Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 470

The women's 470 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. 38 sailors, on 19 boats, from 19 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race.

Course areas and course configurations
For the 470 course areas A (Yellow) and D (Orange) 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°1'10"N, 120°28'47"E) points to the center of the 0.75nm radius Orange course area. The target time for the course was about 60 minutes for the races and 30 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

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 but the Women’s 470 competition was executed as scheduled.