November 10th, 2018 – Penghu, Taiwan

Once again Penghu delivered its winter weather promise of strong, consistent winds and choppy waves of the last day of 2018 RS:X and Techno 293 Asian Windsurfing Championships held in Penghu, Taiwan.

The great racing on the reaching start course made it possible to complete two races, leaving all sailors happy and fulfilled.

The winners of the 2018 RS:X and Techno 293 Windsurfing Asian Championships are:

RS:X Women – Kwan Ching Ma (HKG)
RS:X Men – Cho Won Woo (KOR)
RS:X Youth – Tin Yu Earl Cheung (HKG)

Congratulations to the Winners!

The landmark of 2018 RS:X & Techno 293 Windsurfing Asian Championships took place in Penghu, Taiwan from 3 to 11 November, and was organised by the Chinese Taipei Sailing Association in cooperation with International Windsurfing Association and the International RS:X Class Association.

FINAL RESULTS: https://asians2018.internationalwindsurfing.com/results
Event photos: https://asians2018.internationalwindsurfing.com/gallery
Event videos: https://asians2018.internationalwindsurfing.com/video

After a week of meetings, the AGM brought the 2018 Annual Conference to a close as they ratified the decisions made throughout the week.

At the 2018 Mid-Year Meeting in London, Great Britain, World Sailing’s Council approved the following slate of Events:

 

Men’s Windsurfer
Women’s Windsurfer
New Event, Mixed One-Person Dinghy
New Event, Mixed Two Person Dinghy
New Event, Mixed Kite

They joined the following Events and their Equipment on the Paris 2024 slate:

Men’s One Person Dinghy - Laser*
Women’s One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial*
Women’s Skiff - 49erFX
Men’s Skiff - 49er
Mixed Two Person Multihull - Nacra 17
*subject to separate equipment re-evaluation

Although the decision was made, World Sailing’s Regulations allowed both the Events and Equipment to be amended if 75% of Council members voted in favour of making the change.

A lengthy debate on replacing the Mixed One-Person Dinghy Event with the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore Event was held before 31 Council members voted in favour of voting on change with eight against and two abstaining. As the 75% minimum was exceeded, Council then voted with 29 members in favour of the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore with nine against and two abstentions.

World Sailing’s Member National Authorities have the power to overturn the regulations approved by the Council.

After ratifying numerous regulation amendments over the last 12-months, a debate on reinstating the Mixed One-Person Dinghy event in place of the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore event was held.

Members at the AGM voted with 43 voting in favour of retaining the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore event, 17 were against and four abstained.

This confirmed the slate of Events for Paris 2024 as:

Men’s Windsurfer - RS:X*
Women’s Windsurfer - RS:X*
Men’s One Person Dinghy - Laser*
Women’s One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial*
Mixed Kite - TBC
Mixed Two Person Dinghy - TBC
Women’s Skiff - 49erFX
Men’s Skiff - 49er
Mixed Two Person Multihull - Nacra 17
Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore - TBC

*subject to separate equipment re-evaluation

Further decisions related to the Equipment criteria for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Events were also made on the Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer, the Mixed Two Person Dinghy and the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore.

The RS: X will be the equipment for the Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer events.The Mixed Kiteboarding event will be on a foiling board with a RAM-Air (foil-kite) and the Mixed Two Person Dinghy event will be a non-foiling displacement boat with a headsail, mainsail and spinnaker.

A displacement monohull (non-foiling) with a shorthanded deck layout will be used for the Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore boat. The boat will be between 6-10 metres in hull length, able to perform in 4 to 40 knots with a proper sail inventory for all conditions and be a sloop rig with a spinnaker.

Equipment trials for the Mixed Kiteboarding and Mixed Two Person Keelboat Offshore Events will follow with the decision on the Equipment to be made at the 2019 Annual Conference.

With regards to the Mixed Two Person Dinghy event, selection of the equipment should be based on evaluation against the specified criteria without equipment trials being required. If the evaluation is concluded by the Equipment Committee well ahead of the 2019 Mid-Year Meeting, then Council will be asked to make a decision by electronic vote.

Click below for further updates from the Council meetings:

Council - 2 November 2018
Council - 3 November 2018

Text: World Sailing/RS:X Class
Photo: RS:X Class/Robert Hajduk - ShutterSail.com

The so called ‘FinFix’ working party (WP) chair has been in close correspondence with Cobra and Neil Pryde in getting them to deliver their best RS:X fin which meets the working party objectives.
These objectives are for a consistent, reliable and cost effective fin for the sailors.

The WP have not been directly involved in the development of this fin as it was felt that Cobra should have no excuses if the fin failed. Cobra were made clear that this was their final opportunity to produce a fit for purpose fin for the class or production would be moved elsewhere.

20 fins have been built to a new specification. These fins have been shipped, today, to FRA, GBR and POL for initial testing. Two fins are reserved for WP member Sam Sills to test on conditional return of the Z fins that Sam has been testing.

It is hoped that feedback on the fins will be given within the next month. Report to RS:X Executive at its next meeting. Countries nominated for testing have been asked not to publish online any results prior to the board being briefed.

If these fins fail, the WP will explore new avenues of production of which some work has already been done in determining possible new manufacturers. The WP notes that this will be at a considerable cost to both the class and the sailors if this needed to happen and therefore is not the preferred option.

It is the opinion of the WP Chair that Cobra remains the best option for the class in the short and long term interests of the RSX class association.

Bas Edmonds
The Chairman of the Fin WP
RS:X Class