World Sailing’s Council shapes sport

Hamilton, Bermuda (November 2, 2019) – World Sailing’s Council concluded their two-day meeting today at the 2019 Annual Conference as they made their final decisions ahead of tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting.

A number of submissions, proposing change to World Sailing’s Regulations, were approved throughout the two-day (Nov. 1-2) meeting. To read about the first day, click here.

Decisions today were made around the inclusion of Kiteboarding and mixed sailing at the Youth Sailing World Championships, amendments of the regulations to support the 2021-2028 events strategy and two new Para World Championships.

The amendments to World Sailing’s Regulations will now go to the Annual General Meeting for approval tomorrow.

Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition
World Sailing’s Council confirmed the list of Events and Equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Council considered whether to change Events and Equipment for Paris 2024 but no one seconded the proposal which was therefore deemed rejected under World Sailing’s rules. Council moved on to the Equipment Committee’s recommendation to select the iFoil as the Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer Equipment for Paris 2024.

Council approved the selection of the iFoil after 31 members voted in favour with eight against and two abstentions. This decision will now go to World Sailing’s Annual General Meeting who will ratify the decision.

The list of Events and Equipment for Paris 2024, to be ratified at the Annual General Meeting:

Men’s Windsurfer – iFoil
Women’s Windsurfer –iFoil
Men’s One Person Dinghy – Laser
Women’s One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Mixed Kite – Formula Kite
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470
Mixed Two Person Multihull – Nacra 17
Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore – TBC*

*The criteria for suitable Equipment for the Mixed Offshore qualification events will be published no later than 31 December 2020. At the same time, an additional set of criteria will be published for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Equipment. The recommendation also stated that the Equipment for Paris 2024 will be selected no later than 31 December 2023.

World Sailing Events Strategy 2021-2028
World Sailing’s Event Strategy for 2021 – 2028 was approved at the 2019 Mid-Year Meeting in London, UK. With the Olympic venues determined for Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, the goal of the strategy is to focus on the requirements for all sailors, add value for all stakeholders and promote the world’s top sailors.

The Events Strategy has three goals:

• Promote sailors’ progression with a clear regatta structure
• Ensure a stable regatta calendar with a credible ranking system
• See that Olympic level sailing is promoted to a greater audience to drive participation

Ahead of the Conference, the Chairman of the Events Committee put forward three submissions regarding the World Cup Final, the calendar of events and the World Sailing Rankings.

World Sailing’s Council unanimously supported Submissions 077-19, 078-19, and 079-19.

As a result of the support, an annual World Cup Final has been added to the regulations and will be an annual pinnacle Olympic classes regatta for MNAs and sailors. A Calendar Working Party will be created to plan for key Olympic class events to ensure there are no clashes of events. And lastly, a Rankings Working Party shall ensure the development of the World Rankings in line with the strategy.

Kiteboarding to be included in the Youth Sailing World Championships
World Sailing’s Council unanimously supported the inclusion of a Mixed One Person Kiteboard Event into the Youth Sailing World Championships at some point from 2021. This will align the Youth Worlds with the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Events and strengthen the pathway for Kiteboarding to the Olympic Games.

Furthermore, Council changed the Boy’s Two Person Dinghy event at the Youth Worlds to the Boy’s / Mixed Two Person Dinghy, sailed on the 420. The inclusion of a Mixed 420 in the Youth Worlds also aligns itself to the Paris 2024 Olympic where a Mixed 470 is on the slate.

Youth Match Race Rankings to be introduced
In 2014, World Sailing held the inaugural Youth Match Racing World Championship and since then, youth match racing has been growing worldwide.

To further develop youth match racing, World Sailing’s Council unanimously supported the inclusion of a Youth Match Race Rankings, for skippers under 23 years old on December 31 of the year in which the event is held, to give a platform for recognizing and promoting youth athletes.

The aim is to extend the quality of youth match racing events worldwide by better defining the ranking of sailors, identify sailors to be invited to events and to encourage participation.

Intellectual Disability World Championships added to World Sailing portfolio of event
In May, World Sailing partnered with Virtus: World Intellectual Impairment Sport. The signing of a Memorandum of Understand would see the organisations work together towards the development and implementation of strategies and sailing programmes for people with intellectual impairments.

World Sailing’s Council unanimously supported increasing the Para World Sailing Championships, when held, for up to six disciplines per year. Of these six World Championships, World Sailing can now select between an Intellectual Disability (One-Person and Two Person) and a Hearing Impaired World Championship, which will grow sailing for people with intellectual impairments globally.

In addition, all Para World Sailing disciplines may also be granted the right to hold additional Youth World Championships as well as World Championships based on disability type or Para classification.

Other Business
Council also approved the quota for The Hague 2022 Sailing World Championships where 1,220 athletes will sail in 830 boats. The Men’s and Women’s One Person Dinghy fleets will be the largest with 120 boats respectively. The next largest will be the Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer with 100, followed by the Mixed Two Person Dinghy, Men’s Skiff, Women’s Skiff, Mixed Multihull, and Mixed Kiteboard on 70. The smallest fleet will be the Mixed Offshore Keelboat with 40 boats.

World Sailing’s Council also granted the IFCA (International Funboard Class Association) Youth Class with World Sailing Class Association status.

The Annual General Meeting will commence at 09:30 local time tomorrow and a live stream with full audio and the primary screen will be available to watch here – www.youtube.com/worldsailing.tv.

Here’s the video stream today from the Council at the 2019 World Sailing Annual Conference in Bermuda:

World Sailing Annual Conference details… click here.

Background:
The 2019 World Sailing Annual Conference (Oct. 26-Nov. 3) began with the first phase of Committee meetings, but when that concluded on October 31, the focus shifted to the World Sailing Council to consider the findings of these committees.

The Council is at the head of the decision making process, with the group made up of the World Sailing Board of Directors and 28 nominated members (representing the regional groups of sailing nations), the chairman of the Oceanic and Offshore Committee, a representative of the World Sailing Classes Committee, a women’s representative, an athlete’s representative and three non-voting members (Treasurer and two Officers of Honour).

From November 1-2, World Sailing’s Council meets to either approve, reject, or defer the recommendations and proposals from the Committees and these will be ratified at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 3.

All of the World Sailing Member National Authorities may be represented by a delegate at the AGM. The delegate must be a national or resident of the country they are representing, thus giving an international voice to the decisions being made.