ISAF Annual Conference: Day Three Summary

The 2015 ISAF Annual Conference has commenced in Sanya, China, with the world of sailing gathering on the Chinese island of Hainan on November 7-14 to talk about the business of sailing and make the decisions that take the sport forward into the new year. Here is the November 9 day three summary…

Training and Development Committee
The Training and Development Committee are looking to regionalise the development of sailing through the Regional Development Co-ordinators / mentors.

At the moment there are four personnel undertaking the role, they include:
Rob Holden – Africa
Emrah Surmen – Euro / Asia
Eduardo Sylvestre – South America
Tim Cross – Caribbean

These Co-ordinators work with the Member National Authorities in their region to unlock IOC Olympic Solidarity funding, give advice on development pathways as well as advising the MNA on the development of sailing.

The Committee are looking to introduce Regional Development Co-ordinators for each region and these include: Oceania, Asia, Europe and North America.

An overview of departmental activity was given. There have been a number of technical courses throughout the year as well as World Sailing’s scholarship which concluded recently. Find out more about the scholarship right here.

The Youth Worlds Emerging Nations Program (ENP) and the Paralympic Development Program were also spoken about. Find out more on the ENP here. Find out more on the Paralympic Development Program here.

Looking ahead, the Training and Development Symposium is heading to Singapore in February and will be held from 2-4 February 2016. For registration details please contact training@isaf.com.

Olympic Classes Sub-committee
The International Olympic Committees ‘Agenda 2020’ was a topic of discussion in the Olympic Classes Sub-committee. Agenda 2020 is a strategic roadmap that lays out the future for the Olympic movement.

Forty recommendations were approved last December by the IOC. Points related to sailing included strengthening the support to athletes, reducing costs as well as launching an Olympic Channel. Find out more on the recommendations here.

The Committee looked ahead to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition as well as the Aarhus 2018 ISAF Sailing World Championships which will act as the first qualifier to Tokyo 2020. Alongside this, the Sailing World Cup was discussed. The Abu Dhabi final concluded just the other week and you can catch up on what went down in the water in Emirati capital by checking out this video here.

Match Racing Committee
The Committee looked back at a number of the year’s match racing events including the World Match Racing Tour, ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship and the Youth Match Racing World Championship.

The ISAF Women’s Match Racing Worlds took place in Middelfart, Denmark this year and Lotte Meldgaard-Pedersen (DEN) took the crown on her home waters. The Danish racer is in Sanya over the next few days after her exploits in Middelfart were recognised and she was nominated for ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year.

The ISAF Youth Match Racing Worlds were also reviewed and the event continues to be a great success.

Bids for the 2017 editions of both events will be reviewed in February 2016 and subsequently announced so stay tuned.

The World Match Racing Tour gave an update on an exciting new concept for the series. The new racing format, sailed on the M32 multihull, will be a mixture of fleet racing and match racing. The first two days will be dedicated to fleet racing from which four teams will be eliminated. The remaining 16 teams advance to a match racing regatta on the third day.

Quite the change as well with the 2016 series running from February to July before the 2016-2017 season starts in August, comprising of 11 events to crown the ISAF Match Racing World Champion.

Also meeting today:
Development and Youth Committee
ERS Working Party
International Umpires Sub-committee
Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee
Women’s Forum

On Tuesday 10 November, the winner of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards will be announced. Sarah Ayton (GBR), Sam Davies (GBR), Elena Kalinina (RUS), Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN) and Charline Picon (FRA) are all up for the title of Women’s ISAF Rolex Rolex World Sailor of the Year. The male nominees include Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL), Loick Peyron (FRA), Giles Scott (GBR), Ian Walker (GBR) and Ian Williams (GBR).

A live blog will be available from Saturday 7 November through to Saturday 14 November here: www.sailing.org/follow/2015-annual-conference-blog.php

The Annual Conference meeting schedule, papers and further information here: www.sailing.org/meetings/2015-conference.php