Equipages Mixtes pour les JO 2024

Dear members and 470 friends:

The 470 Class is entering a new chapter in its history. Last week, the International Olympic Committee announced the events for the 2024 Games in Paris, and instead of the two separate events for men and women, we will go into a single event for mixed teams. While this may not be what the class would have liked -to keep the two events-, it is the best that could be accomplished in these challenging and changing times. We have to adapt and to make the best use of the new opportunities. Rules application at our events, such as RR42, race courses and formats have to be reviewed with an open mind, in order to make the new 470 Mixed event stand out from the rest. At the same time a new opportunity comes, with a separate World champion title being awarded to an Open fleet, opening the class to non-Olympic oriented teams.

All these options have to be discussed at the next General Assembly meeting of the Class. However, with the cancellation of all scheduled 470 championships and the WS Annual Conference, plus the continued worldwide travel and meeting restrictions -because of the Covid-19 pandemic- until the end of 2020 and in some countries well into 2021, there is no way to convene a normal General Assembly Meeting before the end of 2020 as specified in the By-laws:

By-Law Article 3.1

The meetings of the General Assembly shall be held either at the time of an international 470 Class regatta or at any place judged by the Management Committee to be the most convenient for the majority of the National Class Association and Individual Members.

However, the 470 Class Management Committee will organize before the end of 2020 an online annual meeting to present the reports of the President, Secretary General, Treasurer, Auditors, Technical Committee chairman and the development activities, plus a proposal for the 2021 budget. These items are normally voted for with an open voting system. The date and time of this meeting will be the 27th of December 2020, at 12:00 UTC. If the quorum is not met, a new meeting will be arranged for the 29th of December 2020 at 12:00 UTC. Connection details and agenda of the meeting will be circulated as soon as possible.

Because of our peculiar voting system which does not allow for simple online solutions, all other usual agenda items such as member proposals, future event bids, Constitution/By-law and class rule changes and the election of new Management Committee members, which are normally decided using a secret voting system, shall be dealt with at the 2021 GAM, to be organized during the World Championship in Vilamoura, Portugal, during 5&6 March 2021. This is the first opportunity we will have for a class meeting, provided that the Championship will go ahead as planned.

Especially for the election of the next Management Committee, the current Constitution defines a conflicting process, which needs to be corrected at the next possible opportunity: with the move of the Olympic Games from 2020 into 2021, the elections have to happen within 2021. The conflict is then with the duration of the term, which will be now a little longer than the four years specified for the current MC.

Constitution Article 8.1

The Management Committee is composed of 5 (five) to 10 (ten) members, the actual number being defined each time by the General Assembly, and is elected for a four-year period by the General Assembly meeting convened in the year of the Summer Olympic Games.

The current Constitution/Bylaws set must be modified, in order to introduce options for online General Assembly meetings when the global situation does not allow for a normal face to face meeting, including a suitable voting system to accommodate secret voting using our special vote allocation –such as the one used by World Sailing in their recent Presidential/Board elections. The Management Committee will work on appropriate submissions for the next GAM, and of course all members are invited to do the same.

Best regards

Dimitris Dimou

President

470 Internationale