Olympic Sailing 2008 - Tornado Class Catamarans
If you want to see a multihull in the Olympics, this may be your last chance. The Tornado class is the only multihull in the 2008 Beijing (Qingdao) Olympic sailing competition, and there will be no multihull class in the 2012 London Olympics. Too bad, as this high performance catamaran, with a top speed of over 30 knots, is really something to behold.
Designed by Rodney March in 1966, and having made it's Olympic debut 10 years later, the Tornado is a hull-flying performer with a penchant for "digging in" and capsizing spectacularly. It's sailed in the Olympics by a two man crew (there is no Women's Catamaran class), and the cat's rapid acceleration may make for some uniquely interesting racing in Qingdao's expected light, puffy winds.
The competition is particularly tight in this class, and with this being the Tornado's last Olympic Games, there will be no "next time" for these Olympians, so look for a battle! Keep your eye on Australia, Spain and the Netherlands, but don't discount an upset on the podium from the other "last shot" teams.
Sailing the Tornado at the 2008 Olympics
Argentina - Santiago LANGE and Carlos ESPINOLA
Australia - Darren BUNDOCK and Glenn ASHBY
Austria - Roman HAGARA and Hans Peter STEINACHER
Belgium - Carolijn BROUWER and Sebastien GODEFROID
Canada - Oskar JOHANNSON and Kevin STITTLE
France - Xavier REVIL and Christophe ESPAGNON
Germany - Johannes POLGAR and Florian SPALTEHOLZ
Great Britain - Leigh MCMILLAN and Will HOWDEN
Greece - Iordanis PASCHALIDES and Konstantinos TRIGONIS
Italy - Francesco MARCOLINI and Edoardo BIANCHI
Netherlands - Mitch BOOTH and Pim NIEUWENHUIS
PR China - Chen XIUKE and Luo YOUJIA
Spain - Fernando ECHAVARRI and Anton PAZ
Ukraine - Pavlo KALYNCHEV and Andriy SHAFRANYUK
USA - John LOVELL and Charles OGLETREE
The Tornado Catamaran
- Crew 2
- LOA 20' (6.1 m)
- Beam: 9.8' (3 m)
- Hull weight: 340 lb
Read more about sailing at the Olympics.
- Olympics (all news, photos, boat information, and blogs about sailing at the Olympics)
- Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics - Sailing
- Olympic Goo - Algae Invades Qingdao Sailing Venue
- From the Olympic Sailing Center in China
- Spy Drones, Algae, and Dirty Air - Sailing at the Olympics
- Goo Gone - Sailing Center Cleared of Algae for the Olympics
- Interview with Sarah Mergenthaller of the US Olympic Sailing Team
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - Laser and Laser Radial Sailboats
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - Tornado Class Catamarans
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - Yngling Class Sailboats
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - The Star Class Sailboats
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - The FINN Class Sailboats
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - The 470 Class Sailboats
- Olympic Sailing 2008 - The 49er Class Sailboats
- Sailors in the Spotlight - 2008 Olympic Sailing Teams
- Sailing at the Olympics 2008 - Tornado Race Results
- Olympic Sailing Medals 2008 - Tornado's Swan Song (Tornado Class Medal Race)
sailing video: sailing the Tornado Class catamaran
Submitted By YachtPals on 31 Jul
Olympics,Qingdao,China,Tornado,Beijing,Tornado sailboat,sailboats,sailing,sailing Olympics,boat,boats,Olympic sailing, Olympics sailing, catamaran
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
.jpg)
Boating and Sailing Magazine Feed
Tornado "two person" class
quick comment: it is in reallity not a "two man class" but a mixed class: the belgian team consists of a man and a women...
We need Cats in the Olympics
I want to see FAST racing.
This is the best sport to see amazing athletics.
Tornado Class Boats Sailing at the Olympics
Tornado class boats sailing at the Olympics. Check out the news, photos and sailing results here:
Sailing at the Olympics - Tornado Race Results
Tornados at the Olympics
There is little TV coverage of sailing events because they sometimes don't "make good television" especially if the conditions are light. When the Tonados get going they are allways fast and exciting. If TV audiences are ever going to see any Olympic sailing then we need exiting video and that means fast boats and that means Tornados.
Tornado TV Coverage?
What TV coverage? It has been very disappointing. The premier racing class at the Olympics has been shamefully not on TV to any measurable extent here in the UK.
Is it the feed that the broadcasters get from the hosts?
If so, shame on them, and much of the blame for the boring waiting, slow and unpredictable racing, and sudden near-disastrous excessive wind must rest on their choice of Qingdao for the event. Not a fun place for serious sailing.
But the BBC who normally make an excellent effort managed to leave long hours of dead airtime when the wind failed.
They seemingly had nothing prepared for the (much-predicted) non-event days due to light wind.
A short (five minutes?) ' Noddy guide to Olympic racing boats' appeared after giving them some harassment, but nothing that would help advance sailing in the Olympics, or indeed anywhere. Surprisingly amateur commentary, too.
So far I have only seen Tornado cats as an interesting backdrop to the aged Star class holding a drifting match, or between what the powers have seemingly decided are the ' Main' events.
Good coverage and commentary helps to make new enthusiasts, but this was thin stuff and unsatisfying even to the hard core sailor. Yes, very disappointing.
Wonder if we will get to see the Tornado Medal Race tomorrow? I' ll be up early, but more in hope than expectation.
Ah well.
Tornado class co-ed???
Instead of mixed, what if we lobbied the Tornado class for exhibition status in the London Games, as a co-ed (1 man, 1 woman on each boat) event? They'd have to cover it, and when it was popular, they'd be compelled to let in the next games.
Next step: Olympic Extreme 40 catamaran's!
tv coverage
tv coverage in australia is worse........2 golds in the 470's and finally a few 5 sec highlites by home and away soap stars or brain dead afl commentators.............i mean FFS.....now they put on a fe live cuts to races which mean ntg to anyone with no comments hoping that aust will win more golds............i am defineately cumming to london in 2012 to sort out the sailing coverage.........
tornado cats
As an ex cat sailor , and multi hull fleet captain at my local sailing club , Highcliffe I was most interested in seeing this event as it might be the last olympic venue to host this class. Most mono hull sailors look to the cat sailors as hooligans so what about the skiffs ... are they in the same class.... Hooligans. All around , here and abroad there are thousands of cat sailors passionate about cat racing.
Every weekend ,cat racing as part of all sailing clubs programmes big enough to take the boats in there parks. I know that the fast boats are without doubt the most exciting to sail and the same if not more skill levels are to be maintained , both by helm and crew, if victory is to be had.
Reg White , ( GB Olympic champion ) was instramental in me taking up cat sailing seriously and spawned from that the Hurricane 5.9 was developed and became as fast as the Tornado, Double trapese as well, bringing the helm into more action as other performance cats... Prindles, Hobies etc. There is a cat race in Holland ,around Texel Island , in June every year ,and I raced this event . At the start line over 1200 boats were racing . What an event spine chilling with wall to wall boats, 40 deep over the start line when the start helicopter swoops down, signel smoke flowing from its downwash GO...This one race is bigger than Cowes can come up with. Come on BBC .. Come on Olympic .. Come on RYA ... who is ruining this class over others.. A very disgruntled ex cat sailor, Please read and keep some form of exciting cat racing in this competition , David
haven't seen any tornado video from beijing
NBC / Comcast Cable hasn't shown any Tornado sailing (maybe no sailing at all) here in California. I've looked at the pathetic "rewind" video clips on nbcolympics.com and when you get past the GE advertising, the footage of the pier, windmills, and ugly spectators, the coverage is a total mishmash of different boats. I've seen a Tornado for all of 5 seconds, after trying probably close to an hour to find coverage. I'd be grateful if anyone can point to good quality video (commercial or private/youtube) of the Tornados, the glamor boats of the Olympics.
Post new comment