Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad. With the exception of 1904 and possibly the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. sailing was always a part of the Olympic program. The Sailing program of 1984 consisted of a total of seven sailing classes (disciplines). For each class seven races were scheduled from 31 July 1984 to 8 August 1984 of the coast of Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California at the Pacific Ocean. Los Angeles hosted the Olympic sailing competitions for the second time, having previously done so during the 1932 Summer Olympics. The sailing was done on the triangular type Olympic courses.

Sailing has been included as an event at every Summer Olympics since 1896 except the 1904 Summer Olympics. At the 1980 Summer Olympics sailing events were organised into six classes. In each class seven races in a particular sailing discipline were contested between the 19 and 29 July 1980. The Olympic city in 1980 was Moscow, but all sailing events took place in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Pirita, in Tallinn in present-day Estonia. At the time Tallinn was part of the Soviet Union. Events at this olympiad used triangular-type Olympic courses.