Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's RS:X

The Men's RS:X was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Eleven races (last one a medal race) were scheduled and completed. 35 sailors, on 35 boards, from 35 nations competed. Ten boards qualified for the medal race.

Course areas and course configurations
For the RS:X course areas A (Yellow) and B (Red) were used. The location (36°1'26"’N, 120°26'52"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Yellow course area and the location (36°2'21"N, 120°25'32"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Red course area. The target time for the course was about 30–35 minutes for the races and 20 minutes for the medal race. The race management could choose from several course configurations.

Outer courses

 * O1: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
 * O2: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH
 * O3: START – 1 – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3s/3p – 2 – 3p – FINISH

Inner courses

 * I1: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
 * I2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH
 * I3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 2 – 3p – FINISH

Windward-Leeward courses

 * W2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
 * W3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH
 * W4: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH

Windward-Leeward Slalom courses

 * WS1: START – 1 – 4s/4p – S1 – S2 – S3 – FINISH
 * WS2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – S1 – S2 – S3 – FINISH
 * WS3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – S1 – S2 – S3 – FINISH

Weather conditions
In the lead up to the Olympics many questioned the choice of Qingdao as a venue with very little predicted wind. During the races the wind was pretty light and quite unpredictable. Due to lack of wind (< 1.6 knots) two racing days had to be postponed.