World Sailing Olympic class voting… what happened

Guest editorial by Paul Henderson, past ISAF President:

IOC put forward an Agenda2020 Working Groups paper that is still a work in progress. Kim Andersen operated as it was being finalised and used this to make the dramatic changes he envisioned, aided by Andy Hunt. They went as far as saying sailing would be deleted from the Olympic Games unless major changes were made to the Olympic Sailing Events.

Andersen, for personal reasons, had a fixation on mixed events and demanded that 4 out of 10 Olympic Sailing Events be mixed when only 18 out of 300 Olympic Games Events are mixed.

The first major equipment change was to add foils to the NACRA17 which meant that a totally new monopoly equipment would be used for for TOKYO2020 which WS had no idea who the copyright holders or the investors were.

The next manoeuvre was to insert kites. This was done by using only 1 event as 2 were not available. It is proposed to be a mixed, off-the-beach, relay race with obstacles in unspecified equipment or racing rules.

The Events Committee is charged with doing the research to recommend Olympic policies to the Board and then to the Council for final approval at the AGM.

The Events Working Party was formed and they, influenced by the desire of Andersen, change as many events as possible. They recommended that all Olympic Classes be under review except 3 classes: Nacra17, 49er, 49erFX.

Julian Bethwaite is the designer and copyright holder of the 49er and 49erFX. Owners and copyright holders of the NACRA17 are unknown.

They proposed at the May 2018 Mid-Year Council Meeting the following: RSX Windsurfer to be replaced by foiling equipment in a Slalom format. – Laser Men to be replaced by new equipment. – Laser Radial Women to be replaced by new equipment. – A new mixed, single-handed event with the Finn and another class for women. – Two 470 events combined into one mixed event which does not work for single-trapeze.

In May 2018, they proposed a mixed offshore event. The council voted against it.

The next move that Andersen and his cabal orchestrated was at the November 2018 AGM with a “President’s urgent Submission 37”. The council had no idea that this was to be an issue. It is World Sailing regulation that all submissions must be tabled by August 1st. The council delegates do not represent themselves but groups of MNA’s and they must have time to discuss with their constituents what is best for the sailors. Submission 37 was illegally allowed by the Constitution Committee as it was not “urgent” as it had already been turned down.

It was essential that 75% of the council vote allow Submission 37 to go forward to the AGM. The vote was taken electronically with faulty equipment. This is seen in the discussion between Hunt and Andersen recorded in the meeting video. Results of the vote were not shown until 1 month later when at least 4 members of the council declared that their votes were recorded wrongly.

It is essential that concerned sailors, delegates and all involved re-address what happened at the 2018 AGM and act responsible, negating what happened and openly and transparently debating at the 2019 Mid-year Meeting. It should be noted that the IOC does not finalise all these issues for PARIS2024 until after TOKYO2020 and that the IOC Agenda2020 Working Group proposals do not become mandatory till L.A. 2028.