Connect to Sailing Seminars : World Sailing

The Connect to Sailing initiative will host two seminars, presenting the fundamentals of the project and illustrating some of its current programmes, during the ISAF Annual Conference in Singapore in November.

Connect to Sailing was set up by ISAF to increase participation in grass roots sailing with a particular focus on youth. The Connect to Sailing Website was launched in June this year as part of the on going project development and the Connect to Sailing Team have been delighted with the numbers who have responded with feedback, offers of assistance and details of initiatives taking place all over the globe.

Supporting this aim, the Connect to Sailing Seminars will be held in Singapore during the ISAF Annual Conference will prvide an exciting forum in which ideas and practices can be exchanged by people who truly want to develop the sport of sailing to the best advantage of all.

Please find detailed below a provisional agenda for the Connect to Sailing Seminars.

0800-1000 7 November 2005

A Presentation on the Connect to Sailing Project

• The Connect to Sailing Programme Strategy and Targets
• The Connect to Sailing Ambassador Programme and its purpose
• The Task Force Programme and the Blue Print
• The Role of the MNA
• Progress on Initiatives to Date
• Q&A's

Presenters: Tim Coventry, Connect to Sailing Project Manager
Luissa Smith, Director of Communications
Chip Johns, Connect to Sailing Ambassador

0800-1000 8 November 2005

Initiatives - A focus on two development programmes

• The Grael Project
Established in 1998 as a cost-free programme for children from low income families in Brazil to learn how to sail, the presentation will focus on the social and economical potential of sailing in a developing country, lessons learnt and how the initiative can be replicated.

Presenter: Axel Grael

• Have a go @ Yachting
New Zealand Yachting's initiative being launched in December 2005, supported by the Peter Blake Trust and aiming to introduce up to 15,000 young people to sailing over the course of five years.

Presenter: Geoff Thorpe

• Q&A's