International One Design World Championships to take place in Bermuda

by Colin Thompson - The Royal Gazette on 2 May 2012 The 2012 International One Design (IOD) World Championships are set to take place from October 28 to November 4 with Bermuda’s Great Sound as the backdrop.

Qualifiers from six countries, including Bermuda, will take part in the regatta.

Bermuda’s eventual IOD World Championship qualifier will be determined in a 15-race series spread over several race days. 'Our local qualifier is not a string of closely connected races,' said IOD World Class president Robert Duffy. 'We have picked out race days during the course of the year before October which will comprise our qualifying series. And we do it that way because we think it offers a greater opportunity to have different sailing conditions.'

There are presently seven IOD fleets, based in Norway, Sweden, England, Canada, USA and Bermuda comprised of roughly 150 boats. Duffy said each fleet would sail its own qualifying regatta with the top boat offered an opportunity to compete in Bermuda. 'If the top boat doesn’t want it, it then it goes down the pecking order,' he added.

The month of October will be a hectic one for the local IOD fleet whose boats will be used in the Argo Group Gold Cup, the penultimate event on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. The IOD World Championships have been scheduled after the Gold Cup to allow ample time for repairs if need be.

'We are hosting the World Championships two weeks after that and will make sure the boats are ready,' Duffy said. 'They (Gold Cup) use the same class of boats and one of our fears of course is that they will substantially damage a boat. But we know how to repair them quickly and effectively here so we’ve committed to the Gold Cup as a class locally.'

Bermuda hosted the inaugural IOD World Championships in 1959. This year will see the local IOD fleet commemorate the 75th anniversary of the boat’s introduction to Bermuda.

'The 75th anniversary of the class was actually last year,' Duffy said. 'But Bermuda did not get their boats till six months later so we fall into the new year.'

Duffy intends to step down as IOD World Class president at the next annual general meeting to be held during the World Championships. He will be succeeded by president-elect Danielle Lawson-Ames who will become the association’s first female president. 'I’ve decided to pass the baton on and return to sailing in Bermuda,' Duffy said.

original article http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20120501/SPORT03/705019991
IOD Class website