Panam Sailing General Assembly

The quadrennial General Assembly of the Pan Am Sailing Federation (PASAF) was held on August 2, 2019 in Paracas, Peru. With 21 member nations attending, the meeting had 62% of its MNAs in attendance on the eve of the Pan Am Games Sailing Competition.

Some of the highlights of the meeting included the ratification of the Regulation creating an Athletes Commission for the organization and the adoption of an updated Constitution.

The athletes of the 2019 Panam Games participating in the Sailing Competition have elected 8 athletes to serve as the first ever Panam Sailing Athletes Commission:

Ricardo Fabinho Balhot (URU)
Connor Blouin (USA)
Javier Conte (ARG)
Amy Cox (BAR)
Alexandra ten Hove (CAN)
Maria José Poncell (CHI)
Philippine van Aanholt (ARU)
Tania Elias Colles Wolf (MEX)

The Athletes Commission will meet by teleconference in the next two months to elect their Chair, and to select the male and female athletes who will serve on the Executive Committee of Panam Sailing.

Panam Sailing’s General Assembly ratified the creation of this commission on 2 August 2019, and the election was held on August 9-10, 2019, at the Sailing Competition venue.

With the Constitution update came a few significant changes to the organization:
1. The use name will now be Panam Sailing.
2. Two athletes, a male and female selected by the Athletes Commission, have been added to the Panam Sailing Executive Committee.
3. The start, end, and effective dates for officers and Constitution changes will now be at the Closing of the Pan Am Games.

The significant milestones of the 2019 Panam Games include:
1. Sailing as the sport with the third highest number of participating countries (26) at these games. Only surpassed by Athletics and Aquatics.
2. The number of participating nations in sailing grew by 25% over Toronto 2015.
3. With 11 Medals and 168 athletes from 26 nations, sailing reached an all-time high in participation.
4. The number of Olympic Country Qualification spots increased from 4 in 3015, to 10 in 2019!

The quadrennial elections were held and the following Vice Presidents were elected by their Regional MNAs in attendance:

North America – David Covo (CAN) & Fred Hagedorn (USA)
Caribbean & Bermuda – “Pat” Bailey (ISV) & Penny McIntyre (BAR)
Central America & Mexico – Alberto Dana (MEX)
South America – John Bennett (BRA) & Luis Velasco (ARG)

Of these 7 Vice Presidents, John Bennett (BRA) was elected President for a second term by a unanimous vote of acclamation of the 21 MNAs present.

Joining the Executive Committee of Panam Sailing from the 2023 Host Nation MNA is Leo Dreyer (CHI). In addition, Ricardo Navarro, ITD for the 2023 Competition, will be a non-voting Member.

The Assembly thanked outgoing Vice Presidents Jorge “Coco” Barreda, Hector Duval, Pablo Masseroni, and Eric Tulla for the dedication to our sport and their work as leaders of Panam Sailing.

Kim Andersen, President of World Sailing, was in attendance and closed the meeting with an update in World Sailing and words of encouragement and support to the Assembly.

With this, the 2023 Quad begins!

Source: Frederick Hagedorn