ISAF Annual Conference 2014 - 4 November summary

by ISAF on 4 Nov 2014 2014 ISAF Annual Conference - Palma de Mallorca, Spain - It has been another busy day at the 2014 ISAF Annual Conference in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Today's agenda saw the meetings of the Equipment Control and Special Regulations Sub-committees, World Youth Sailing Trust, Constitution Committee, IFDS AGM and the Race Officials Committee.

World Sailor Updates

ISAF have been catching up with ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Nominees in Palma de Mallorca. Some nice question and answer sessions below...




World Youth Sailing Trust

2014 saw ISAF Vice-President Gary Jobson chair the World Youth Sailing Trust meeting for the first time. The WYST do a lot of good work in supporting young sailors who head to the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship each and every year.

They fund the World Youth Sailing Trust Coach (for the past four years this has been Hugh Styles) at the ISAF Youth Worlds and the WYST Coach helps to support the young sailors in a whole host of sailing specific topics. From on-water coaching, to off water de-briefs to being a friend, the WYST Coach does it all and gives the sailors the guidance they may not always receive.

Twenty years ago through the generosity of some ISAF members, namely Julius Blankstein, Bengt Julin, Ding Schoonmaker, Paul Phelan, George Andreadis, Harry Adler, Jonathan Janson and Ralph H. Roberts the World Youth Sailing Trust was formed.

It is the Trust's aim to ensure the young sailors return to their home waters enriched by their experience, with new friends and an enhanced love for the sport of sailing.

If you're interested in donating to the WYST then please Donations to the WYST webpage.

Equipment Control Sub-committee

The Equipment Rules of Sailing is a hot topic in the Equipment Control Sub-committee and there were a number of submissions on the table to get the book ready for the 2017-2020 edition of the publication. This will come into play on 1 January 2017.

The current version is the 2013-2016 version which can be downloaded.

The Committee received an update on the ISAF In-House Certification (IHC) Programme which is going from strength to strength at the moment. The IHC Programme is a scheme whereby satisfactory equipment control is achieved and equipment certified by manufactures through the application of a Certification Quality Management System under licence issued by the ISAF directly or via an ISAF delegate.

IHC, by definition, will apply to manufacturers. As most manufacturers are not class specific (i.e. they make equipment for more than one class) the scheme cannot be class-specific. This means that ISAF IHC can only be introduced by the ISAF and not via Class Associations (CAs). However, classes associations do have a clear role within the Programme through the enhancement of equipment control specifications and hands on control training. This makes the class associations, together with manufacturers and MNAs, firm stakeholders in the Programme.

The first sail certified under the IHC scheme was in July 2008 and over that period more than 42,000 stickers have been distributed. 2014 has been an amazing year for the In-House Certification Programme and to date 10,220 stickers have been distributed in 2014. That is a record for a calendar year and there's still a few weeks remaining in the year.

To find out more on IHC check out the ISAF website.

IFDS Annual General Meeting

A total of 14 nations were in attendance for the International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) to plough through their agenda this morning. One of the main topics of discussion was on the IFDS merger with the International Sailing Federation. Submission 001-14 was on the table with the proposal to add a new regulation.

This was approved at the IFDS AGM and this will now go to ISAF Council, the final decision making body of ISAF on 7 and 8 November.

A Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition report was given by Assistant IFDS Technical Delegate Wilfried Klein. Wilfried and Technical Delegate David Staley were present at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 (The Olympic Test Event) and they were able to see first-hand how things are shaping up for the Paralympic Sailing Competition.

There are two more IFDS meetings this week. They include the IFDS Development Seminar on Wednesday 5 November and the IFDS Executive and Committee Chairs Meeting on Thursday 6 November.

Special Regulations Sub-committee

The Special Regulations Sub-committee received a report on known incidents that have occurred during races in the past year. The Committee also received a paper regarding the non-racing, keel related failure of the Beneteau 40.7 'Cheeky Rafiki'. The report will be published in the public domain in the New Year.

There are several working parties that report to the Special Regs Sub-committee and updates were heard from:
• Cockpit Volume and Downflooding
• Recovery Back on Board
• Liferafts
• Distress Alerting and Location
• Life jacket, harness and safety line review
• OSR Re-write
• Electric Propulsion Review
• Short-handed Racing
• Lifeline Materials
• Review of Event Categories 4 and 5
• Stability

The Committee reviewed the Workshop for ISAF Personal Safety Course Providers that was held from 10-12 March 2014. The Course brought together 14 MNAs, who provide the course within their nation, at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Poole, Great Britain.

Hundreds of ISAF Personal Safety Courses are run around the world every year with offshore specialists being guided through the syllabus set out in Appendix G of the ISAF Offshore Special Regulations.

The workshop allowed the MNAs to engage in theoretical and practical sessions with teaching models highlighted and discussed.

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.