Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece). With the exception of 1904 and possibly the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1996 consisted of a total of ten sailing classes (disciplines). For each class, with the exception of the Soling, eleven races were scheduled from 22 July to 2 August 1996 off the coast of Savannah at the Wassaw Sound (an area of the Atlantic Ocean). For the Soling ten fleetraces were scheduled followed by a series of matchraces for the top 6 boats of the fleetrace result.[1]
According to the IOC statutes the contests in all sport disciplines must be held either in, or as close as possible to the city which the IOC has chosen. An exception was made for the Olympic yachting events, which customarily must be staged on the open sea. On account of this principle, the city of Savannah was chosen for the organization of the sailing events. Spectators were given the opportunity to board boats that will sail out to the courses to provide a close look at the competition. About 1000 spectators per day made use of the opportunity.
The sailing events were held off the coast of Savannah at the Wassaw Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The venue used three locations:
Satellite Olympic Village in Savannah
Olympic marina on Wilmington Island. The Stars and Solings, were towed between the Olympic marina and their race areas.
Day marina, a temporary barge system (14,000 m2) near the north side of Wassaw Sound at the mouth of the Wilmington River. The day marina was used as a forward launch area for the dinghies and windsurf boards.
Black = Marinas Blue = Alpha course Green = Bravo course Yellow = Charly course Red = Delta course
Separate course areas were used for the following pairs of classes:
Mistral one-design (men and women)
Europe and Laser
Finn and Star
470 (men and women)
Tornado and Soling (fleetracing)
Soling (matchracing)
Competition
Overview
Continents
Countries
Classes
Boats
Male
Female
6
78
10
312
358
100
Continents
Africa
Asia
Oceania
Europe
Americas
Countries
Countries that participated in the Sailing event of the 1996 Olympic Games. Blue: Water Gray: Never participated in OG Dark Gray: Participated in earlier OG Green: Country participated for the first time Dark Blue: Country participated also on previous games Red: Country boycotted the sailing event of the OG
The Olympic sailing facility at Savannah was before the opening of the Olympic Games (10 July) within the Hurricane Bertha warning area. Tornados, Stars and Solings were moved to the Sheraton facility. The Day Marina and the Sheraton were evacuated; the evacuation was complete by 6 PM.
Weather conditions
The winds on a typical day in Savannah begin is as follows:
In the morning a light breeze from the west to the Northwest at about 5 knots
The winds diminish in the late mornings
By midday, the sea breeze circulation begins. When the sea breeze does rise, the winds backs to the south and Southeast
Wind speed in the afternoon average between 7 and 12 knots
Olympic weather reports were provided by the National Weather Service from the locations Atlanta and Savannah. Doppler weather radar was used from Charleston, South Carolina. From Jacksonville, Florida the weather above the offshore courses was observed.
Sailors
During the Sailing regattas at the 1996 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing in the various classes:
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