Dear friends,
Since my previous message, the numerous European delegates present in Mexico received a personal update on EUROSAF’s progress from Committees’ Chairs, Vice-Presidents and myself. We plan to make such meetings an official item in World Sailing meetings’ schedule. Some developments have taken place since then.
Race Officials Exchange Meeting
The Race Officials Exchange Meeting will take place under the auspices of the Malta Sailing Federation on 27 January 2018 at the Salini Resort, Salina Bay, St Paul’s Bay, NXR9030, Malta (saliniresort.com). The venue is located 30 minutes by car from Malta International Airport.
To benefit from the advantageous rate negotiated by the Malta Sailing Federation, your delegate must send the enclosed booking form and put the organizers in copy to help them coordinate the transfer from the airport:
Anna Rossi: arossi at go dot net dot mt
Peter Dimech: peterdimech at onvol dot net
As previously announced, Tomasz Chamera and Pınar Coşkuner Genç, EUROSAF Vice-presidents responsible for Race Officials, together with Nino Shmueli, Chair of the EUROSAF Race Officials Committee, will conduct the meeting. In addition to the Race Officials Exchange Meeting and Workshops that will span all day, a Race Officials Committee meeting and an Executive Board meeting are also scheduled.
How can you help the Race Officials Exchange Meeting?
List all your events for the exchange program in the Race Officials database and thus ensure they will be allocated the Race Officials you need.
Inform your Race Officials delegates and ask them to quickly send the booking form.
Constitutional Amendments
On the way to fulfilling the task instructed by the General Assembly in Sofia last March, namely the call for and study of constitutional amendments submitted by our MNAs, the Norwegian Sailing Federation and the Executive Board have both decided to withdraw their amendments submitted in Sofia and leave them for consideration by the Legal Committee. No further amendments or constitutional issues have been submitted so far.
In view of the amendments it has received, the Legal Committee will now issue a set of coherent and reasoned proposals of modification of the newly adopted Constitution, if needed, for the next General Assembly to review, discuss, and decide on.
Annual General Meetings
Taking into consideration the need of all attendees and their MNAs to plan with as much time as possible, the Members have decided by an email vote that the EUROSAF 2018 Annual General Meeting will be held in Limassol, Cyprus, on 21 April 2018 and the EUROSAF 2019 Annual General Meeting will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 7 April 2019.
The Executive Board has addressed the issue of the cost and the worth of EUROSAF meetings, in line with observations received from several MNAs. Our view is that:
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Attending the meetings must distract as few resources as possible from sailing activities.
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EUROSAF meetings must bring value to MNAs.
Concerning cost control, we have asked host MNAs to go for affordable options that include:
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Meeting in sailing-related venues (MNA office, sailing club…) instead of hotels.
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Presenting different accommodation options within walking distance of the venue.
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Helping in organising the transfer from the airport to the venue and back.
Both hosts have readily embraced our view. In 2018 we will meet in the Sailing Centre in Limassol, where the Cyprus Yachting Association will make its infrastructure available to the delegates. The hotels will be in the city centre, close enough to the Sailing Centre. And with the travel details at hand, our hosts will help arrange transfer from and to the airport for the delegates that wish so.
Concerning bringing value, our proposal is that next year’s AGM not only deals with administrative matters, which of course it must do, but also include presentations:
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From the Committees, of projects for the MNAs to decide upon and join.
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From third parties, of sailing-related research, projects… of interest to MNAs.
Secretary General Support
Under President Herbert Houf’s impulse, the Austrian Sailing Federation has been negotiating with the Austrian Ministry of Sport the provision of financial support to EUROSAF. The outcome has just been confirmed: the Ministry will contribute towards the remuneration of our Secretary General up to the equivalent of a half time, and of a supporting person up to a 20-25% equivalent. The Austrian Sailing Federation will provide this support through its staff in Neusiedl. The deal runs for two years, is renewable, and starts on January 2018. This financial support comes on top of the kind help the Austrian Sailing Federation is already bestowing on EUROSAF, namely the provision of office and meeting space at its premises in Neusiedl.
Please take the opportunity to warmly thank President Houf for supporting EUROSAF in such a generous and tangible way.
Events
As already announced, the following Continental Events are scheduled for 2018:
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EUROSAF Parasailing European Sailing Championships in Kiel, Germany, from 16 to 24 June.
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EUROSAF Open Match Race Europeans in Tallin, Estonia, from 8 to 12 August.
The bidding process is now open for the following Continental Events for 2018:
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EUROSAF Women’s Match Race Europeans.
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EUROSAF Youth Match Race Europeans.
Redefining the scope and contents of the EUROSAF Youth Europeans is one of the top priorities of the Events Committee. Therefore, this event is not yet part of the bidding process for 2018.
For the benefit of organizers and sailors we want to start the planning, bidding, and granting process much earlier. Therefore we have also launched the bidding process for the same four EUROSAF Events for 2019.
Please distribute this information among your clubs and event organizers. Bids must be placed by email, with the enclosed bidding form:
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For 2018, until 10 January 2018.
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For 2019, until 15 March 2018.
Contact our Secretary General if you are interested in organizing any of these events; he will inform you in detail.
The Contact and Cooperation Committee has come up with an enticing new project that combines training for sailors, coaches, and race officials followed by a competition to put the newly acquired skills to use. The 2018 EUROSAF European U23 Team Race Championship and Team Race Clinic for Athletes, Coaches and Umpires will take place in Campione del Garda, Italy, next year (dates to be announced), thanks to the kind collaboration of the Italian Sailing Federation. Feel free to make a show of interest and inform us of convenient dates.
Several MNAs, including the Dutch Sailing Federation and the French Sailing Federation, have also made generous offers and put some of their venues at EUROSAF disposal. We thank them too and expect to make good use of this offers.
Website
We have launched the building of a new website to serve as a repository of EUROSAF’s reference information. A first version will be available shortly.
2017 is coming to an end and with it many projects are being finished, re-evaluated, dumped, or renewed. I wish all your projects have been successful and 2018 brings you new, exciting projects to be involved in. Count EUROSAF among them!
Very best wishes to you and your families,
Josep M. PLA
President
EUROSAF