Regulation 23.1.4 has been approved with the following amendment.
Men's Board - RS:X
Women's Board - RS:X
Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser
Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial
Men's 2nd One Person Dinghy - Finn
Men's Skiff - 49er
Women's Skiff – 49erFX
Men's Two Person Dinghy - 470
Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470
Mixed Two Person Multihull – Nacra 17
http://www.facebook.com/ISAFWorldSailing
Six months of lobbying by the international windsurfing community
has paid off with the reinstatement this morning (NZT) of the RS:X
class at the expense of kiteboarding for the Rio Olympics.
The controversial decision in May by ISAF (the international
sailing federation) to drop windsurfing in favour of the then untested
kiteboarding stunned the sailing world but the decision has been
reversed by the narrowest of margins at ISAF's AGM in Dublin, Ireland,
today.
As reported last week there were two ways the decision could be overturned, at council level or the higher general assembly.
Windsurfers needed a 75 per cent majority at council level
yesterday to re-open the decision but never got it, falling short at 68
per cent.
However, a motion was made to assess the controversial saga at
today's general assembly, with a simple majority all that was required.
Windsurfing got there and will continue its presence at the Olympics, which dates back to 1984.
Unlike the council, where members represented areas or
confederations and some, like Oceania's New Zealand delegate Ralph
Roberts, were instructed to vote in line with their area's wishes (the
majority of Oceania nations preferred kiteboarding), the vote at general
assembly level was made by representatives of the individual national
authorities.
Yachting New Zealand has consistently made no secret of its
preference for windsurfing to remain at the Rio Olympics in 2016, with
kiteboarding to be given more time to develop and possibly looked at for
2020.
It made a formal submission along those lines in July and publicly reaffirmed its view last week.
It has got its wish, with the national authority members voting against the council members.
New Zealand has a rich history in windsurfing; seven of the
nation's 18 Olympic sailing medals have come in that class, and there
has been vociferous support for its reinstatement around the world.
Some national bodies apologised for voting for kitesurfing in the
first place and others, like Spain, claimed they had been confused by
the process.
Before the AGM, both YNZ chief executive David Abercrombie and
windsurfing great Barbara Kendall said they believed windsurfing would
fall short of the 75 per cent required at council level but the
decision had a great chance of being overturned at the general assembly.
