Interesting developments in the last few weeks:



Olympic Events – I’m told the OSC and the Board unanimously approved a submission to ISAF that proposes a five discipline approach for the 2016 Games; single-hand dinghy, double-hand dinghy, multihull, keelboat and board. Complete gender equity is also proposed, so we would see a men’s and a women’s multihull event. In addition, the US is proposing that the voting NOT be based on individual events, but instead on submitted slates of events. Further, the US wants to see sailing events set for two or three quadrennials rather than re-voting every four years. I think this is a pretty good submission for us and we should support it. There is far more international support for this approach than there was last year before all our efforts to raise visibility of our discipline of the sport.


New rules will be published by ISAF and US SAILING in November to go into effect in January. One of the major changes that we see coming is in the definition of the two-boat length zone around marks of the course. This zone will be subject to definition in the NOR and SIs for specific events – for example, you could extend it to three- or even five-boat lengths for faster boats like cats and tris. I feel that we, the Council, should discuss a standard recommendation for this zone to promote consistency in racing in the US, similar to the way we established recommended courses. To accomplish this, we’ll need to spend some time talking with sailors and race officers in our areas, one-design class leaders (Hobie, A-Class, Nacra, F18, etc.), and judges familiar with multihull racing. This item will be on the agenda for the October meeting in St. Petersburg. I’d like to pass a recommendation at that time, so discussion should start now. This could really change the way we manage leeward gate courses.


As the current Chair of the US MHC, I have been asked by US SAILING to sit on ISAF’s new Multihull Commission. I have accepted the nomination, which is subject to ISAF approval. I would like to discuss this further at the October meeting, as ISAF still hasn’t made it clear what the purpose of the Commission will be, exactly. At a minimum, it would get us a multihull-specific seat on the US Delegation to ISAF – something we haven’t had in the past, so I see this as a gain even though I’m skeptical regarding this Commission’s influence on the ISAF Council.


The MHC Nominating Committee will be announcing a slate for our annual election very soon. Please give the slate some consideration and send any nominations you might have to Don Atchley, who is Chair of Nominating. In addition, begin either making your plans to attend the MHC meeting in St. Petersburg, FL on Saturday, October 18th at 1:00 – 3:00 PM, or make plans to provide your proxy so that your constituency is represented on matters that will come to a vote.


I expect there will be more to talk about soon – I hope everyone is well, enjoying the summer, and looking forward to watching the Games in China.



Best regards –



John