Olympic Sailing: 75 days to go

Yes, Olympic Sailing is probably not so relevant to the people who have arrived at PlainSailing.com looking for the best value yacht charter deals in Greece, Croatia, England or Scotland, but heck, this is a sailing blog!  Plus the general population as a whole are always interested in the Olympics!

The latest news from Rio (which is where the Olympics will be held later this year) is encouraging from the perspective that massive improvements have been made to the water quality levels, but less so when you consider that that actually means that the water has gone from being like noxious sewage to just being like sewage – and, with just 75 days to go, the World Sailing inspection says that there is not a moment to lose in improving the water quality.

Whilst this pre-Olympic review is usually used to glorify in the beauty of the sailing area, to big up the likely rivalries of the key participants, or to highlight the best cliffs from which to view the racing, it speaks volumes that we are instead hearing the World Sailing Head of Competitions discussing whether the water will be safe.  Since when have we had to worry about whether the water was safe?! 

Throw in the threat of the Zika virus which is currently ravaging South America (and spreading elsewhere fast) and you have to wonder why we are choosing Rio as being the ideal place to send all the fastest and strongest people in the world? 

The answer is, of course, that money talks.  But that’s not much of a consolation for the athletes who don’t come home with a medal, but come home with an illness instead.  Fingers crossed that they can get it sorted in time.