOR) Finn Ferner Johan Ferner Erik Heiberg Carl Mortensen Tor Arneberg	Finland (FIN) Ernst Westerlund Paul Sjöberg Ragnar Jansson Jonas Konto Rolf Turkka

Medal tables

Sailing 1952

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	2	1	0	3
2	Norway (NOR)	1	2	0	3
3	Denmark (DEN)	1	0	0	1
	Italy (ITA)	1	0	0	1
5	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	2	3
6	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	0	1
7	Finland (FIN)	0	0	1	1
	Portugal (POR)	0	0	1	1
	Germany (GER)	0	0	1	1
Total		5	5	5	15

Sailing 1896–1952

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	14	9	1	24
2	United Kingdom	11	4	3	18
3	USA	6	3	2	11
4	France	5	7	7	19
5	Sweden	5	7	7	19
6	Netherlands	3	3	4	10
7	Denmark	2	3	1	6
8	Belgium	2	2	1	5
9	Italy	2	0	0	2
10	Germany	1	2	2	5
11	Switzerland	1	0	0	1
	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	0	0	1
13	Finland	0	1	5	6
14	Canada	0	1	1	2
	Portugal	0	1	1	2
16	Argentina	0	1	0	1
	Cuba	0	1	0	1
18	Spain	0	0	1	1
	Estonia	0	0	1	1
	Russia	0	0	1	1
Total	20	53	45	38	136

Remarks

Finn dinghies under construction by Borresens Baadebygger, Denmark

• Sailors from abroad were housed in the homes of Finnish yachtsmen
• Two motor launches accommodated pressmen on the yacht race courses
• Only the Yachting officials wore a different official uniform, blue coat and grey trousers
• The Danish shipyard of Borresens Baadebygger was the builder of all Finn dinghies, since then till the beginning of the 21st century closely committed to Olympic Sailing.

Sailors

During the Sailing regatta's at the 1952 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

•  Denmark (DEN), Paul Elvstrøm in the Finn won his second consecutive Gold medal
•  Sweden (SWE), Finn sailor Rickard Sarby, also designer of the Finn, injured his right hand during however he took the third place
•  Australia (AUS), Jock Sturrock the first Australian to represent his country in sailing, became later honoured with the Lindy Award for sportsmanship, Australian yachtsman of the year and ultimately Australian of the year.

At the 1952 Olympic Games

In Dragon: Jock Sturrock   Crownprince Olav of Norway, member of the Jury in Helsinki, with Norwegian Dragon sailor Thor Thorvaldsen (right).

References

• Organizing Committee of the XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952 (1955) (pdf). The Officiel Report of the Organizing Committee for the games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952. http://la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1952/OR1952.pdf. 
• Hugh Drake & Paul Henderson (2009). Canada's Olympic Sailing Legacy, Paris 1924 – Beijing 2008. Toronto: CYA. 
• "Helsinki 1952". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/All-Past-Olympic-Games/Summer/Helsinki-1952.