The Classes
Mistral
Sailboard
Monohull, 3.72 m
The Mistral is a new Olympic class for 1996, replacing the Lechner Division II windsurfer. The Olympic competition is pure racing, with no stunts. Sailboard racing is a relatively new event, and employs the same rules as larger boats. There will be separate events for men and women
Finn
Men's solo dinghy
Monohull, 4.5 m
The Finn was designed in 1949 for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. It is a fast boat that is not hard to sail, but the large sail balanced against a broad beam requires a rather large sailor to get an optimal performance. This explains why the Finn is used for the Men's Solo but not for the women's.
Europe
Women's solo dinghy
Monohull, 3.35 m
The Europe is smaller than the Finn and performs better for lighter weight sailors, making it preferable to the Finn for the women's solo class. As carbon-fiber is permitted in both masts and booms, carbon rigs are custom-made to suit the weight and height of the sailor. This allows less heavy sailors to depower the rig efficiently as winds increase.
Laser
Open solo dinghy
Monohull, 4.23 m
The Laser is a new Olympic class for 1996, replacing the Flying Dutchman. Possibly the most popular sailboat in the world, the Laser was designed in 1969 by Bruce Kirby, Ian Bruce and Hans Fogh. The boat's low price and easy handling make it extremely popular with racers of all levels.
470
Men's and women's doubly dinghy
Monohull, 4.7 m
The women and men race in separate events in the 470 class. A crew of two makes use of a spinnaker and a trapeze in the event that first brought female sailors to the Olympics in 1976. It has been an Olympic class since 1976.
Tornado
Open double multihull
Twin hull, 6.09 m
A crew of 2 has a trapeze at their disposal when operating the boat designed in 1967 to be the Olympic class catamaran. It is the only twin hull event.
Star
Open double keelboat
Monohull, 6.922 m
The star boat is the oldest design in the Olympics, designed in 1911. Its crew of two sails the boat that comes closest to challenging the Laser in overall popularity.
Soling
Open triple keelboat
Monohull, 8.2 m
Soling is the only Olympic class keelboat with a crew of three. It is also the only class that incorporates both match racing and fleet racing. All other yachting competitions will be "fleet" races, with all boats racing en masse. In the Soling class, the top six boats from the fleet races advance to a two days of match races (one-on-one) to determine the medal winners.
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