SailJuice Blog

Submission deadline is just about passed, and to date this is the known list of national authorities who SailJuice believes have made a submission to ISAF on the issue of Olympic Events 2012:

AUS

GBR

CAN

DEN

GRE

NED

NZL

SIN

HKG

SWE

FRA

AUT

oh yes, and RUS

Below is a copy of the letter sent by the Russian Federation to ISAF. If anyone knows of any other national authorities who have made a submission relating to this issue, please let us know in the comments section. Anyone surprised at some of the nations that aren’t there, by the way? USA, anyone?

SailJuice spoke to Phil Jones, to get a bit more background on the reasons for Yachting Australia’s submission to ISAF earlier today, and why he wants to see a revote of the Events for the Olympic Regatta in Weymouth 2012.

Phil, what was your reaction to the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting, and the whole issue of what was ‘urgent’?

We were very surprised at the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting for two reasons:

We were surprised that they ruled they wouldn’t consider submissions of urgency when at that point there were no submissions to consider. I think that was premature. Without the substance of the submissions, it would be very hard, – we would have thought – to decide whether the submissions were urgent or otherwise.

We were also surprised… Read the rest

Sounds like things got a bit ugly at the Tornado World Championship prizegiving, after Darren Bundock’s old crew John Forbes took the opportunity to have a go at Yachting New Zealand President Jan Dawson over the Tornado’s ejection from the Olympic slate. Sail World’s Richard Gladwell gave his verdict on the affair. Here’s a snippet:

The class did itself no favours at the Worlds prizegiving with an attack on Yachting New Zealand by past ITA President John Forbes, seemingly endorsed by the new ITA President and echoed with the booing from the competitors tables as Yachting New Zealand President Jan Dawson made her way forward to make a closing address to what had otherwise been a brilliant regatta for the class.

Forbes probed, parried and quoted from a leaked email from the Yachting NZ Olympic Committee, which got onto… Read the rest

Some of the people mentioned in my ‘Urgent’ story last week have responded to some points and put right some inaccuracies there. My apologies for that, as I take this stuff seriously, and I don’t like getting things wrong.

But I’m not going to beat myself up too much about it either.

Getting to the bottom of these issues is sometimes like wading through treacle. ISAF issues very few public statements on these matters, so it is up to journalists to decipher stuff that should be made much more transparent. By saying this, I’m not implying there is an intention by ISAF to cover stuff up, but that the communication between ISAF and the common people could be a darn sight clearer than it is on some of these political issues.

Lord knows, if the submission deadline… Read the rest

Good news, but also a lot of bad news, for sailors who want to see a re-vote of the slate of 10 sailing Events being lined up for the Olympic Regatta in Weymouth 2012.

If you’ve been following this blog since last October, you’ll be familiar with the whole Estoril saga, where the Men’s Keelboat won a narrow victory over the Multihull, and the Women’s Match Racing just edged out the Women’s Skiff. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, dig back through the SailJuice archives for October and November 2007.)

SailJuice was not a fan of either of these outcomes, and reported on the eleventh-hour change in voting procedure, a cunning move that was led by Charley Cook from US Sailing, whose agenda was to see the keelboats remain in the Games. (Fair play to… Read the rest

We haven’t forgotten about Estoril and the debate that was raging across the internet before Christmas. Behind the scenes, some national authorities are still working hard on reopening the Olympic classes vote this May. I received an interesting list of which ISAF Council members are for and against reopening the debate the other day, but it’s not yet for public consumption. Oooh, it’s gonna make some of you mad when you see some of the people on the list.

I got this interesting comment from regular poster Jim C, which I thought was reproducing as a piece in its own right, as he makes some contentious but valid points. Thanks to all the regular commenters who have kept the debate alive on SailJuice Blog over the Christmas period.

It will be interesting to gauge the mood of the… Read the rest

A day for open letters, this one from former ISAF president Paul Henderson to his successor Goran Petersson. Henderson’s letter, published in Scuttlebutt.com, will offer some comfort to Petersson in the wake of all the criticism levelled at ISAF since Estoril.

Henderson suggests that sailing is not really under any threat of being thrown out of the Games. This may be true, but does this mean that ISAF should only do the minimum required to keep the IOC happy? Or when it has opportunities to pull the sport more into line with the IOC’s wishes, it should seize them with both hands? It won’t surprise you to know that I subscribe to the latter theory.

As the previous ISAF president, Henderson is bound to defend the workings of ISAF Council. Otherwise he would have changed the process. It’s not as… Read the rest

The RYA has stuck its head above the parapet, and fired off a letter of protest to Goran Petersson, President of ISAF.

Battle has commenced.

It’s now a matter of how many other National Authorities the RYA can take with it. Presumably Rod Carr and his troops have not done this without a good deal of consultation behind the scenes.

We can expect Yachting Australia to throw its full support behind this letter, and then it’s a matter of watching how many more will follow. Remember the Just Five to Get a Revote article in SailJuice a few days ago. That’s all that’s needed – in theory – but the RYA will be hoping and expecting that good deal more than five follow them over the top and into battle.

Here’s the letter… Read the rest

In the current post-Estoril climate, could you imagine five nations banding together to call for an emergency meeting of ISAF Council? Apparently, ISAF’s Constitution allows for just such a thing to take place, and it doesn’t seem beyond the bounds of possibility that this could happen.

We have already heard from some National Authorities who feel justice was not done in Estoril by the eleventh-hour change in voting procedure (which determined a very close vote in both the men’s and women’s events). Of course it would be a much bigger step for these MNAs to challenge ISAF on its original decision, but they could do it in the knowledge that many sailors around the world would be cheering them all the way.

There are other factors to consider here, not least a changing of the guard at ISAF on 1… Read the rest

Now, I can’t predict if you’ll cringe, laugh or cry when you read this. But here are the recommendations to Yachting New Zealand from its Olympic Committee.

Note in particular Point 3, which says: “NZL is currently suffering in expensive classes (Tornado & 49er) that are suited to younger (fit) sailors – so we should avoid these.”

Yes, after all, this is the Olympics. We can’t have young and fit sailors in the Games, can we!

I wonder, did Yachting New Zealand consult with any young Kiwi sailors before considering these recommendations? Also I’d suggest the YNZ offices shut down and everyone go on holiday for the week when the Tornado World Championships is going on, just down the road in Takapuna next March.

This leaked document is yet more evidence why some Member National Authorities (MNAs) cannot… Read the rest