ISAF Annual Conference - 6 November Summary

Thursday 6 November marks the final day of the various Committee meetings ahead of the ISAF Council, the final decision making body of ISAF, coming together on 7 and 8 November.

Destination Sanya – 2015 ISAF Annual Conference

Sanya, China will host the 2015 ISAF Annual Conference members of the organising team have been on hand to show more than 500 delegates what Sanya is all about.

Sanya is building itself a strong reputation for hosting international sailing events. Recently Sanya has hosted the Volvo Ocean Race, Round Hainan Island International Regatta and the Hong Kong – Sanya International Sailing Competition. Sanya will once again host a stopover for the 2014-2015 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race with the party set to roll into town towards the end of January 2015.

ISAF Vice-President Quanhai Li explained to the delegates the beauty of Sanya. ISAF President Carlo Croce was quick to praise Sanya and is looking forward to heading over to the venue next year. ISAF Council Member Karl C Kwok and Committee Members Bernard Bonneau and Bill O’Hara also spoke on the evening and once again highlighted what a magnificent place Sanya is for sail boat racing.

We certainly look forward to heading to the venue in 2015.

Oceanic and Offshore Committee

The meeting allowed Oceanic and Offshore Committee members to receive an update and approve ISAF Special Regulations submissions as they look to finalise the book for the 2016-2017 edition.

Following several accidents in 2014 where crew fell in the water when Dyneema lifelines failed it was decided to require stainless steel lifelines for monohulls racing in offshore special regulation race categories 0 to 3. Dyneema lifelines remain permitted for category 4 monohulls and multihulls. This amendment will come into effect on 1 January 2015.

Other amendments were approved regarding aerials for VHF and Automatic Identification System (AIS), life raft specifications and servicing requirements, passive radar reflector specifications, first aid certificate requirements and Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB) specifications. These amendments will come into effect on 1 January 2016.

Stan Honey gave an update on the work that has been done in the working party that was set up to evolve a culture to support sharing knowledge of structural failures of yachts. Yacht designer David Lyons was appointed to chair a revised working party of yacht designers and structural engineers. They will review recent keel failures, investigate the variations in the process of plan review by notified bodies and investigate the practicalities of requiring ‘in-build’ inspection of yachts.

The World Sailing Speed Record Council gave the Committee an update on the World Records that have been broken over the last 12 months. Five major records were broken over the period, three of them by Armel Le Cleac’h with Banque Populaire 7.

Le Cleach’s Records with Banque Populaire 7 include:
1 October 2013 – Marseille to Carthage Singlehanded – 18h 58m 13s
30 January 2014 – Cadiz to San Salvador Singlehanded – 6d 23hr 42m 18s
27 January 2014 – 24 Hours Singlehanded – 682.85NM

Around Britain and Ireland World Records were also broken:
14 August 2014 – Outright – Oman Sail-Musandam, Sidney Gavignet – 3d 3h 32m 36s
15 August 2014 – Monohull – Azzam-Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Ian Walker – 4d 13h 10m 28s

Alongside the business side of the Oceanic and Offshore meeting, ISAF Vice-President Gary Jobson was on-hand to show an ESPN film about the 1979 Fastnet Race and Ted Turner. An in-depth account from the eyes of Ted Turner and those on-board the winning boat Tenacious, the film will be shown at many film festivals around the world including the Cannes Festival.

Jobson was on-board Tenacious in 1979 and has sailed the Fastnet Race five times himself.

Events Committee

The Events Committee meeting was the last Committee to conclude ahead of the meeting of ISAF Council on 7 and 8 November.

The Committee features several high profile sailors who have reached fantastic heights within the sport. Members include Moscow 1980 Flying Dutchman gold medallist Alejandro Abascal, three time Olympian and three time World Champion Sari Multala and Carolijn Brouwer. Brouwer had to send her apologies as she is otherwise engaged on-board Team SCA in the Volvo Ocean Race. Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist and Athletes Commission member Sarah Gosling (nee Webb) was standing in for 2008 and 2012 gold medallist Malcolm Page and with Torben Grael observing along the way it was certainly a star spangled meeting.

The final day 49er and 49erFX format for the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition was discussed. The Events Committee made the recommendation for there to be one single Medal Race that has a 20 minute target time. The Medal Race would not be theatre style.

A recommendation on the venues of the Continental Olympic Qualification Regattas was made. The recommendation put forward would see the following:

•African qualification events will be held at the 2016 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta in Mallorca, Spain as well as events in Cape Town, South Africa and Algeria.
•The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Asia and 2015 ASAF Cup in Oman or UAE will see the Asian qualification spots picked up.
•European spots will be available at the 2016 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta.
•The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne will provide the Oceanic qualifiers.
•The 2015 Pan-American Games will decide one quota place each in the Laser and Laser Radial for North and South America. The additional places will be up for grabs at the 2016 edition of ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami.

All of the Events Committee recommendations will be put forward to the ISAF Council, the final decision making body of ISAF, on 7 and 8 November.

Rio 2016 Sailing Manager Walter Boddener gave a presentation on the progress of the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. The Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2014 was the first Rio 2016 test event and was seen as a success. There will be a second test event in 2015 to ensure the systems are set come Games time.

Rio will certainly provide some memorable backdrops and will provide the most memorable pictures of the Olympic Games with Sugarloaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana in perfect alignment for photographers.

John Craig, Head of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, gave the Committee a progress report. The first ISAF Sailing World Cup Final is just a few weeks away and a whole host of World Champions and Olympic medallists are on the entry list and ready to rock in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. See who’s entered here.

The 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup series will see reduced quotas, a qualification process based around the ISAF World Sailing Rankings and ISAF Sailing World Cup Qualification Regattas will be used to determine the entrants for each round, ensuring the world’s best sailors will be within the World Cup fleets.

Event winners from each SWC Round will qualify to the 2015 SWC Final whilst the best placed ‘home continent’ sailor in each round will also qualify. The top three finishers at the 2015 Class World Championships (if already held) will qualify to the 2015 SWC Final. The remaining SWC Final places will be awarded via the ISAF World Sailing Rankings.

The Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games was reviewed and the event was seen as a massive success. Lake Jinniu played host to 101 sailors racing across the Boy’s and Girl’s Byte and Techno 293. The conditions on Lake Jinniu were light and tricky which ensured for some intriguing action on the water.

Four Youth Olympic Champions were crowned in China and all of the sailors went home with memories that will last them a lifetime. Buenos Aires, Argentina will host the 2018 edition of the Youth Olympic Games and preparations for the event are underway. Most recently Buenos Aires hosted the Optimist World Championship and the infrastructure for sailing in 2018 is well set.

Race Official Appointments

At the ISAF Annual Conference the Judges, Measurers, Race Management and Umpires Sub-committee all meet to discuss race official applications. The Sub-committees review the applications from people wanting to become an International Race Official as well as those looking to renew their status. The Sub-committees report to the Race Officials Committee who confirmed the following appointments today:

Judges
http://www.sailing.org/raceofficials/internationaljudge/new_appointments.php

Measurers
http://www.sailing.org/raceofficials/internationalmeasurer/new_appointments.php

Race Officers
http://www.sailing.org/raceofficials/internationalraceofficer/new_appointments.php

Umpires
http://www.sailing.org/raceofficials/internationalumpire/new_appointments.php

The Race Officials Committee is currently confirming details on a number of applications and therefore will make further appointments in due course. Therefore if a candidate’s name does not appear, it does not necessarily mean he or she has been rejected.

To stay up-to-date with the ISAF Annual Conference, a live blog will be available from Saturday 1 November through to Saturday 8 November here.