ISAF Annual Conference 2014 - 3 November summary

by ISAF on 3 Nov 2014 2014 ISAF Annual Conference - Palma de Mallorca, Spain - The third day of the ISAF Annual Conference in Palma de Mallorca, Spain was full of interesting debates and open discussions that will look to take the sport forward through to the 2015.

Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee

The ISAF Sailing World Cup Final that is set to be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates was one of the main topics of discussion around the Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee. The ISAF Sailing World Cup Final will be held from 26-30 November 2014 with some of the finest windsurfers and kiteboarders all making the trip to the UAE.

ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Nominees Charline Picon (FRA) and Steph Bridge (GBR) are just two of the wind and kite superstars who will be heading to Abu Dhabi.

Check out an interview with Charline Picon (FRA) in Palma de Mallorca here…



Rio 2016 was also one the agenda in the committee and for the RS:X it is going to be simply stunning. The fleet will launch off of Flamengo Beach, under the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. There was a discussion on supplied versus bring you own equipment for the RS:X at Rio 2016 and that will be one of the topics at ISAF Council on 7 and 8 November.

Match Racing Committee

The Match Racing Committee met to review the ISAF titled events and the Alpari World Match Racing Tour.

James Pleasance, Executive Director, and Craig Mitchell, Tour Director, from the Alpari World Match Racing Tour were present at the Match Racing Committee to give an update on the event.

It continues to go from strength to strength and the figures are extremely good. Throughout the 2013 series they increased the number of TV broadcasters taking the material from 38 to 51 and that is with two less events after the cancellation of the Korea Match Cup and Match Race France. In total there were 1,296 hours of TV coverage in 2013.

The tour is now in its 14th year and continues to grow. This year there has been seven events in the calendar including two new venues - Poland and Holland. The total prize fund also stands at USD$1.4m including a $500,000 Tour bonus.

The AWMRT has strong objectives heading into 2015. Notable ones include having 10 tour events, the possible introduction of a venue in the Middle East, the introduction of Tier 2 AWMRT events to count towards the annual Tour leaderboard (with lesser points), investigate the feasibility of adding multihulls and to increase the total prize money.

Away from the reports the Committee recommendations on venues for the 2016 editions of the ISAF Women's Match Racing Worlds and the ISAF Youth Match Racing Worlds.

• Noumea, New Caledonia has been recommended as host venue for the 2016 ISAF Youth Match Worlds
• Sheboygan, USA has been recommended as host venue for the 2016 ISAF Women's Match Worlds.

Development and Youth Committee

There were several submissions on the table in the Development and Youth Committee based around the ISAF Coaching Framework. The overview of the Framework states:

'The ISAF Coaching Framework aims to provide all ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs) a common ground for developing and evaluating coaching qualifications, encouraging coach education and training, working across international boundaries and establishing ethical guidelines and models for standards of international best practice. For the benefit of clarity, the generic use of 'Coach', 'coaching' or 'coaches' in this document is aligned with language adopted by those involved in the creation of the International Sport Coaching Framework.

'ISAF recognize that National Federations (MNAs) may wish to apply their own national terminology for the titles of the roles defined in the ISAF Coaching Framework (ie Instructor or Trainer).

'The focus with this framework is on the competencies of each role and not their title which can be amended to suit each member as they see fit for purpose.'

Of the Submissions on the table, 046-14 (with an amendment) was the only one approved.

Training and Development Seminar

The Training and Development Seminar is always an interesting one to sit in on to hear different case studies on the development of sailing.

ISAF Connect to Sailing Partners, Topper, Laser Performance and RS Sailing were in attendance with Spinlock, Goalscape, M-Brands, Hobie, Marine Resources and Icom all receiving mentions on their work.

The International Kiteboard Association had several members there and they spoke about their launch of an International Kiteboard Training Program.

Simon Jinks gave a talk about a new ISAF publication he is the author of. The ISAF Guide to Yachting - Crewing is set to be launched shortly and is the first of a series of three books about yachting. Following the release of Crewing there will be the launch of Navigation early in 2015 and then Inshore Skipper which is scheduled for April 2015. ISAF would like to thank the Korea Sailing Federation for their contribution towards the development of the Guide to Yachting publications.

News From Around the Committees

Other items of the day included the meeting of the Women's Forum where there were several discussions focused on women competing within the sport of sailing as well as any issues within ISAF Committees. The Umpires Sub-committee also met with the major topic on race official appointments. These are expected to be published on Thursday 6 November 2014. The ERS Working Party also met in a closed session to go through some of the finer details on the 2017-2020 edition.

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.