New ISAF CEO – Heat wave over Europe – Hard battle for top spots

by . on 2 Jul 2015 ISAF appoints Peter Sowrey as new CEO - The world governing body for sailing, International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has appointed former Managing Director of Business Process Outsourcing and Sales for Accenture as the new Chief Executive Officer effective immediately.

'I am honoured to have been chosen by the Executive to lead ISAF,” commented Sowrey. ' Sailing has always been a passion for me, and to now combine this with my business knowledge is a great opportunity for me to affect a change and drive the sport and organisations forward. To be given the chance is a tremendous honour, and I look forward to the exciting challenge ahead and working with everyone associated to the sailing world.”

Read the initial news HERE

470 European Championships – The heat is on in Aarhus, Denmark as teams are pushed to raise their game and an intense sun beats down on the race track. This is also the waters where the next ISAF Worlds 2018 are going to take place. The big high pressure covering most of Europe, is causing an unpredictable and challenging race track with the breeze nudging seven knots at best, in conditions that benefited the light wind specialists.

Ferdinand Gerz/Oliver Symanski (GER) and Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (NZL) are sitting pretty at the front of the mens fleet, and super consistent racing from 2012 Olympic Champions and world number one pairing Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (NZL) rewards them with first overall.

Follow the action on Sail-World.com during the rest of the week.

Hard battle for top spots at Melges 24 Worlds - Thanks to seven - ten knots of breeze, blowing from 170-180 degrees, one of the huge Melges 24 fleet ever complete another three races and now the standing counts on six races with one discard.

Weather forecast predict the windiest day of the week on Thursday, and racing continues during the week and will count on 14 races, and after the end of race number 13 the standings will include two discards. Melges 24 World Championship is organized by Match Racing Denmark in collaboration with International Melges 24 Class Association and Middelfart Sailing Club, Denmark.

2015 ORC World Championship – Strong high-pressure conditions in Spain, yesterday created the high heat and no wind on day three of the event, hosted by the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona.

The fleet went out after a postponement Wednesday morning intending to race a 72-mile shortened, offshore race, which normally should be 115 miles. The start was postponed to Thursday, and the organizers are hoping for steadier winds today, which can secure the offshore race, as it is necessary in any ORC championship regatta to have at least one offshore race to have a valid championship event.

2015 Tour de France à la Voile - The beach of Malo-Les-Bains (Dunkirk’s seaside) is bustling with activity. A major part of France is hit by a heat wave, and crowds of people came down to the beautiful and endless sandbeaches that stretches towards Belgium to get a chance to cool down in the water and enjoy the nice south-easterly breeze that was reaching 15 knots.

The conditions are perfect to train on the race course, in the days before the inaugural race of the Tour de France à la Voile. For its 38th edition, the popular French sailing event introduces a brand new format with the Diam 24 trimarans that are now all gathered in Dunkirk.

Follow the latest sailing news from the above as well as other events throughout Europe – including Stena Match Cup Sweden in Marstrand and Finn Silver Cup in Valencia - at Sail-World.com

Good sailing
Dan Ibsen
Sail-World Europe editor