New Host Needed for 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships

(November 29, 2016) – The Israel Sailing Association (ISA) have withdrawn from hosting the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships which were due to take place in Akko, Israel in July 2017.

The Israel Sailing Association, national governing body of sailing in Israel, was able to exercise the right to withdraw from hosting the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships as a final contract had not been concluded. World Sailing was informed by the Israel Sailing Association of its decision to withdraw as they were unable to secure adequate funding to host the event.

The bid process to select a new venue for the 2017 Youth Sailing World Championships has commenced and World Sailing invites all Member National Authorities interested in hosting the event to contact the Executive Office for the bid guidelines.

World Sailing will accept bids from MNAs interested in hosting the event in July or December of 2017. The deadline for MNAs to submit bids will be January 16, 2017 with bid evaluations to take place on January 17 and 18. A decision will be made no later than February 3, 2017.

This is the third year of disruption for the Youth Sailing World Championships.

The 2016 event was moved to Auckland, New Zealand (Dec. 14-20) after the Oman Sailing Committee exercised the right to withdraw their hosting of the event. The withdrawal of Oman followed a tumultuous period when two sailors from the Israel Yachting Association (IYA) were unable to compete at the 2015 Youth Sailing World Championships (Dec 29-Jan 3) in Langkawi, Malaysia due to the conditions imposed by the Malaysian authorities.

The United States will host the 2018 Youth Sailing World Championships, planned for July 14-22 in Corpus Christi, TX.

Source: Daniel Smith, World Sailing; Scuttlebutt