Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

L

ast month came the

announcement that, following

a constitutionally pre-

determined reassessment,

WorldSailing’sCouncil

changed the events that would be in

the Olympics in 2024 in sailing. Of

this decision perhaps the headline

changes were the introduction of a

Mixed Kitesuring event, an odd-

sounding Mixed Singlehanded Dinghy

event, with the Men’s and Women’s

Doublehanded Dinghy (470) switched

to a Mixed Doublehanded Dinghy.

World Sailing’s President, Kim

Andersenwaselectedtoheadupthe

organisation in 2016 having

been on the Council for

many years and having been the head

of a number of businesses. When

theDanecameintothepositionhe

wasopenabouttheneedforWorld

Sailingtobemoretransparentasan

organisation – World Sailing has not

always been the easiest organisation to

understandinpartthankstothelevels

of bureaucracy surrounding every

decision. He has certainly made steps

in this direction but, if the confusion

around the build-up to and the selection

of new Olympic events is anything to

go by, there is still some way to go.

“It can seem a simple process to

talkaboutbutthereisagreatdealof

decision making that goes back a long

waywitheachofthesevotes,”says

Andersen, days ater the World Sailing

Mid Year Meeting. “It is important

to note, though, that these changes

do not come from the IOC trying to

force change, this comes from our own

regulations. Regulation 23, in particular

was voted in back in 2007, which did a

number of things. One of those was to

introduce the split in decision-making

from which ‘classes’ will be sailed at the

Olympic Games to which ‘event’ would

be sailed, with the classes that best it

those events selected at a later date.

“Regulation 23 also looked to

make sure the decisions are being

made a long way in advance of the

Olympic Games for which they are

to be implemented. hat is why we

SAILING ENERGY/WORLD SAILING

July 2018 Yachts & Yachting 19