What has the ISAF got up its sleeve for YOU?

Sailweb's Gerald New looks at ISAF's plans for global domination

The ISAF 2002 Annual Conference is due to take place on 8-17 November in Limassol, Cyprus. This meeting will face over 200 submissions from National Authorities, ISAF Committees and the ISAF President, plus technical submissions from ISAF affiliated classes.

Now wading through the minutae of all these sometimes obscure technical rule amendments and association working rule changes, is definite Anorak territory, but a dip into some of the more obvious confrontational proposals can be enlightening – and it could effect the way YOU sail.

Sailing seems to be approaching the crossover point with regard to professional status and while the cheque book and big ego rule in the keelboat world, in the dinghy area the Olympics are the only real game-in-town for the budding professionals of tomorrow.

The Olympics are the jewel in the ISAF crown and it is busy widening this fiefdom by building a circuit based around qualifying events and related world championships. In order to make sailing (racing) more attractive to sponsors and the media a recognised circuit of events is needed along the lines of the golf and tennis circuits. To this end the ISAF seems to be getting its house in order and a number of the submissions this year focus on tightening the amount of control the ISAF has over individual classes, particularly the Olympic 'equipment' classes.

ISAF President, Paul Henderson has been a very 'up-front' holder of the office and has frequently used the ISAF website as a vehicle for publishing his point of view on matters close to his heart.

In the latest round of proposals several areas have received his personal touch and will no doubt raise the level of unease between the ISAF and classes worried that the federation is spreading its control to every aspect of sailing under an Olympics-or-die refrain.

Among the dozens of proposals some that seem set to cause comment are:

Proposal, 061-02P, by the ISAF President requires that an ISAF class may only hold one world championship a year and that it must be open to all sailors - no youth, masters, women etc world categories - except for Olympic classes with a gender specific Olympic event.

The reason given for this is to stop proliferation and lack of (ISAF) control of World and Continental Championships. So you can be a Class Youth Champion but not a Class Youth World Champion. A similar proposal, 066-02P, removes the right of ISAF classes to hold Continental Championships without ISAF approval.

It also seems that the Optimist class will not be holding any more World Championships if proposal 063-02P from the Executive Committee is passed. This sets a minimum age of 15 for all World Championship events - in order to reduce the increased pressure on young people to compete at top level, claiming that such events have an adverse impact on sailing at entry level and junior level.

And how many of you are registered on the ISAF website?

Under Proposal 026-02P, from the President, you will need to be registered as an 'ISAF Sailor' and sign the waiver from the Court of Arbitration in Sport, to compete in; Olympic, Olympic qualifying events, World or any event using ISAF appointed Jury or Umpires, Race Officers or measurers and any event requiring ISAF eligibility. This to come into force from All Fools Day next season! (1 April 2003).

The selection process for Olympic qualifier events seems to be creating another friction point, and in a head-to-head with certain Olympic classes the ISAF President proposes, 041-02P, that the ISAF Ranking List be the criteria to determine allocations, as it is the only indicator of who is really competing.

This would affect the Olympic qualifier events and the Joint World Championship of Olympic Classes in Cadiz. The reasoning accuses some National Authorities of manipulating the existing entry rules to gain extra entries. And bluntly points out that the ISAF does not ask Classes to apply for Olympic status, and if classes demand autonomy then they should question their continued desire to seek Olympic designation - So there!

This is backed-up by Proposal 051-02P from the Executive Committee that would bring all Olympic class major events under the direction of the ISAF for Venue, Judging, Race Officers, Entries, etc.

With several fatal accidents during the past season submissions regarding improvements to safety regulations were to be expected.

One from the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation, 067-2P, includes the permanent use of lifejackets, even before and after race, a personal knife be compulsory while sailing, and that there should be research on the use of helmets to be worn on double trapeze boats.

The submission also includes a requirement for a 'Practical safety test' carried out annually before a representative of the National Authority. For example in a Laser boat five consecutive 360º turns on the longitudinal axis of the boat with 20 knots of wind in less than x minutes or in a 470 make a man overboard drill sailing with a spinnaker on and with 20 knots of wind. The safety certificate could be used as a safety card required for certain events or for certain days as required by the race committee."

Rather more practical is the Italian Sailing Federation proposal, 068-2P, to prevent the Tornado class spinnaker launcher sticking out past the forestay.

The Propulsion rules have caused some problems over the recent seasons and President Paul Henderson has gone into print several times with his views on the subject. His new proposal, 091-02P, seeks to require all classes to submit any class rule change with respect to Rule 42 to the ISAF for final decision.

This deals with the situation where a class may decide to have a 'Yellow Flag Rule' to allow kinetics above a stated wind speed. The ISAF wants to have a standard policy and procedure that includes the wind speed agreed for each class and a change in the flag to avoid confusion with the Yellow Flag shown by the Judge for infringement of RRS42.

The Royal Spanish Federation also have a submission, 091A-02P, on the Rule 42 subject, which simply seeks to make "pumping" legal or legal above 10 knots of wind.

Monaco, seems to want its sporting tax exiles to actually start earning their keep and the Yacht Club de Monaco has submitted a Proposal, 020-02P, that would allow non-nationals, resident in a country, to participate for the National Authority of that country in ISAF Events, including Olympics! (Will this be known as the Boris Becker clause?)

Despite all this Big Brother stuff there are still classes wanting ISAF status, this year the Laser 4.7, Mistral Junior One Design, Formula 18 and Zoom 8 have applied for membership.

All these submissions can be downloaded from the ISAF web site at
http://sailing.org/meetings/admin/Submissions.asp?Conference=2002_11