Olympic Games 1996

IYRU's Nightly Report from Savannah -- Saturday August 3

Record Number of Countries Garner Medals
at 1996 Olympic Yachting

The bottom line? The best sailors won, as always. Conventional wisdom among the yachting press (and mind you, none of us could ever hope to sail at anything close to the level of these sailors) is that many sailors were overcoached and overtrained. Those that sailed by the seat of their pants did well. Those that were coached and prepped for the expected 12 - 16 knot seabreeze didn't fare too well. Murphy is, apparently, a sailor. Conditions ranged from the lightest of zephyrs to survival sailing and hellfire from thunderstorms.

Paul Henderson summed it up when he said "Can you imagine anyone telling Buddy Melges that he had to go right on the first beat and left on the next! He would think they were nuts. Buddy would go out to the start, sniff the breeze and carve out his own strategy." Sailors who followed their instincts won. Same as always.

Over 2000 volunteers worked very long, hard, unpaid hours to make this a world class event. There were dedicated professionals at every stage of the event. Anyone who has ever been to an Olympic Yachting event cannot help but be overwhelmed by the organizational complexity, the enormity of the task.

And it all worked. The Day Marina was great, the Olympic marina first rate, the hospitality unsurpassed anywhere. The TV footage from the races, for those of us lucky enough to see it, was incredible. Savannah's heat and thunderstorms were more than compensated for by it's citizens. Most important of all, this was a fun time for the sailors, and for most everyone else. And this is, after all, just sailing. It's not pediatric cancer surgery, it doesn't end wars, it's just a sport. If it's not fun, why bother? This was fun. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this Olympics. See you in Sydney in 2000.

David McCreary
IYRU Webmaster

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