Sail-World New Zealand- November 1, 2012

by . on 1 Nov 2012 Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for November 1, 2012

We had hoped to bring you the first photos of Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 out sailing in the Hauraki Gulf today, but light winds have put paid to that.

As an off-course substitute read Emirates Team NZ's Coach Rod Davis' story on a training day aboard an AC72 and then click the link below the story to replay TVNZ's Martin Tasker's video report from on board the AC72 earlier this week, as he went foiling in the Hauraki Gulf.

We're pleased to be able to advise that Sail-World has got the use of a RIB and expect to be out on the water capturing the on the water action ourselves, without being shore-bound - not that being shore bound has stopped us from getting some great images (but not even half as good as Carlo Borlenghi's!).

Starting tonight the ISAF Annual Conference gets underway in Ireland.

This is the quadrennial meeting of the World sailing body and looks set to be a real stoush, with a three way battle for the Presidency between candidates from Australia, Puerto Rico and Italy. Only very rarely has the ISAF Presidency been allowed to slip outside the clutches of Europe. However many have been unhappy with the leadership and direction of the world body and the way that it makes decisions - so there could be a mood for a change.

But the event taking centre stage will be the decision on whether to re-open the 2016 Olympic Events slate, approved, some would say, with ambush tactics at the Mid-Year Meeting in May.

The narrow decision by just two votes to run with the Kiteboarding events ahead of the Windsurfer triggered a fury around the world the likes of which has never been seen before on ISAF decisions.

Several countries either dis-owned their delegates, or straight out apologised for their actions. Chief of these were Spain whose substitute delegate admitted to being confused, despite having made an eloquent speech in favour of the Kites.

Yachting New Zealand came under pressure, with the windsurfers feeling that they were owed one, having won seven medals including three Gold over a space of eight Olympiads. That return was enough to keep the boats with rudders in the Olympic funding mix, despite the fact that they had won no medals in six Olympiads. Back to back Olympics without medals would normally have had the funding razor-gangs circling Westhaven Drive, three would have seen them queuing at the door.

In many ways, Yachting NZ was lucky to survive, with funding for a full card of classes.

To their credit, Yachting NZ returned the favour and produced an excellent submission 054-12 in support of Windsurfing and made some very compelling arguments as to why that should happen. The NZ resident Councillor for Oceania, Ralph Roberts, spoke well at the May Meeting and was set to do the same at this week's ISAF meeting.

Earlier in the week, Sail-World learned that at a meeting of the Oceania group of nine nations hosted in Auckland, a decision had been taken with the backing of Australia and the Oceania Nations to support Kiteboarding at ISAF Council level.

We published a story on Tuesday in Sail-World which described what we knew of the matter, and where Yachting NZ CEO, David Abercrombie explained that both the ISAF Councillors for Oceania would be voting for Kiteboards at Council level.

Yesterday afternoon, Yachting New Zealand issued a media release where YNZ President Jan Dawson was quoted using almost the same words that Abercrombie had used the day earlier. Both claimed that under the ISAF Constitution the Councillors were required to vote in unison.

From our reading of the Constitution, confirmed by others and history, that is not the case. It is true that the views of all nations in the group must be presented, so a Councillor would put those on the table. A minority view is very important in sailing, as the sport is so diverse, and the majority view, prior to a debate is not always in the best interest of the sport. The ISAF Constitution requires the Councillors to 'have regard to the interest of the sport of yachting throughout the world as a whole'. That is quite different from voting along Regional lines.

The relevant clause 39 can be read by http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/CONSTITUTIONUpdatedMay2012-%5B13340%5D.pdf!clicking_here

Quite where matters go from here remains to be seen.

In this edition of Sail-World we feature our first ever brokerage story, and what we hope become a regular feature of Sail-World. Busfield Marine Brokers feature an array of second hand Bavaria Yachts, ranging from 32ft to 49ft. There's a boat for every budget. You can see each of the boats on sale, and then click on the link to read more detail and see a full range of images on the www.busfieldmarine.co.nz!Busfield_Marine_website. Or search the Busfield site to see their full portfolio of fine yachts and powerboats.

The selection of the 49erFx as the Womens Olympic skiff last May has proven to be another success story for the www.mackayboats.com!Mackay_Boats developed concept. In just six months the manufacturers of the FX rigs - North Sails and Southern Spars have shipped or on order 135 rigs which have gone to 21 countries around the world. In this edition of Sail-World's newsletter we feature a gallery of 12 images from 12 countries of the FX in action.

Don't miss Brian Haybittle's great report, received a couple of hours ago from Noumea, New Caledonia where a group of five young New Zealand sailors are having a great week in a Techno windsurfer training camp.

The Elliott 5.9 class have sailed another in their Traveller Series, this time at Marsden Cove. This area of Northland is an excellent sailing venue, with a great marina opening out onto a lovely piece of open water in Bream Bay. Maybe http://www.marsdencove.co.nz/!Marsden_Cove is a venue you should be considering for your next regatta. It is close to Auckland and the other population centres in Northland and the North Island generally.

And with this being the first day of the new month, we are pleased to report our readership has recovered somewhat from the Olympic hangover, with October being our third best month ever for Unique Viewers and Site Visits.

Many thanks to those who have contributed to this edition, particularly those using our online submission and image loading facility which can be accessed by http://www.sail-world.com/admin/add_story.cfm?rid=6!clicking_here

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

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