The 470 Class fulfills the Olympic double handed sailing discipline for both Men and Women. The strict one design class has proved its excellent suitability as an Olympic Sport during 15 Olympiads (9 for Men and 6 for Women) because of its characteristics as an high performance sailing dinghy, suitable for human athlete body-weights from all continents and very capable of performing in most weather circumstances, from light to heavy wind.
THE 470 DINGHY The 470 is an Olympic class dinghy recognised by ISAF, sailed by both male and female teams. It was designed in 1963 by the frenchman André Cornu, as a modern fiberglass planing dinghy. In 1969 the class was given international status and it has been an olympic class since featuring at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. In 1988 the first olympic womens sailing event was sailed in the 470.
The boat is equipped with spinnaker and trapeze, which demands real teamwork. To be competitive, everything should be mastered to perfection and the 470 is often quoted as the hardest Olympic design to get to grips with. Tactically the boat is demanding as speed differences between competitors are small and fleets are usually big.
In Athens in 2004 the 470 womens class was one of ten sailing disciplines competed for and will be used again in Beijing.
PARTICULARS
Length: 4.7m, 15’5"
Length of waterline: 4.4m, 14’6"
Mass: 120kg, 264lbs.
Mast: 6.76m, 22’3"
Total Sail Area: 12.7m^2, 137ft^2
Jib: 3.58m^2, 39ft^2
Main: 9.12m^2, 98ft^2
Spinnaker: 13m^2, 140ft^2
The 470 Races Men & Women are sheduled on the 11th, 12th, 13th & 15th at the olympics this year. Watch out for results on this space!
Aug 12, 2008
Olympics 2008 Sailing : The 470 Class – Getting Grips On The Hardest Olympic Design
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