ISAF Mid-Year Meeting - Equipment Committee Update

The Equipment Committee met on Thursday 7 May at the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Some updates from the meeting are available below:

ISAF Youth Worlds Multihull Event Equipment Evaluation

At the 2014 ISAF Annual Conference in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, the Equipment Committee recommended the new Nacra15 for the Open Multihull event at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship.

At the 2014 Conference it was reported that the Nacra 15, “will be discussed at the 2015 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in the Netherlands with the earliest possible introduction of the new equipment being 2018.”

Nacra Sailing’s Gunnar Larsson gave an update on the Nacra 15 and outlined some recent changes the Nacra 15 has gone through. A slightly flatter mainsail and slightly flatter gennaker are now present on the multihull as well as minor changes to configurations and control blocks.

A prototype was recently put through its paces at the recent Eurocat in Carnac, France. One of the big comments made was about the smiles on the faces of the young sailors that sailed the boat. High praise indeed.

It is expected that Nacra Sailing will be able to produce 4-5 Nacra 15s each week starting around November 2015, with a complete boat, ready to sell, expected to retail at 11,750 euros (excluding VAT).

Evolution of Olympic Equipment

ISAF Equipment Committee Chairman Kim Andersen (DEN) gave us an update on the evolution of Olympic Equipment and also explained about his background in sailing how he first started:

Olympic Sailing Competition

An update on the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition was given with specific focus on the equipment.

There will be plenty of colours on the race courses in Rio with the 49er, 49erFX and the Nacra 17 fleets to display country flags on their gennakers. The Men’s and Women’s 470 fleet will also display country flags in the middle of their spinnakers.

An update was given on the on-board cameras that will allow the TV audience a unique view of the racing in Rio. Smaller and lighter solutions have been presented and dummies and brackets will be available at ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland.

The Laser, Laser Radial and Men’s and Women’s RS:X sailors will receive supplied equipment at Rio 2016. The distribution of equipment will be shown publicly in order to increase the transparency of boat allocations.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Equipment Inspection

The introduction of elite fleets, prize money and live television are not the only introductions in the new ISAF Sailing World Cup format. A ‘day zero’ concept was introduced at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyéres to allow Equipment Inspectors to check boats the day before the first race is scheduled.

The Equipment Inspection team were able to check boats the day before racing as if it was the first day of racing and allowed the team to report and equipment discrepancies before racing.

Hyéres had its challenges but personal safety, equipment limitations and sails were all checked and several boats were randomly selected to be weighed.

With the lessons learnt from Hyéres, ISAF Sailing World Cup Equipment Inspection will continue in Weymouth and Portland.