Youth Events Sub-committee see strong interest for future Youth Championships

The second Youth Events Sub-committee meeting of the week, held on Thursday 21 October, saw positive updates on the hosting of future events.

As the only open meeting on Thursday, the YESC also met on Wednesday 20 October, allowing sufficient time for important discussions regarding the future of the sport for young sailors.

 Thursday’s meeting took place from 11:00-14:00 UTC, and was chaired by Cory Sertl, with Pedro Rodrigues, World Sailing’s Events Manger, as Committee Manager.
 
With the cancellation of the 2020 Youth Sailing World Championships, and the postponement of the 2021 event in The Hague, The Netherlands to 2022, plans are ongoing as to what next year’s event will look like.
 
Interest in hosting has been received from a variety of cities and countries, including Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, China, Malta, Oman, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Abu Dhabi (UAE) and San Diego (USA), and World Sailing will now work with potential bidders towards organising the event for December 2021.
 
Discussions regarding numerous submissions were held over the two meetings, and the submissions were officially voted on during this second session.
 
Submission 008-20, referring to establishing a base budget for World Sailing Training & Development Programmes, was recommended to support in principle; this is seen as the foundation of our sport and drives recreation and high performance.
 
The YESC joined the Classes Committee in recommending support for Submission 032-20, relating to mixed events at the Youth Worlds.
 
And Submission 033-20, regarding equipment for the Kiteboarding event at future Youth Worlds, was recommended to be approved. Coming into effect for 2021, if the host decides to include Kiteboarding, competitors would be encouraged to bring their own equipment to allow them to choose between sizes as per class rules.
 
Submission 034-20 was recommended to be deferred. This relates to foiling windsurfing equipment as an option for selection at the Youth Worlds. The YESC decided that foiling youth equipment should be explored before deciding on a manufacturer, with concerns voiced regarding equipment suppliers and the ability of Emerging Nations to react to any changes. It is likely that the Techno 293+ will remain in 2021 and potentially also 2022.
 
Finally, Submission 035-20 referred to a replacement event for the postponed 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, which have been rearranged to 2026. This was rejected. The YESC supports individual regions holding activities or events involving youth sailors, but there were concerns about a replacement Youth Olympic Games being too close together with the 2022 Youth Worlds, as well as the disadvantage of not having costs covered by the IOC.
 
The meeting was recorded in BlueJeans and is now available on World Sailing’s YouTube channel. You can watch it back below:

A closed Coaches Commission meeting also took place on Thursday. Here, the work of the safety panel and incidents reported 2019-2020 were reviewed, with discussions centring on safety at events, the responsibility of event organisers, training for coaches and mandatory safety equipment on support boats. The Commission looked ahead to Tokyo 2020, as well as the Event Strategy for 2021-2024 which will bring a new calendar, rankings and different World Cup events. Additionally, the Commission talked about future Youth Worlds, and discussed Paris 2024 formats, focusing particularly on foiling events and safety