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Every November, the Annual Conference of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) brings together the Committees and Sub-committees of ISAF to discuss, debate and ultimately decide upon the key issues of the day. Between them, the ISAF Committee cover the broad spectrum of the sport, from Olympic sailing, to youth events and training, offshore sailing, race officials and more.

2009 ISAF Annual Conference - Quick Links
Click on the links below for all the key info on the 2009 ISAF Annual Conference
All the Conference news
Meeting Papers
Meeting Schedule
ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards
ISAF Meetings microsite

The Conference is ISAF's chief decision-making process and culminates with three days of meetings for ISAF's final decision-making body, the ISAF Council, which is chaired by ISAF President Göran Petersson. This is the first Conference since last year's General Assembly when the new ISAF Executive Committee for 2009-2012 was elected and the ISAF Council and Committee members for 2009-2012 were appointed.

Along with the meetings, debates and decision-making, the Annual Conference is also the stage for the announcement of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards, which this year will take place on Tuesday 10 November at the Busan Yacht Club.

Click here to find out more about the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards

ISAF Committee, Sub-committee and Commission members (all of whom are volunteers) have travelled from all over the world to arrive in Busan, and are joined my many other delegates representing ISAF's Member National Authorities, ISAF International and Recognised Classes, ISAF affiliated members, ISAF events, continental associations, recognized organizations, training initiatives, builders, manufacturers and more.

The Conference begins today with the first meeting of the ISAF Executive Committee. Tomorrow the ISAF Commissions and Olympic Classes Sub-committee hold their meetings. From Saturday, the Conference gets into full swing with meetings for the ISAF Classes Committee, the respective Race Officials Sub-committees and the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship Sub-committee.

Click here for full details of the Conference Schedule

ISAF will be reporting live from Busan for the rest of the Conference. To stay up to date with all the latest debates and decisions just visit www.sailing.org and the ISAF Meetings microsite at www.sailing.org/meetings.

Meeting Papers

All of the meeting papers for the ISAF Annual Conference, including Agendas, over 120 Submissions and Supporting Papers are available to everyone to download online. For ease, there are various options by which you can download papers - by a specific Committee, by Submission, by Agenda, by Supporting Paper - and the papers can be downloaded individually or as a bulk download, which is provided by a zip file download.

The meeting papers are freely available for anyone to access.

Click on the link below to view the papers listed by type and/or Committee. Just click on AGENDAS, SUBMISSIONS or SUPPORTING PAPERS or BY COMMITTEE to view the appropriate documents.

Click here to view the papers for the 2009 Conference

How The Conference Works

The cornerstone of the ISAF decision-making process is the Submission, essentially a proposal to change an existing policy or regulation, or to introduce a new one. ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs), ISAF Classes, Committee Chairmen, the Executive Committee and the ISAF President can all make Submissions. The Submissions are assigned to one or more Committee depending upon their subject matter.

During the first week of the Conference, the Committees - in total there are 13 ranging from Audit to Windsurfing (you can see all the ISAF Committees at www.sailing.org/committees) - consider Submissions on their agenda and pass any recommendations they have on to the ISAF Council. Along with considering Submissions, each Committee has a number of other items to consider, which could include venue selection for future ISAF events and reports on recent events through to Race Official appointments and In-House Certification reviews.

At the end of the Conference, the ISAF Council hold their meeting over three days, where they make the final decision on all the Submissions at the Conference. The Council take all recommendations made by ISAF Committees into consideration, but ultimately it is the Council who decide whether a Submission is accepted or rejected.

On the ISAF Meetings microsite at www.sailing.org/meetings you can find more details on the 2009 Annual Conference. There's also a simple guide to ISAF's decision-making process and a full database of past meeting papers.