Dún Laoghaire hosts international conference

SAILING:IRELAND WILL be in the spotlight over the next week as Dún Laoghaire plays host to the annual conference of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). More than 650 delegates from over 130 nations are expected over the course of the 10-day event that started yesterday at the Royal Marine Hotel.

In fact, all the local hotels are reported to have been close to or fully booked and the yacht clubs in the area, as well as the Pavillion Theatre, are also being used for the various meetings and presentations. A number of other events are being held in parallel with the main conference bringing the attendance to over 1,000 visitors.

While much of the business of the conference could be described as routine, this year’s event will be significant on a number of fronts.

Of particular interest is the on-going debate over the equipment selection for the Rio 2016 Olympic regatta that has seen the Board-Sailing dropped in favour of Kite-Surfing. Motions to re-open the selection will be debated in Dún Laoghaire and the bottom-line is that the entire equipment ‘slate’ won’t be confirmed until the completion of the conference next weekend.

The London 2012 Regatta also marked the final appearance of the venerable Star keelboat from the programme, a decision that caused disappointment from various quarters, not least the Brazilian hosts for 2016, as this class has proven especially successful for their country thanks to past medallists Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt.

However, there are no proposals pending to revisit this decision though, in theory the International Olympic Committee could add an extra event to the regatta if it chooses. This 2012 conference marks the end of a four-year cycle for the ISAF executive and council with three candidates nominated for selection as president of ISAF to take over from Sweden’s Goran Petersen at the end of his term. Australian Dave Kellett, the current treasurer, Carlo Croce of Italy and Eric Tulla of Puerto Rico have each been nominated.

Dublin’s Mansion House will also be the venue for the Rolex ISAF Sailor of the Year Award next week. Among the nominations for the male and female awards are many high-profile sailors from this year’s Olympics including Britain’s Ben Ainslie, hailed as the greatest Olympic sailor and China’s Lijia Xu who will be remembered for her master-class performance in winning gold in the Laser Radial class at Weymouth.

The exception to the Olympic line-up for the awards is France’s Loïck Peyron who entered the history books at the start of 2012 as he and the 13 crew aboard the 40-metre maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V broke the outright Around the World Record in a time of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds, an average speed of 26.5 knots.