New governance wasn’t built in a day

As the governing body for the sport of sailing, World Sailing presented its 2018-2022 strategy at their May 2018 Mid-Year Meeting. Within the objectives was the establishment of a governance structure within the International Federation that was simple, clear, and transparent to all stakeholders.

This got the wheels turning, and at the Oct/Nov 2018 Annual Conference, sports lawyer and sports governance expert Maria Clarke, who was appointed as the Independent Chair of World Sailing’s Governance Commission, presented the findings of the Commission.

Following more consultation, feedback, and research with Member Nation Associations, Class Associations, Council, committee, and commission members and the wider sailing community, the Commission published on May 3 2019 a proposal to reform the governance of World Sailing, entitled “Refreshing the Foundations for Our Future”.

After the proposal was presented at the May 2019 Mid-Year Meeting, it was unanimously endorsed by the Board, taking into account the following:

• Issues raised by Members in the survey undertaken in September 2018;
• Feedback from initial ideas of the Commission presented during the November 2018 Conference in Sarasota
• Application of internationally recognized good governance principles; and,
• Sports governance expertise.

The Commission is now asking for more feedback in order to consider adjustments to the Proposal, before incorporating the detail of the final proposal into a new Constitution and Regulations. The intention is for the Constitution to be voted on at the Annual General Meeting in Bermuda in November 2019.

All Members and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide feedback (by 16:00 UTC on June 30, 2019) via the survey accessible at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8RXR799