Shaping the future of Olympic Sailing

World Sailing, as the governing body for the sport of sailing, has the herculean task of guiding a sport with no set playing field or ball through the myriad of differences that exist among its international membership of nearly 150 nations.

This epic effort of sheep-herding is on display twice yearly, with the 2018 World Sailing Mid-Year Meeting to take place May 12-15 in London, United Kingdom.

The meeting is fueled by proposals from the member nations, class organizations, or World Sailing committees, and with some big decisions needed for the future of Sailing in the Olympic Games, nearly all of the 74 submissions to be reviewed in London are Olympic related.

The rest of the sport will need to wait for the 2018 World Sailing Annual Conference coming to the USA on October 27 to November 4 in Sarasota, Florida.

Here’s submissions for London from North American nations:

Tracking System for Race Officials (US Sailing)
To initiate the development of a system specifically designed for World Sailing Race Officials to confidently acquire, manage and analyze event tracking information. Submission.

Olympic Events & Equipment (US Sailing)
In the Rio 2016 Olympics, sailing had ten events, although in reality sailing had one discipline, fleet racing, in ten different boats. The IOC has moved from a sport based program to an event based program and adopted a mantra of, “change or be changed.” The IOC is unlikely to be fooled by creative labelling of sailing’s current events and equipment.

US Sailing supports a bold approach that differentiates the ten medal events across as many as seven disciplines in a wide variety of equipment types. New events like the Offshore, Kite and Team events plus a second medal opportunity could really create a surge of new interest in Olympic sailing across the broad spectrum of our sport. Four mixed events will promote gender equality across our sport: from dinghies to foiling catamarans to Team Racing to Offshore Keelboats. Submission.

Olympic Events & Equipment (Sail Canada)
Provide an event slate that is gender equal at event and athlete level, while providing the maximum diversity in physiques across the Olympic slate, utilizing equipment that is accessible world-wide while providing a showcase in the variety of disciplines within the sport of sailing. Submission.

To review all 74 Submissions, go to the Meeting page, then Papers, then Submissions.