Qingdao Pitchpole
Andy Rice | May 10, 2008Multihull sailors will be disappointed that after a tense meeting of ISAF Council in Qingdao today, there is no change from the decision made in Estoril last November. There was a glimmer of hope after the first vote, when a majority of the 38 Council voting members opted to reject the initial proposal by the Executive Committee. To remind you, the proposal was:
“That Council reaffirm their decision on the 2012 Olympic Events made in November
2007 by a simple majority vote.”
Of the 38 votes, 17 voted in favour, 1 abstained, and 20 voted to reject this decision to reaffirm the Estoril decision. So, on to the next stage.
2012 Olympic Events
Amendment to the Constitution
A submission from the Executive Committee
Proposal:
“Should Council vote not to reaffirm the decision, two separate votes will then follow:
1. Should the selected events for the Men be changed – A majority of two thirds
will be required to effect any change as per Regulation 16.1.3 (a).
2. Should the selected events for the Women be changed – A majority of two
thirds will be required to effect any change as per Regulation 16.1.3 (a).”
On the Men’s Events, a majority of 21 voted in favour of change compared with 17 against change. However, the mandate for change required another 5 votes in favour to achieve the two thirds majority. That didn’t happen, so the multihull is gone from 2012.
On the Women’s Events, just 16 voted in favour compared with 21 against and 1 abstention. So not even a majority in favour of change. Not much demand for a women’s skiff according to this vote, while women’s match racing looks set for inclusion in Weymouth.
Not what SailJuice wanted to see, but what’s done is done. There is no coming back from this decision. The multihull community must now focus on reinstatement for 2016.
“The multihull community must now focus on reinstatement for 2016.”
The multihull community dont have to do that. A viable option is to just let ISAF do their thing and create our own organization. In time that organization could offer IOC what they want and not ISAFs traditional soup.
ISAF is from now on a monohulls only sailing organization.
I had to laugh after reading the official ISAF website version of the meeting … “Standing by their decision of November 2007, the Council gave a clear message to support the events as already approved.”
Somehow 17 out of 38 votes to retain the current list of Men’s disciplines isn’t what I would term a “clear message”.
Very interesting article – other indications are that ISAF have got to deal with the pile of submissions from National Authorities under their constitution. I am sure they have processes of trying to circumvent this fact, but a vote which includes 5 or 6 ISAF paid officials when the chairman declares his own intent can scarcely be called a free vote in my book. It will be very interesting to see how far these people can move their constitution. I am anxious for ISAF’s future integrity – hopefully groundless!
fredscuttle. You make a very good point. ISAF always put lots of spin on their media and web ‘news’.
How bad would it be if there was no Sailjuice or similar to offer an alternative forum? Can you imagine ANY of these posts being published on ISAF?
Democracy and ISAF do not go hand in hand I’m afraid.