How Olympic Sailing Works
The Canadian Sailing Team published a great rundown of Olympic Sailing for beginners.
HOW IT WORKS:
Sailing events are designated by the model and type of boat used in competition. At Rio 2016, those events are men’s and women’s RS:X (windsurfer), men’s and women’s 470 (two-person dinghy), men’s Laser and women’s Laser Radial (one-person dinghy), men’s 49er and women’s 49er FX (skiff), men’s Finn (one-person heavyweight dinghy) and mixed Nacra 17 (multihull).
[Note: here’s a guide on the boats: https://medium.com/@OlympicSailing/the-ten-olympic-sailing-classes-2707e537a0ec#.odh031vvy ]
Among the notable changes for Rio 2016 are the return of a mixed multihull event with the Nacra 17 making its Olympic debut, the debut of a women’s skiff event with the 49er FX, and the exclusion of the men’s Star for just the second time since 1932.
All events at Rio 2016 will be fleet races, meaning all of the boats in an event are on the water at the same time, with the winner being the first boat to cross the finish line.
Competition in the Laser, Laser Radial, Finn and 470 classes is a 10-race series (plus Medal Race) while the RS:X, 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 classes compete in a 12-race series (plus Medal Race). Boats are allocated points for their finishing position in each race (first place = 1 point, second place = 2 points, etc). Points are doubled in the Medal Races, in which only the top 10 boats in each class compete. The boat with the lowest total score is the winner.
