2024 Olympics: World Sailing Board issues another amazing "Late and Urgent" submission ah

SAN FRANCISCO (#1220) – "Amazing" is the most polite word your Ed. could come up with to describe the latest cockamamie construct that the World Sailing Board is trying to foist upon the global sailing community. Richard Gladwell (NZL), the esteemed editor of the New Zealand edition of Sail-World.com, has already penned a thoughtful and restrained analysis which you can read here. It is a MUST READ for MNA leaders, potential Olympians, and fans of Olympic sailing.

Boats like the newly-launched J/99, above, is presumably one of the classes on a "long list" proposed by this latest "Late And Urgent" submission. The WS Board is asking the Council to amend the long-standing relevant regulations to allow choosing the 2024 Olympic class as late as December of 2023 from this "long list" thus, they say, preventing an "arms race" in the meantime. Yeah, right.

The claim is that this new arrangement will "ensure that the most diverse number of MNAs and the largest possible group of sailors will be able to train and plan for the Olympic Games" – notwithstanding that some countries, in the meantime, will have had local access, by happenstance, hook or crook, to the class finally selected, while others will not.

Richard will join me for today's (Friday) TFE LIVE via Skype from Auckland to discuss this as well as the latest on the status of the AC36 "late entries" including Long Beach YC's struggling Stars+Stripes Team USA, Sail GP ahead of their second series here in SF next weekend, the recently-announced SSL Gold Cup, and much more. Hope you can join us – as always at 1300 Pacific / 2000 UTC / 0800+1 NZT on our Sailing Illustrated Facebook page, or watch a replay there afterwards.

Richard Gladwell, who was last on TFE LIVE in January, will be our special guest on today's (Friday) show via Skype from Auckland. Join us at 1300 Pacific / 2000 UTC on our SI FB page, or watch a replay later.