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.

Contents

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Venue

Royal Victoria Yacht Club

Flag
Coordinates:
Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club

Flag
Coordinates:

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 IVth 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[1]

Overview

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

Continents

Countries

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

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
6 Metre:

details
 Great Britain (GBR)
Thomas McMeekin
Gilbert Laws
Charles Crichton
 Belgium (BEL)
LĂ©on Huybrechts
Louis Huybrechts
Henri Weewauters
 France (FRA)
Henri Arthus
Louis Potheau
Pierre Rabot
7 Metre:

details
 Great Britain (GBR)
Charles Rivett-Carnac
Frances Rivett-Carnac
Norman Bingley
Richard Dixon
none awarded none awarded
8 Metre:

details
 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:

details
 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

Sailors

During the Sailing regattas at the 1908 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:

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

Notes

  1. ^ The number of entries was not high. This was because the decision of the classes to use was taken less than one year before the games. Building wooden boats, in a class not proven yet, varying in length between 12 and 30 meters, practice with them and ship them to the games in time was for many owners a challenge. Overlooking the circumstances 13 boats from 5 countries was an achievement.

References