ISAF releases Moroccan Meeting Minutes

As the leaders of the world governing body for the sport of sailing, the ISAF Executive Committee met February 13-15 at the Sofitel Agadir Royal Bay Hotel, Agadir, Morocco. Here are some of the discussion items from the meeting minutes:

* A budget up to a maximum of £180,000 was approved for the construction of a House of ISAF which will be transported to various ISAF events. A submission by President Carlo Croce for a popemobile remains under review.

* A review of the ISAF disciplinary process should be undertaken to further strengthen them and ISAF will engage external sports law experts to advise on the matter. This follows the recognition that ISAF can only ban sailors from elite events that they likely would not be competing in.

* An assessment has been made that ISAF has approximately twice as many committees and commissions as any other Olympic international federation, which is believed to be the result of ISAF seeking to manage the complexity and diversity of the sport. The issue at hand is the cost of ISAF’s broad governance, and the assessment that ISAF exists solely for Oympic sailing. All Committee chairmen and vice-chairmen have been asked for their views on committee size and representation, but none are expected to oblige.

* Montserrat, an island which is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, is accused of failing to act as a non-profit national sailing federation and is instead operating as a commercial venture issuing sailing certificates with an implied ISAF endorsement. A statement from Montserrat Yachting Association claims its operation procedures are necessary since the ISAF Executive Committee does not allow drug-running to be a source of income.

* At the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, ISAF granted approval for two Ukraine sailors to change their nationality to Russia on the basis that their residency in the Crimea made it impossible for them to train and compete for Ukraine. ISAF is now receiving requests from Cuban sailors seeking to change their nationality to USA for similar reasons.

* Organizers of the Rio 2016 Olympics have informed ISAF that not enough is being done to improve the water quality or reduce the amount of physical objects in the water, and that ISAF needs to get over it. The IOC will now work with Rio 2016 and ISAF to ensure that everything possible is done by the Brazilian government and the state authorities to improve the water quality. Not much is expected.

To read the complete minutes, click here