ISAF Completes Annual Conference in Madrid

The tornado class multi-hull boast is cut from the sailing events for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (Getty Images)

(ATR) The International Sailing Federation re-elected its president and decided on events for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London at its annual conference in Madrid, Spain.

The ISAF Conference, which was held Nov. 6-16, included meetings for all 14 ISAF Committees and their sub-committees and three days of meetings for the ISAF Council, the final decision-making body of the ISAF.

One of the main decisions reached by the ISAF Council was the approval of a list of 10 events and equipment for the Olympics, settling on 10 events, one fewer than at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

The tornado class multi-hull boast was the one event that was cut from the sailing program for 2012.

Added to the program was women’s keelboat match racing, a big topic of discussion during the conference. Women’s keelboat match racing is among the 10 events approved for the 2012 Olympics.(Getty Images)

The Match Racing Commission met to discuss the selection of equipment for the Women’s Keelboat race, with the Elliott 6m the choice of the committee. The Elliott 6m is a three-person match racing keelboat.

Other events and equipment selected by the Council for the 2012 Games include: men’s one person dinghy (laser), men’s one person dinghy heavy (finn), men’s two person dinghy (470), men’s two person dinghy high performance (49er), men’s windsurfer ( RS:X), men’s keelboat (star), women’s one person dinghy (laser radial), women’s two person dinghy (470) and women’s windsurfer (RS:X).

ISAF’s Olympic strategy for the selection of equipment was a topic of discussion as the council approved a proposal by Events Committee Chairman Bjorn Unger of Sweden to overhaul the federation’s future strategy for the Games.

“One of the reasons for supporting this is to create a longer-term process in the build up to the selection of equipment, so the classes that aren’t Olympic have the chance to display what they can possibly offer the Olympics,” class representative Jeff Martin of Great Britain said. ISAF President Goran Petersson was elected to a second four-year term. (Getty Images)

ISAF President Goran Petersson of Sweden was re-elected to serve a second four-year term, along with seven vice presidents, at the ISAF General Assembly on Saturday.

Petersson, who has served as ISAF president since November, 2004, ran unopposed for a second term, which will last until November, 2012.

“I’m extremely honored to be elected as president of the International Sailing Federation,” Petersson said. “It is a great honor and a privilege to serve in this position. I would like to congratulate the vice presidents who have been elected. I am looking forward to having a very productive four years together.”

The seven vice presidents elected are: Tomasz Holc of Poland, Nazli Imre of Turkey, David Irish of the United States, Teresa Lara of Venezuela, Teo Ping Low of Singapore, Alberto Predieri of Italy and Eric Tulla of Puerto Rico.

The qualification system for the 2012 sailing competition was approved by the council, following the same format used for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

Qualification will be held during two events, with 75% of national places to be decided at the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships and the remaining 25% at the 2012 Class World Championships or Continental Championships.

The council also approved a recommendation to add an open high performance dinghy—29er event to the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship by the Youth World Championship sub-committee and events committee.

“Our philosophy with the championship has been to evolve over time,” Youth World Sub-Committee chairman Fiona Kidd of Canada said. “This is the way forward. The youth sailors of the world want a high performance dinghy and we should give it to them.”

In other actions taken during the conference, the council backed the recommendations of the equipment committee to approved applications from the Kiteboarding Association and O’Pen Bic Association for ISAF international class status as well as the X-41 Class Association and Melges 32 Class Association for ISAF recognized status.

Written by Greg Oshust.