Sailing/Yachting

Sailing

Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...

is a Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad

Olympiad

An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....

 (1896 Olympics in Athens ). With the exception of 1904

1904 Summer Olympics

The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States from 1 July 1904, to November 23, 1904, at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University...

 and possible 1916

1916 Summer Olympics

The anticipated 1916 Summer Olympics, which were to be officially known as the Games of the VI Olympiad, were to have been held in Berlin, Germany. However, due to the outbreak of World War I, the games were cancelled.-History:...

, sailing was always a part of the Olympic program.
The sailing program in 1900 consisted of a total of seven sailing classes. For six classes, the races were scheduled from May 20–27 at the Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

 around Meulan

Meulan

Meulan-en-Yvelines is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It hosted part of the sailing events for the 1900 Summer Olympics held in neighboring Paris, and would do so again twenty-four years later.-People:*Mbaye Niang footballer*Ibrahim Sacko...

, and a series of three races was held for the largest class from August 1–5 off the coast of Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

.

Meulan

The race conditions at Meulan during the Olympic regatta were not ideal. A light breeze could hardly make the sailing interesting. Since the river Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

 mainly runs from east to west, the light north-easterly breese was partly blocked by buildings or trees on the river bank, thus influencing the regatta.

Le Havre

During the second part of the Olympic regatta, the conditions were so good that the 10 – 20 Ton class was able to sail the complete 22 nautical mile

Nautical mile

The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...

 triangulair course.

Overview

Continents	Countries	Classes	Boats	Male	Female
2	7	7	±70	176	1 (documented)

Countries

	|
	|
(A combined team of United Kingdom and France)

Classes (equipment)

Sailing during the turn of the century was not so well defined as it became later during the 20th century. Racing rules were mostly defined by local yacht clubs or in some cases by a National Yachting Federation. Also, boats were not standardized to what is called One Design classes. Therefore many handicap systems or systems that put yachts into different categories were often used. In 1892 Auguste Godinet developed a formula that placed different boats in different Ton categories. This rule was adopted by the Union des yachts français and later by several other National Yachting Federations like Société Nautique de Genève

Société Nautique de Genève

The Société Nautique de Genève is a yacht club based in Geneva . It was founded in 1872 with the goal of developing nautical sports and high level sailors...

.
For the sailing at the 1900 Olympics this rule was chosen to determine the tonnage of a yacht.

For the smallest class, ½ Ton, among others, some Lark's were used. These Larks, copies of the Davis Lark and copies of Sorceress designed by Linton Hope became famous one-designs in France Monotype de Chatou at the beginning of the 20st century.

The Olympics were open for the following classes:

Class	Type	Venue	Event	Sailors	Trapeze	Mainsail	Jib/Genoa	Spinnaker	First OG	Olympics so far
½ Ton Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Meulan		1	0	+	+	?	1900	1
½–1 Ton Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Meulan		2	0	+	+	?	1900	1
1–2 Ton Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Meulan		2	0	+	+	?	1900	1
2–3 Ton Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Meulan		2	0	+	+	?	1900	1
3–10 Ton Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Meulan		3	0	+	+	?	1900	1
10–20 Ton Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Le Havre		3	0	+	+	?	1900	1
Open Class Ton Classes -Thames Tonnage:Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the British "old tonnage measurement" system to calculate the volume of the hold of large commercial ships. It gave the vessel's carrying capacity in tons or, as some believe, in tuns...	Undefined	Le Havre		3	0	+	+	?	1900	1

= Male, = Female, = Open

Medal summary

0 – ½ Ton:	Pierre Gervais Unknown	Textier(1) Textier(2) Jean Charcot Robert Linzeler	Henri Monnot Léon Tellier Gaston Cailleux
½ – 1 Ton:	Lorne Currie Lorne Currie Lorne Campbell Currie was a British sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. His father, John Martin Currie, was a younger brother of Donald Currie, the ship owner, and acted as agent for the firm in Le Havre, where Lorne Currie was born and raised.He was a member of the British boat... John Gretton John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton PC CBE , was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games.-Biography:... Linton Hope Algernon Maudslay Algernon Maudslay Algernon Maudslay CBE was a British sailor who completed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the British boat Scotia, which won the gold medals in the ½—1 ton class and open class....	Jacques Baudier F. Marcotte William Martin Jules Valton
1 – 2 Ton:	Hermann de Pourtalès Hermann de Pourtalès Hermann Alexander de Pourtalès was a Swiss sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the Swiss boat Lérina, which won the gold medal in the first race of 2-3 ton class and silver medal in the second race of 2-3 ton class. He also participated in the open class, but did not... Hélène de Pourtalès Bernard de Pourtalès Bernard de Pourtalès Bernard Alexandre George Edmond de Pourtalès was a Swiss infantry captain and sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He died in Casablanca....	F. Vilamitjana Auguste Albert Charles Hugo Duval	Jacques Baudier Lucien Baudier Mantois Dusbosq Edouard Mantois
2 – 3 Ton:	E. William Exshaw E. William Exshaw Edward William Exshaw was a British sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the British/French boat Ollé, which won the gold medals in the both races of 2-3 ton class. He also participated in the open class, but did not finish-External links:*... Frédéric Blanchy Jacques Le Lavasseur	Susse Doucet Godinet Mialaret	Ferdinand Schlatter De Cottignon Emile Jean-Fontaine
3 – 10 Ton:	Edward Hore H. N. Jefferson J. Howard Taylor	A. Dubos J. Dubos Maurice Gufflet Robert Gufflet Charly Guiraist	H. MacHenry
10 – 20 Ton:
Open class:	Lorne Currie Lorne Currie Lorne Campbell Currie was a British sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. His father, John Martin Currie, was a younger brother of Donald Currie, the ship owner, and acted as agent for the firm in Le Havre, where Lorne Currie was born and raised.He was a member of the British boat... John Gretton John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton PC CBE , was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games.-Biography:... Linton Hope Algernon Maudslay Algernon Maudslay Algernon Maudslay CBE was a British sailor who completed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the British boat Scotia, which won the gold medals in the ½—1 ton class and open class....	Paul Wiesner Georg Naue Heinrich Peters Ottokar Weise	E. Michelet F. Michelet

Medal table

1		3	0	1	4
2		2	6	5	13
3		1	0	0	1
		1	0	0	1
5		0	1	0	1
6		0	0	1	1
Total	6	7	7	7	21

Sailors

During the Sailing regatta's at the 1900 Summer Olympics among others the following persons were competing (or owning yachts) in the various classes:

• Celebrities
  • , Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild
  • , Hermann de Pourtalès
    Hermann de Pourtalès
    Hermann Alexander de Pourtalès was a Swiss sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the Swiss boat Lérina, which won the gold medal in the first race of 2-3 ton class and silver medal in the second race of 2-3 ton class. He also participated in the open class, but did not...
    
    
• First female Gold medalist of the modern Olympics:
  • , Hélène de Pourtalès