Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's RS:X explained

Event:	Men's RS:X
Games:	2008 Summer
Dates:	First race: Last race:
Competitors:	35
Nations:	35
Goldnoc:	NZL
Silvernoc:	FRA
Bronzenoc:	ISR
Next:	2012

The Men's RS:X was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Eleven races (last one a medal race) were scheduled and completed. 35 sailors, on 35 boards, from 35 nations competed. Ten boards qualified for the medal race.^[1]

Race schedule

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Practice race

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Race on Yellow

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Race on Red

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Medal race on Yellow

Course areas and course configurations

For the RS:X course areas A

(Yellow) and B (Red) were used. The location (36°1'26"’N, 120°26'52"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Yellow course area and the location (36°2'21"N, 120°25'32"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Red course area. The target time for the course was about 30–35 minutes for the races and 20 minutes for the medal race. The race management could choose from several course configurations.

Outer courses

• O1: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• O2: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• O3: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH

Inner courses

• I1: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• I2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
• I3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH

Windward-Leeward courses

• W2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
• W3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
• W4: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH

Windward-Leeward Slalom courses

• WS1: START – 1 – 4s/4p – S1 – S2 – S3 – FINISH
• WS2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – S1 – S2 – S3 – FINISH
• WS3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – S1 – S2 – S3 – FINISH

Weather conditions

In the lead up to the Olympics many questioned the choice of Qingdao as a venue with very little predicted wind. During the races the wind was pretty light and quite unpredictable. Due to lack of wind (< 1.6 knots) two racing days had to be postponed.

Daily standings

Further reading

• Web site: Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896 - 2008) . Digital Library Collection at la84.org . la84foundation . 3 March 2014 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics: Windsurfer (Neil Pryde RS:X), Men . Olympedia . 30 June 2020.