2014 EUROSAF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

29 European Sailing Federations gathered in The Pricipality of Andorra, the only country in the world with two heads of state: (the Episcopal co-prince, The Bishop of La Seu d’Urgell, in Spain, and the French co-prince, the President of the French Republic) over the weekend of 28^th – 30^th March, for their annual meeting. The Federacio Andorra de Vela were host to the meeting, which was held in Escaldes-Engordany, some 1,000 metres above sea level, and adjacent to Andorra la Vella, the largest city in the country.

Delegates from all over Europe gathered on Friday evening, most of them coming through Barcelona and travelling by bus to Andorra set amongst the beautiful Pyrenees. Andorra may be one of the smallest European Sailing Federation (EUROSAF) members, but they are very active under the leadership of their President Josep Pla.  Andorra is, of course, land-locked, but the Federacio Andorra de Vela boasts two sailing clubs and a growing number of young people participating in the sport. Most of their sailing is done in Barcelona, but plans to establish more local facilities are in hand. The welcome handed to delegates and observers surpassed all expectations and hearty congratulations are due to all those involved in the organisation.

The meeting consisted of the formal Annual General Assembly, followed by a series of workshops and presentations. There was plenty of time for networking amongst members, which affords members from the more developed sailing nations to exchange ideas with those from the developing countries, and visaversa. The level of co-operation between all European sailing national authorities is very high, not only through schemes such as the EUROSAF Race Officials’ Exchange Programme, but also between individual countries on specific projects. Italy and Russia have recently reached an agreement that will see close co-operation between the two countries at youth level and France and Great Britain have long been sharing training information. The existance of EUROSAF contributes substantially to this high level of collaboration.

The meeting was joined by ISAF Vice-President Chris Atkins and Wilfred Klein, a Vice-President of the International Federation for Disabled Sailing (IFDS), with whom EUROSAF work closely. 2014 will see the first European Championship for disabled sailors taking place under the EUROSAF banner. This championship will be in Valencia, Spain, in October and it is planned that this will become an annual event. Another major topic of conversation was the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup, entering its second year in 2014. This is a number of well established regattas for Olympic Classes, who got together with EUROSAF to form the new series, held for the first time in 2013.  Some 1,500 sailors from 55 countries took part in the first year of the series, which starts again on 8^th May with the Garda Trentino Olympic Week.

The Federacio Andorra de Vela organized three excellent days for all delegates, both the formal and the social aspects of the meeting. There was still plenty of snow in the mountains and the Saturday evening dinner was organised in a restaurant high up in the Pyrenees, at 2.200 meters, amongst the snow. Attendees were taken to the restaurant by cable car and returned after the dinner by snowmobile, a very different and most enjoyable experience. All delegates roundly applauded the Andorra Federation for organising a fantastic and unique experience for members of the European Sailing Federation. Thank you Andorra.