Sleeves Rolled Up at World Sailing Annual Conference

World Sailing’s 2016 Annual Conference brings together up to 700 delegates this week in Barcelona, Spain. Here’s an update from November 7:

World Sailing President Carlo Croce opened up the third day of the 2016 Annual Conference: Our Sustainable Future by welcoming the delegates to the city of Barcelona at the Opening Session.

This kick started what was a full day of activity at the Barcelona Renaissance Fira Hotel which was centred around the Sustainability Forum.

World Sailing CEO Andy Hunt presented the governing bodies sustainability strategy at the Forum. Further information here.

A round up of the day is available below:

Olympic Classes Sub-committee
Observers flocked in their numbers to the Olympic Classes Sub-committee today with their discussions generating a lot of interest around the conference.

They reviewed Rio 2016 and noted that there were still big areas for improvement in the way the sport is presented.

They turned their keen eye to future World Sailing events including the Sailing World Cup and the Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships. In addition, they had a robust discussion around formats for the next Olympic Sailing Competition and received a presentation from the Events Committee Format Working Party.

Development and Youth Committee
The Development and Youth Committee began with World Sailing Vice President Nazli Imre presenting the federations of Japan, Oman and Cyprus with World Sailing recognised training centre certification. Japan and Cyprus gained the status for the first time with Oman renewing theirs.

The presentations then moved on to six World Sailing Regional Developments Coordinators (RDC’s) whom all gave updates on their work and programmes throughout 2016 before World Sailing Nominated Expert Rob Holden updated the committee on future planned developments for the regional workforce.

Para World Sailing Manager, Massimo Dighe, presented the Paralympic Development Program (PDP) which has seen growth in the past year and he outlined plans for the future.

World Sailing Nominated Expert Rich Percy recapped on the 2016 World Sailing Development Symposium which was held in Singapore and also highlighted the positive outcomes and points which could be taken forward in to the 2017 edition in Argentina.

Match Racing Committee
The Match Racing Committee started their meeting with reviews of all the forms of match racing throughout 2016.

There were presentations recapping the Youth Match Racing, Women’s Match Racing, Blind Match Racing and Nations Cup and James Pleasance from the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) also talked through the change to M32’s and the new ownership of the tour before taking a look at what the future may hold.

World Sailing’s Nations Cup, which has a 25-year history, was on the agenda and the committee spoke about how the cup could be strengthened and reinvigorated for participation by developing the sailors, regions and countries that could attend as well as attracting new audiences.

There was also progress reports from the venues of the 2017 events. Helsinki, Finland for the Women and Balboa, USA for the Youth. Looking further ahead there was discussion about the bidding processes for the 2018 Championships.

Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee
The Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee had their final meeting today with the relevant Class Associations to become fully absorbed into the Classes Committee from hence forth. Today they reviewed the year of windsurfing and kiteboarding and their class activities across the year. They received a report on the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition and confirmed that the windsurfing events had been spectacular.

There were also meetings held by the ERS Working Party and International Umpires Sub-committee. The meetings continue on Tuesday November 8 with the Para World Sailing Forum and the Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards to take centre stage.

Live Video Streams
World Sailing’s YouTube Channel will be broadcasting live from the 2016 Annual Conference. The Opening Address, Forums on Sustainability, Para World Sailing, the meeting of Council and the General Assembly will all be streamed live.

Conference details – Live blog – Facebook

Source: Daniel Smith – World Sailing

About World Sailing’s Annual Conference
World Sailing’s Annual Conference brings together up to 700 delegates every first full week of November. It is the central meeting point where the strategy of sailing is reviewed, discussed and celebrated. Over the Annual Conference, participants plan for the future, make key decisions to drive the sport forward, share best practice and generate new ideas. The 2016 Annual Conference will be held in Barcelona, Spain at the Hotel Renaissance Barcelona Fira on November 5-13.