At the annual conference of ISAF in Dublin Council elected to stay with the decision made in May at the mid-year meeting in Italy. But it appears that the Member National Authorities (MNAs) were not happy to discard the windsurfing board in favour of kite-boarding.
At each annual conference, and once Council has completed it's business, there is a General Assembly. Those attending and with the ability to vote are the President, the seven Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer and one representative of every MNA of ISAF. This is the equivalent to an AGM that follows a company's board meeting. The General Assembly reviews any Regulations made or amended in any substantive way by the Council since the last General Assembly which was in November 2011. Decisions at the General Meeting are taken by a simple majority of votes.
So the ISAF Council, despite a massive campaign to support the RS:X, felt it appropraite to stick with kite-boarding. The MNAs disagreed and reversed that decision. So for Rio in 2016 the events will be:
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
Once Council made its decision in May the RS:X Class worked hard to campaign for re-instatement. A petition saw 32,254 signatures and many sailors of other classes displayed their support for windsurfing on their sails. The reason for such massive support: it is a cheap, safe and accessible sport without the need to tow equipment around to events; it can be sailed right off the beach; many take part in all corners of the world with more nations represented at the ISAF Worlds in Perth 2011 than any other class; racing can be brought right to spectators and is very media friendly; windsurfing has a very well established development pathway so youngsters can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
In addition, the RS:X Class is very progressive and had already adopted a new format of racing designed to be better for spectators. The only other class so far advanced is the 49er.
This is a great result for the RS:X President, Mike Dempsey, and the Class Secretary, Rory Ramsden. Whilst Rory at times speaks his mind and as a consequence can be unpopular with some, his heart is firmly with the sailors. It has to be said that Rory has done a massive amount for the sailors of the RS:X Class and windsurfing.
