World Sailing News

World Sailing has issued a new Q&A that clarifies when and how a Race Committee can abandon a race after all boats have finished.

View it here http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/QA2018.014G002-[24413].pdf 

The World Sailing Annual Conference will be held in a month and you can see all the submissions and supporting papers here.  http://www.sailing.org/meetings/2018-conference.php . Click on “Papers” then “Submissions”.

One submission that wouldn’t work well for Couta Boats is a proposed change to the definition of start. This would mean that the Bow-sprit could cross the line before the starting signal, and a boat would only be OCS if the hull was over the line at the signal.

It would be quite a nightmare trying to call a start that way.

We are highlighting this problem through the Australian Sailing Rules Special Group and the Australian Sailing Victorian Race Officials Committee.

These conferences do have politics and the big issues will be Olympic Events and Equipment selection – The classes after Japan 2020.

In the one person Dinghy, the board proposes that the following boats undergo trials

  • D-Zero, presented by Devotti Sailing s.r.o.
  • Laser Standard and Laser Radial sailboat, presented by ILCA
  • Melges 14, presented by Melges Boat Works Inc., NELO and Mackay Boats Ltd.
  • RS Aero, presented by RS Sailing.

There are numerous proposals about events, with new formats such as mixed relays for boards and foiling kites suggested; the outcomes are pretty difficult to predict. We’re likely to see countries band together and vote with common interests.