YNGLING's APPROVED AS KEELBOAT WOMEN - FLEET RACING BY ISAF

by ISAF Annual Conference Press Release on 12 Nov 2000 Today, Thursday 9 November 2000, Edinburgh, Scotland, the ISAF Council debated the events and
equipment to be used at the 2004 Olympic Regatta, Athens, Greece.

The Events Committee was invited to present their recommendations and as a first step asked Council
to reconsider the slate of events which had previously been approved in November 1998, as in their
opinion three keelboat events and only five dinghy events did not accurately reflect current participation in
the sport.

The approach the Events Committee took to get Council's support to change the slate of events, was
that if they had to make a decision using the existing slate of five dinghy events they would be compelled
to recommend the deletion of the 49er. Their argument, the Finn is the only dinghy for heavyweight
males, the Laser is widespread, affordable and easily available, and the 470 is popular for lightweight
men and used in emerging nations and should reflect the equipment used in the women's double-handed
event, and obviously there was no challenge for the Europe's slot.

The thought of the 49er being removed from the Olympic schedule was enough to convince the Council
with a majority consensus to reconsider the slate and change the three keelboat and five dinghy events
to two keelboat and six dinghy events. This decision meant the removal of the Keelboat Open to be
replaced by the Double-handed Dinghy Open.

With two keelboat events then approved - one for men and one for women - Council then reconsidered
whether they should be fleet or match racing. Again, to reflect the participation around the world, it was
resolved that both keelboat events be fleet racing.

It was then time to decide the equipment, starting with the windsurfing events. There was a move from
some quarters to defer the decision on the windsurfing in order that further investigation could be
undertaken into the two types of equipment - Mistral and Formula Windsurfing - in contention, but
Council emphatically expressed the need, in the interests of enabling the sailors to know the direction of
their sport, to make a decision this November.

For the first time in the history of ISAF, Council then implemented an electronic voting system to decide
the equipment.

Whilst in the windsurfing, there was support for Formula Windsurfing, it was the established Mistral
Class that won through. Multihull Open saw an almost unanimous support for the modernised version of
the Tornado, to include a spinnaker and double trapeze. In the Single-handed Dinghy Men, there was no
question, the Finn came through as clear favourite, with the Europe in the Single-handed Women slot.
Double-handed Dinghy Women saw the 470 voted in, which was then reflected in the Double-handed
Dinghy Men. The Dinghy Open slot was taken by the Laser, with the new Double-Handed Dinghy Open
for the 49er.

That left the two Keelboat events, with the keelboat men fleet racing voted first pitching the Star against
the Soling. This was going to be tough and disappointing for one of the classes. The vote was close but
saw the Star go through with a 3 vote advantage.

The decision on the equipment for the Keelboat Women Fleet Racing event presented a slightly different
scenario as all recommendations on equipment had been made based on a match racing event. In this
respect Council agreed that representatives from the appropriate Committees reconvene and make a
joint recommendation to Council for presentation midday tomorrow, 10 November 2000.

Therefore the events and equipment, with the exception of the Keelboat Women Fleet Racing, have been
approved as:

Event
Equipment
Windsurfer Men
Mistral One-Design
Windsurfer Women
Mistral One-Design
Multihull Open
Tornado with spinnaker and double
trapeze
Single-handed dinghy women
Europe
Double-handed dinghy women
470
Single-handed dinghy men
Finn
Double-handed dinghy men
470
Double-handed dinghy Open
49er
Dinghy Open
Laser
Keelboat Men - fleet racing
Star
Keelboat Women - fleet racing
Yngling