Sailing at the 1908 Summer Olympics

Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece). With the exception of the 1904 and the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1908 was open for a total of five sailing classes (disciplines), but actually only four Sailing events were contested. The planned venue of all races, named matches, was Ryde, Isle of Wight.

Sailing at the Games of the IV Olympiad
1908 Gold Medal (Obverse and Reverse)
Venues	Ryde, Isle of Wight Hunters Quay, Scotland
Dates	First race: 27 July 1908 (1908-07-27) (Ryde) Last race: 29 July 1908 (1908-07-29) First race: 11 August 1908 (1908-08-11) (Hunters Quay) Last race: 12 August 1908 (1908-08-12)
Competitors	64 Male and 2 Female (Documented) from 5 nations
Boats	14
← 1900 1912 →

Venue

Royal Victoria Yacht Club
Clubhouse of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde, 1909
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Clubhouse
Town or city	Ryde
Country	GBR
Coordinates	50°43′58.92″N 1°9′44.91″W
Elevation	Sealevel
Construction started	1846
Client	Royal Victoria Yacht Club
Owner	Prince Consort Building
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Italianate style Regency architecture

Royal Clyde Yacht Clubhouse
The Clubhouse of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club Clyde at Hunter’s Quay (GBR) was made available for the Organizing Committee of the B.O.C. and the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club for the 12 Metre Matches.
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Hotel & Clubhouse
Town or city	Hunters Quay
Country	GBR
Coordinates	55°58′11.31″N 4°54′31.78″W
Elevation	Sealevel

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 two British entries for the 12 Metre matches, and both yacht were located at the Firth of Clyde, the decision was made to use Hunters Quay as a second venue.^[1]

Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Ryde

The RVYC was founded on 24 May 1845 by Prince Albert to give Queen Victoria a Yacht Club which she was entitled to enter as a mere female!^[2]

For the Olympic matches the race committee used the available shipping buoys as marks for the courses. for the classes the following course lengths were used:

• 6 Metre: 13 nautical miles (24 km)
• 7 Metre: 13 nautical miles (24 km)
• 8 Metre: 16 nautical miles (30 km)

Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club, Hunters Quay

• 12 Metre: 26 nautical miles (48 km)

Course areas

The following course areas were used during the 1908 Olympic sailing regattas:

1908 Olympic Course Areas

Olympic Course Area for the 6 & 7 Metre, Ryde

Olympic 12 Metre Course, Hunters Quay

Competition

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Entries	Male	Female
1	5	5	14	64	2

A maximum of 2 boats per country per class was allowed.

Continents

Map of Participating Sailing Continents at the 1908 Summer Olympics ● Green = Participating for the first time ● Blue = Participating ● Light Blue = Have previously participated

● Europe

Countries

Source:^[1]

Map of Participating Sailing Countries at the 1908 Summer Olympics ● Green = Participating for the first time ● Blue = Participating ● Light Blue = Have previously participated

Belgium (3)  France (3)  Great Britain (45)  Norway (5)  Sweden (13)

Classes (equipment)

Source:^[1] 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	Venue	Event	Sailors	First OG	Olympics so far
6 Metre	Keelboat	Ryde		3	1908	1
7 Metre	Keelboat	Ryde		4	1908	1
8 Metre	Keelboat	Ryde		5	1908	1
12 Metre	Keelboat	Hunters Quay		10	1908	1
15 Metre	Keelboat	No show		Unknown	1908	0
Legend: = Mixed gender event
The 1908 Olympic Classes in action 6 Metre 7 Metre 8 Metre 12 Metre

Race schedule

Source:^[1]

●

Event competitions

●

Event finals

Date	July					August
	27 Mon	28 Tue	29 Wed	30 Thu	31 Fri	1 Sat	2 Sun	3 Mon	4 Tue	5 Wed	6 Thu	7 Fri	8 Sat	9 Sun	10 Mon	11 Tue	12 Wed
Sailing	● ● ●	● ● ●	● ● ●													●	●
Total gold medals			3														1

Medal summary

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908: 6 Metre details	Great Britain (GBR) Gilbert Laws Thomas McMeekin Charles Crichton	Belgium (BEL) Léon Huybrechts Louis Huybrechts Henri Weewauters	France (FRA) Henri Arthus Louis Potheau Pierre Rabot
1908: 7 Metre details	Great Britain (GBR) Charles Rivett-Carnac Norman Bingley Richard Dixon Frances Rivett-Carnac	The second competitor failed to make it to the start.	No further competition
1908: 8 Metre details	Great Britain (GBR) Blair Cochrane Charles Campbell John Rhodes Henry Sutton Arthur Wood	Sweden (SWE) Carl Hellström Edmund Thormählen Eric Sandberg Erik Wallerius Harald Wallin	Great Britain (GBR) Philip Hunloke Alfred Hughes Frederick Hughes George Ratsey William Ward The Duchess of Westminster
1908: 12 Metre[1] details	Great Britain (GBR) T. C. Glen-Coats (helmsman) J. H. Downes (mate) J. S. Aspin John Buchanan J. C. Bunten A. D. Downes David Dunlop John Mackenzie Albert Martin Gerald Tait	Great Britain (GBR) C. MacIver (helmsman) J. G. Kenion (mate) J. M. Adam James Baxter W. P. Davidson J. F. Jellico T. A. R. Littledale C. R. MacIver C. Macleod Robertson J. F. D. Spence	No further competition

Medal table

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
Totals (4 entries)		4	3	2	9

Notes

• This Olympic sailing event was gender independent, however only two women, Frances Rivett-Carnac in the 7 Metre, and the Duchess of Westminster as extra on her 8 Metre, participated. The duchess of Westminster also distributed the diplomas of special merit to the competitors of the other Olympic sports on 25 July 1908. Gender specific events however had to wait until 1988.
• The matches at Ryde were held in light air conditions.
• All members of a team had to be a citizen of the country they represent. However the boats used did not have to be built in the same country that the team was representing since the Olympic games are considered a test of skills and handling for the team and not a test of the yacht. This in contrast with the matches for the America's cup of that time.
• A second 7 Metre yacht Mignonette was entered under command of Capt. R. Sloane-Stanley but failed to make it to the starting line.
• At the end of the official report the following suggestion was made:

  It has been suggested that in the yacht racing of future Olympic Games it might be better to select a fleet of "one-design" boats in the waters where the Games are held, and let all the crews entered draw lots for them every day, with the proviso that no crew should have the same boat twice.

  Sailing had to wait until 1920 before the first "one-design" class was selected for the Games.

Other information

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

•  Norway (NOR), Johan Anker, Multiple Olympic competitor and designer of many Metre yachts as well as the 1948 Olympic Dragon, in the 8 Metre Fram
•  Great Britain (GBR), Duchess of Westminster as owner and extra crewmember of the 8 Metre Sorais
•  Great Britain (GBR), William Dudley Ward in the 8 Metre Sorais
•  Sweden (SWE), Harald Wallin in Vinga

People at the 1908 Olympic regattas

• 
  Johan Anker
• 
  Duchess of Westminster
• 
  William Dudley Ward
• 
  Crew of Cobweb
• 
  Race committee of the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club

Further reading

• "Digital Library Collection (Official Olympic Reports 1896–2008)". Digital Library Collection at la84.org. la84foundation. Retrieved 3 March 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}