Reviewing Equipment for Olympic Windsurfing

The RS:X Class replaced the Mistral One Design Class as the windsurfing equipment for the Qingdao 2008 Olympics, and after being used at three Summer Games, the equipment for the windsurfing event is now under review to determine what will be used past the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

World Sailing is inviting Class Associations and Equipment Manufacturers to tender for the Men’s and Women’s Windsurf Equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition.

The Invitation to Tender follows from World Sailing’s Olympic Re-evaluation Policy, detailed in Regulation 23.6 and approved by World Sailing’s Council at the 2017 Annual Conference in Mexico.

Equipment selected for each Olympic Event shall be subject to re-evaluation at least every eight years to ensure that:

• Competing equipment and competing manufacturers of existing equipment can bid to be selected for Olympic Events and therefore access the market on a fair and objective basis.
• Reduce the risk of monopolies.
• Manufacturers do not become complacent, remain price-competitive, produce high-quality equipment, and do not abuse their market positions.
• The review process will allow the existing Olympic Equipment for the Event, along with any new Classes or manufacturers who wish to have their equipment included in the Olympic Games, to tender for inclusion.

The tender process will review all aspects of the equipment (including suitability for the Olympic Event and its competitors, prices, manufacturing, availability and supply around the world).

The procedures for the re-evaluation were approved at World Sailing’s 2018 Annual Conference in Sarasota, Florida, USA and the final outcome of the review will be decided in 2019.

To read the Invitation to Tender, click here.

Full process and procedure in the Olympic Equipment Re-evaluation procedure, click here.

Invitation to Tender (including the Equipment Criteria approved by the Equipment Committee), click here.