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470 General News

UPDATE ON 2020 470 CLASS EVENTS

27 Mar 2020

Dear sailors, coaches and 470 Class members and friends,

As you know, this past week has seen a flurry of decisions taken by the IOC, Tokyo2020, and World Sailing - all of which have dramatically changed the landscape of our sport moving forward. While there are still many challenging questions, please rest assured that the 470 Class Management Committee is working tirelessly to get you reliable answers as quickly as possible. These are trying times, but also an opportunity to showcase the strength and adaptability of the International 470 Class.

This news belongs to
2020 470 Open European Championship
ALL EVENT INFORMATION
This news belongs to
2021 470 Open European Championship
ALL EVENT INFORMATION
This news belongs to
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition
ALL EVENT INFORMATION


Here is the latest situation update:

• The 2020 Olympic Games have been postponed until 2021. At this moment no dates have been set. See: https://www.olympic.org/news/joint-statement-from-the-international-olympic-committee-and-the-tokyo-2020-organising-committee. We assume that they will try to go for the same time of the year as the original schedule was, i.e. end of July - beginning of August and we will try to adapt our event plans accordingly.

• The postponed 2020 World Championship can now be re-scheduled for early/mid October. We are working closely with CN Arenal to find the best possible dates during that period. The 2020 European Championship in Hyeres will also be postponed: discussions are under way with COYCH, the organizers, and the target is to go for mid-late September. Both Worlds and Europeans will be rescheduled in such a way so that we can have about two weeks time between them. Of course this is by no means certain to happen, and is completely dependent on the global situation at that point. A call will probably have to be made around June whether this is viable. Entries made so far are still standing and teams which decide that they wish to withdraw can do so, and will be refunded without the 100 euro penalty fee. The entry systems will remain open for those who drop out and eventually change their mind again, or for new entries.

• Regarding the final continental qualifier, the latest news from WS stated:
“In the short term, World Sailing will not hold Olympic qualification events for Africa, Asia or Europe. World Sailing is working with the IOC on an update to the qualification system where our recommendation will be to look at hosting qualifications events in late 2020 or early 2021.”
The 470 Class has offered WS to run the last remaining event, the European qualifier, as part of one of our events (Europeans or Worlds 2020). It may also happen that one of the 2021 regattas will be used instead.
Whichever event will be used as the qualifier at the end is a decision to be made solely by WS and not by our Class.

• The dates of our two Junior events are still in July 2020. We are in contact with the organizers and we will be assessing the situation continuously, not only about the COVID-19 spread and travel /quarantine limitations, but also for the effect on schools and universities programmes. At this moment we have no reason to announce postponements or changes of dates: both the class and the organizers remain committed in running these events as scheduled. Next assessment is set for mid-April 2020.

• The Management Committee is looking at the situation regarding the dates and venues for the 2021 Europeans and Worlds. Most likely both events will need to be re-scheduled early enough in the season, before equipment is to be shipped to Tokyo in the Spring of 2021. We are in contact with the organizers and with WS: as explained above, this depends first and foremost on the final dates of the Olympic Games, but we will prepare our plans to be ready for all possibilities.

• With the postponement of the 2020 Europeans, the Management Committee is also looking for possible ways within our Constitution to cover legal necessities such as the approval of 2019 accounts and 2020 budget. More information on that will follow soon.

• With the postponement of the Olympic Games and the ‘continuation’ of the 470 for one more year as an Olympic class for Men and Women, there are clearly a few questions that need answering and issues that need to be resolved. Some of the answers are for WS to give. As far as the Class is concerned, we can assure the fleet today that no Class Rule change which will modify the boat will go into effect until after the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympics, whenever they happen. This applies especially for major changes such as the introduction of the carbon mast, which will not follow the originally planned timeline. The technical committee will work on a clarification announcement as soon as possible.

When we will have more news from the IOC, WS or about the general situation of the COVID-19 affecting our events schedule, we will be sending an update to you. Since the major issues of the 2020 Olympics and our events have been settled for the moment, we will not be issuing the weekly updates every Friday as announced last week.

Management Committee
Int. 470 Class Association

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