Olympic sailing: Now official: L30 is the mixed world championship boat on course for the Olympics
Tatjana Pokorny
· 25.03.2019
The World Sailing Federation confirmed today that Rodion Lukas L30 will carry the new Olympic mixed offshore sailing programme into the future. The new discipline selected for the 2024 Olympic sailing programme will hold its World Cup series on the 30-foot keelboats in the coming years. This was announced today by the World Sailing Federation. Accordingly, the L30 has been selected as the official boat for the World Sailing Offshore World Championships from 2020.
The L30 is a modern and lightweight one-design boat with good regatta characteristics. According to the decision-makers in the World Sailing Federation, it is "the perfect boat for the World Championship". The standardised class is intended to ensure that the sailors compete on an equal footing. The first Offshore World Championship will be hosted by the harbour city of Valletta in Malta in October 2020.
The L30 concept was developed by Olympic medallist and Volvo Ocean Race participant Rodion Luka. Designer Andrej Justin, who once also designed the RC44 in collaboration with Russell Coutts, is responsible for the lines of the boat, which is to be sailed by two-handed mixed teams on the Olympic course.
The 2020 World Championships are planned as a mixed competition with boats from 20 countries. One man and one woman will compete against each other on one boat. The boats are to be chartered by the participating nations. One week before the start of the World Championships, the L30 yachts provided will be allocated to the participants by lot. The athletes can then prepare for the world title fights. The World Championships will be held parallel to the Rolex Middle Sea Race. According to the World Sailing Federation, it is possible that the World Championship participants will sail all or just part of the course of the regatta classic. At this stage, however, experts find it difficult to imagine that the double-handed crews on the 30-foot boats will complete the entire 606 nautical mile race around Sicily, Favignana, Pantelleria and Lampedusa. Further information on the qualification mode and the World Championship format will be provided "in due course". The selection of the L30 as a World Championship boat does not automatically mean that the L30 will also be sailed at the 2024 Olympics. This decision is still pending.
In preparation, L30 yachts can be chartered in Europe this summer. If you want to get started faster than you can possibly have or finance your own boat, the class association organises charter boats and can provide you with the necessary information. here be contacted. As the purchase price for L30 yachts is in excess of 100,000 euros, it will probably be a while before a significant number of Olympic crews, clubs or associations have such boats themselves.
Kim Andersen, President of the World Sailing Federation, says: "The L30 class shares our ambition to help two-handed sailing grow globally. The boat is well designed for the demands of ocean sailing and will present sailors with a demanding challenge in Malta next year." According to World Sailing, a number of prominent sailing professionals have already tested the boat, including Volvo Ocean Race winner Charles Caudrelier (France), Volvo Ocean Race sailor Abby Ehler (Great Britain) and five-time Olympic medallist and double Olympic champion Torben Grael (Brazil). Their feedback was of great importance for the further development of the boat. Rodion Luka says: "Our team is proud to be a technical partner of World Sailing. I have no doubt that we can take the sport to a new level."
