Skip to main content

Estonia Withdraws As Host Of 2020 IODA Europeans




It seems that Covid19 isn’t quite yet ready to let the sailing circuit go as today the IODA announced that Estonia was withdrawing as host of the 2020 IODA European Championship. This is surely to affect many sailors and families who were hoping to get to their regatta this year. 

Not all is lost, though, since IODA provides for this scenario and will be working to find a suitable host for the event. Full press release:



We are in unprecedented times and in uncharted waters with respect to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it has on our IODA Events in 2020.With the health of our sailors, coaches, team leaders and volunteers as our top priority, after much consideration, the Organizers of the 2020 European Championship have regretfully confirmed that they are withdrawing as hosts of the championship. We respect their decision.IODA Members who have officially registered and made payments for the event will be refunded.  The Organizer in Estonia will handle refunds for entry fees.  The Charter Provider, New Blue, will handle refunds for charter Optimists and support boats.  Each Member delegation will be contacted shortly to begin the refund process.With our Member from Estonia withdrawing as the host, according to IODA Continental Championship Condition 8.4, “the IODA Executive Committee shall take such action to appoint an alternative host as it finds necessary.” As a result, the Executive Committee can consider a bid from a Member who might wish to host the 2020 European Championship this year.If any European Member would like to be considered as a host of the 2020 European Championship, please inform the IODA VP for Europe Carmen Casco as soon as possible, but no later than May 23, 2020.This can follow with completion of a Bid Form to Host an IODA Championship found here and submit it to the IODA Secretariat to the attention of Fiona Kidd, at sec_gen@optiworld.org on or before May 30, 2020. It is IODA’s keen goal to host events in 2020, however, with the extenuating circumstances we all face, the IODA Executive Committee will consider the following matters in proceeding with IODA Events:
  • Safety of our sailors and participants at events
  • Ability of host to organize an event along the World Sailing COVID-19 event guidelines
  • Ability for wide inclusivity of the IODA Members to participate in an event; especially considering travel restrictions
  • Ensuring the level of IODA standards of on-water racing are met
We would like to thank our Member from Estonia, the Kalev Yacht Club, and the members of the Organizing Committee for all their hard work and support in the planning of the 2020 European Championship. It has been a pleasure working with them. We hope they will bid for an IODA event in the future.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What Should Be In Your Dock Box/Ditty Bag

 Although the Optimist class is comprised of children, the fact of the matter is that serious racing happens in the Optimist class and that carries with it needs for equipment and replacement parts. Any sailor or coach worth their salt will tell you that you need a ditty bag or tackle box to carry spare parts and tools in order to keep your Opti up or in case of technicals - breakage - out on the race course.  The historical example of a ditty bag, complete with marlinspike So what should you keep in your ditty bag? At the bare minimum, your ditty bag needs to have tools to repair or adjust parts of your boat. A good set of screwdrivers, of medium length, pliers, and a crescent wrench are absolute musts Example contents of a ditty bag. Note the ample variety of tape, tools and spare line Next, you'd want to add a roll of sail tape, the thick kind, to patch up tears or holes that might happen. I cannot stress the importance of dealing with that sooner rather than later, because...

Ask Coach: What Is A Leebow?

 Timing + Technique = Control! Welcome to Ask Coach! Where we take your questions on Tactics, Strategy, and Boathandling. In our first installment, let's cover the Lee Bow. This is aimed at beginning to intermediate level racers in order to let them formulate questions they can bring to their coach, so we've tried to incorporate appropriate explanations and language.  We think it's important to agree on the vocabulary coaches and sailors use, so as there are many different ways to explain the same thing - make sure you know the difference between Tactics and Strategy What Are Tactics? Out on the race course, you'll be faced with many situations where you have to make a decision, sometimes before you even get to the situation (ahem - *mark roundings*). These decisions are what we call tactics. You can think of tactics as the little steps you take in order to achieve your strategy of success.  What Is Strategy? Strategy is the overarching plan for the regatta, race or par...

The Roundup Returns: October 2023

 SailGP Upset: USA Climbs To 3rd After Cadíz For those who don't follow SailGP, the Formula 1 of Sailing, Team USA has come in with the sneak and climbed to 3rd overall for Season 4 with a decisive win in Cadiz this past week. Skipper Jimmy Spithill together with flight controller Taylor Canfield (who we interviewed here in 2020) took the team through light wind, non-foiling conditions and surprised everyone with the win.  The U.S. beat both rivals across all metrics - picking up the highest average speed of 32.7 km/h, highest 58% flight time and executing the fewest number of maneuvers - just six. The Americans also sailed the shortest distance - a total of 4.9 km/h versus ROCKWOOL DEN’s 5.7km and Australia’s 6km. Spithill went on to dedicate the win to the team’s flight controller Hans Henken, who was injured during an incident in Taranto. While this was ‘such a massive blow for the team’, the incident gave the team ‘a real amount of purpose’, Spithill said.  “It was a...