# Sailing at the 1928 Summer Olympics

Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad (1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece). With the exception of 1904 and the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1928 consisted of a total of three sailing classes. For each class races were scheduled from 2–9 August 1928 on the Buiten Y near Amsterdam and on the Zuiderzee. The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses.

## Venue

Source:

### Six Harbor

As venue for the Amsterdam Olympics the Zuiderzee near Amsterdam was chosen. The organizing committee of the sailing event was the Koninklijk Verbond Nederlandsche Watersport Vereniging. The Olympic harbor Six Harbor was on the North shore of the Y just opposite of the Amsterdam Centraal railway station. The boats were moored in the so-called 'kinderkamer' of the harbor. The Six Harbor was in that time the location of the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Zeil- & Roeivereeniging. This resulted that all competing yachts had to go through the Oranje Locks to enter the Buiten Y and Zuiderzee. Some of the former buildings of the Six Harbor were demolished during the construction of the Amsterdam Metro North–south line.

### Course areas

A total of two race areas were used for sailing at the Amsterdam Olympics:
* The courses of the 12' Dinghy were just outside the locks on the buiten Y in front of Durgerdam.
* For the 6 and 8 Metre the used courses were about 5 nm out of the locks, East of the Isle of Marken on the Zuiderzee.
At that time the Zuiderzee had an open connection with the North Sea. The sea water was salt or at best brackish. Waves could be steep and short due to the shallow waters.
In 1932 a dam was built between the North Sea and the Zuiderzee and the Zuiderzee was renamed IJsselmeer. As result of this the lake now contains fresh water. Inside the lake new land was reclaimed. At this moment the center of the 1928 6 and 8 Metre course is located in the city of Almere. Also the city of Amsterdam reclaimed land from the sea and moved towards the lake. When the sailors from the 1928 Summer Olympics could return to their venue they would hardly recognize it.

## Competition

Source:

### Overview

| Continents | Countries | Classes | Boats | Male | Female |
| 4 | 23 | 3 | 41 | 124 | 2 |

### Continents

| Map of Participating Sailing Continents at the 1928 Summer Olympics ● Green = Participating for the first time ● Blue = Participating ● Light Blue = Have previously participated | ● Africa ● Europe ● North America ● South America |

### Countries

| Map of Participating Sailing Countries at the 1928 Summer Olympics ● Green = Participating for the first time ● Blue = Participating ● Light Blue = Have previously participated | Argentina (5)  Austria (1)  Belgium (6)  Czechoslovakia (1)  Denmark (5)  Estonia (5)  Finland (1)  France (13)  Germany (6)  Great Britain (8)  Hungary (6)  Italy (12) | Latvia (1)  Monaco (1)  Netherlands (12)  Norway (9)  Poland (2)  Portugal (4)  South Africa (1)  Spain (6)  Sweden (12)  Switzerland (1)  United States (11) |

### Classes (equipment)

The 1928 Olympic classes :
| Class | Type | Venue | Sailors | First OG | Olympics so far |
| 12' Dinghy | Dinghy | IJmeer | 1 | 1920 | 2 |
| 6 Metre | Keelboat | Zuiderzee | 3 | 1908 | 5 |
| 8 Metre | Keelboat | Zuiderzee | 6 | 1908 | 5 |
| Legend: = Mixed gender event |||||||
| The 1928 Olympic Classes in action 12' Dinghy 6 Metre 8 Metre |||||||

## Race schedule

Source:
| ● | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | ● | Event finals | ● | Closing ceremony |
| Date | July | July | July | July | July | July | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August | August |
| Date | 26th Thu | 27th Fri | 28th Sat | 29th Sun | 30th Mon | 31st Tue | 1st Wed | 2nd Thu | 3rd Fri | 4th Sat | 5th Sun | 6th Mon | 7th Tue | 8th Wed | 9th Thu | 10th Fri | 11th Sat | 12th Sun |
| Sailing | | | | | | | | ● ● ● | ● ● ● | ● ● ● | ● ● ● | Spare day | ● ● ● | ● ● ● | ● ● | | | |
| Total gold medals | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | | | |
| Ceremonies | ● | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ● |

## Medal summary

Source:
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1928: 12' Dinghy details | Sweden (SWE) Sven Thorell | Norway (NOR) Henrik Robert | Finland (FIN) Bertil Broman |
| 1928: 6 Metre details | Norway (NOR) Johan Anker Erik Anker Håkon Bryhn Crown Prince Olav | Denmark (DEN) Vilhelm Vett Aage Høy-Petersen Niels Otto Møller Peter Schlütter | Estonia (EST) Nikolai Vekšin Andreas Faehlmann Georg Faehlmann Eberhard Vogdt William von Wirén |
| 1928: 8 Metre details | France (FRA) Donatien Bouché André Derrien Virginie Hériot André Lesauvage Jean Lesieur Carl de la Sablière | Netherlands (NED) Johannes van Hoolwerff Lambertus Doedes Hendrik Kersken Cornelis van Staveren Gerard de Vries Lentsch Maarten de Wit | Sweden (SWE) Clarence Hammar Tore Holm Carl Sandblom John Sandblom Philip Sandblom Wilhelm Törsleff |

## Medal table

Source:
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Norway (NOR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Sweden (SWE) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | France (FRA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Denmark (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Estonia (EST) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Finland (FIN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (7 entries) | Totals (7 entries) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |