The Princesa Sofia Regatta in Palma, Mallorca, is set to test various aspects of the proposed Rio 2016 racing format... and reading about some of them, I'm a bit concerned that our sport is heading for even more complexity, when we should be trying to keep things simple.

The Princess Sofia is one of the major Olympic Class regattas on the circuit and the first European stop of the ISAF Sailing World Cup and it is due to see, among other changes, a move to two or even four medal races! The new racing format apparently aims to combine "innovation and simplicity" in order to have "the fairest event possible." It doesn't sound like it will do that to me!

Lasers in Palma

Lasers line up in Palma - photo J Renedo



Apparently after tests in Miami, ISAF felt there were too many differences in the racing format in each class, so it was decided to unify criteria. That bit makes sense. Some of the more unfair proposals, like a "winner takes all" medal race have been rejected, and there's a change to the scoring system - a win scores 0 points instead of 1, while second scores 2, third 3 and so on. Again I can live with that - rewarding race winners, yes why not. But then comes the areas that I really don't feel so positive about.

As at the London 2012 Olympics, the 800-odd sailors due to compete in the Princess Sofia Trophy, will sail qualifying and final series, with one discard. Then rather than one non-discardable, double point-scoring "medal race" between the top 10 boats (which as we saw in London can easily become a lottery), there will be two. To me that seems even more confusing. It kind of made sense to have a "final", but two? And the new format will mean the series score counts for even less - imagine winning every race of the series and having a problem in the final... and surely two final races make it even more difficult to understand what is going on!

For the 49er and 49er FX it gets even worse. The top eight boats will sail four 10-minute-long non-discardable, "Stadium Races". Ten minutes? Okay, so win the start basically! Isn't the point of a sailing series to identify the best sailor, not simply the best starter? The races will just have single scoring, but the "Final Day" results will be added to the results of the final series (which already include the qualifying series as one race) to decide the final overall results and podium.

Confused yet? Well there's more: "For the monotypes both the qualifying and the final series will consist of six races of 50 minutes duration (in the final series, one of these six races is the one resulting from the qualifying series), while the 49er, 49er FX and Nacra (the new mixed skiff) will sail 30 minute races, nine in the qualifying series and six (plus one carried forward from the preceding round) for the finals."

Simple? Fair? Easier to follow? I can't see how. I can fully appreciate the importance of medal races, while they can be a lottery, at the London 2012 Olympics in Weymouth we saw how great they can be for spectators (see London 2012: The Best Olympic Sailing Regatta Ever?), and for the television, but why add further complexity?

Apparently ISAF will evaluate the racing format in Palma and "make the necessary amendments" before the next big Olympic class event in Hyères, France... I really hope they remember the aim - we want a television and spectator friendly sport, but surely the format needs to be simple. The most captivating sport has a narrative you can follow.

Written by: Gael Pawson
Gael Pawson is the editor of Yachts & Yachting Magazine and the founder of Creating Waves. A keen racer, she has sailed all her life, and started writing about the subject whilst studying journalism at university. Dinghies and small keelboats are her first loves, but she has cruised and raced a huge variety of boats in locations across the world.