470 Internationale
Stanislav Kassarov
the boat the world sails
President

To:56,Probuda Street
8000 Bourgas
Bulgaria
Tel: +359 56 814971
Mob: +359 888 240364
Fax: +359 56 817674
Skype: kassarove-mail: president@470.org

National Class Associations
470 Sailors and Coaches
470 Equipment Suppliers

09th May 2011

Dear All,The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has confirmed the ten events for the 2016 Olympic
Sailing Competition at the 2011 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in St Petersburg, Russia which includes
the 470 as the equipment for the two-person dinghy men and two-person dinghy women. Thefull slate of ten events are:••••••••••

Men's Board or Kiteboard - evaluation
Women's Board or Kiteboard - evaluation
Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser
Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial
Men's 2nd One Person Dinghy - Finn
Men's Skiff - 49er
Women's Skiff - Evaluation
Men's Two Person Dinghy - 470
Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470
Mixed Two Person Multihull - Evaluation

470 DID IT AGAIN!

www.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org

By retaining our class in the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition we have proven to the sailingcommunity around the world that two-person dinghy spinnaker sailing is an essential discipline ofsailing. By the selection of the 470 class as preferred equipment for the two-person dinghy event,the ISAF Council has confirmed and continued to recognize the integral role the 470 plays within
the Olympic Sailing Competition and the Olympic Programme and its legacy and positive impact
as equipment of popular choice for men and women.
The submissions put forward to ISAF, demonstrated a strong consensus amongst MNAs on theslate of ten events which would best represent the sport of sailing at the 2016 Olympic Games,
which included the 470 men and 470 women.
The 470 Class brings tremendous value to the Olympic Games. It demonstrates a modern,youthful and skilful discipline of sailing which is easily, efficiently and cost-effectively part of theOlympic Sailing Competition. Continuity and consistency are key to embracing sustainable
participation in an equipment based sport like sailing – and the 470 has repeatedly proven itself.
The 470 Class has long-established values which closely align the role the class plays in worldwide
sailing with the core criteria established by the ISAF Olympic Commission and also with thevalues of the International Olympic Committee:
The 470 is universal: it is spread in more than 60 nations and sailed by people across all six
continents. The 470 is raced at the highest levels by men and women and due to the intensecompetition with no one nation dominating there is an extensive number of nations able tosecure medal glory.
The 470 is inclusive: it is a boat which can be easily sailed, yet at the same time provides one of
the most challenging tests of skills at elite level and can be equally raced by men and women.
Regardless of a sailor’s personal size in weight and height, the 470 allows everyone to becompetitive in all conditions because of its versatility in being able to adjust and balance the rig tosailor’s physical stature. The 470 is the only dinghy that caters for lightweight men.
The 470 is inspirational: it attracts the best sailors in the world who seek its challenges andthrough the diverse skills platform demanded by the 470 they are able to go on to successful
sailing careers in other disciplines of the sport, such as the America's Cup and Volvo OceanRace. The 470 represents a pinnacle Olympic event for the sport’s athletes.
The 470 is popular: based on the current ISAF Rankings, there are 345 men's and women's 470
teams from 45 nations who have gained ranking points from ISAF Graded Events – one of themost popular Olympic Classes – with significant depth of fleet in many nations. And that'sbefore you add the nations who sail the 470 but do not yet compete at ISAF Graded events. Newgrowth continues with an influx of participants, new nations and selection of the 470 for
inclusion in multi-sport events, alongside continued growth in continents where the 470 isalready strong, such as Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.

www.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org

The 470 is youthful: each year the class holds two elite championships for our junior athletes –Worlds and Europeans – which attract young sailors of 21 years and under from all over theworld. There is an established youth pathway to the 470, particularly through the 420 class usedat the ISAF Youth Worlds, which supports the continued popularity of the 470 among youth
across the globe. One of the world's largest disciplines of our sport is two-person dinghy(spinnaker) sailing and these young sailors now continue to have the chance to be Olympians.
The 470 is economical: The cost of 470 equipment and the cost to campaign a 470 is low
compared to most other Olympic classes. A well controlled one-design class like the 470 createsas level a playing field as any class, while offering the sailors the opportunity to shop around fortheir equipment ensuring the cost is kept down.
The 470 provides the same equipment for men and women: uniquely across the Olympic
events/equipment, the configuration of the 470 is identical for both men and women which
offers equal opportunity to sailors and significant benefits to nations. The 470 is the only boat
which is used by men and women in exactly the same format, without any changes to theequipment.
The 470 is challenging: The 470 represents the alluring sailing challenge of tactics, techniqueand individual boat tweaking to make your boat go faster. It is about the individual athlete's
sailing skills and their teamwork. The 470 is full of energy and continues to attract the next
generation of sailors.
The 470 is media friendly: The 470 has proven itself to be attractive to the media, and also
attracts high numbers of fans through online platforms, such as tracking and at the ISAF SailingWorld Cup events. Our sailors provide colourful and interesting sports characters.
The 470 is sailed by recreational sailors to Olympians, juniors to masters, it is a popular choicefor collegiate sailing and is regularly used at Regional Games on all continents. Our top-ranked
sailors represent a healthy mix of races and nationalities – there are currently 28 nations acrossthe top 50 men's and women's teams on the ISAF Sailing World Rankings. The race course
action is full of close, tactical racing, demonstrating athleticism and grace, whilst using theextensive skills that showcase our athletes and ensure they are in demand as sailing professionals
in other disciplines of the sport.
The International 470 Class Association injects significant funds into our Development
Programmes, which among other things focuses on junior and women’s programmes, initiatives
for emerging sailing nations and training for elite sailors, together with equipment provision andfinancial grants. In 2010, our programmes benefited over 300 sailors from more than 40 nations.
The 470 represents a popular and perfect fit to the Olympic ideals of “Faster, Higher,Stronger”

www.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org

The key behind our successful campaign:
We planned a strong strategy, we worked hard and had the best people to implement the plan.
After the 2010 ISAF Annual Conference in Athens, Greece, the ISAF Council made the“provisional” decisions that the current two 470 events – men and women, become a single mixed
event, with it mandatory to have one man and one woman. This put us in a difficult position as
to whether to accept the position of mixed or to challenge to retain the two events.
At this stage, mixed sailing in the 470 does not currently exist and we recognized if this“provisional” decision was confirmed it would be a slow death for the class. The position of the470 Management Committee was to challenge to retain the two 470 events – men and women.
However, we were aware that by making this challenge to the “provisional decision” we could
expose the class to the risk of being out of the 2016 Olympics. But, we fully believed in the rolethe 470 Class plays in sailing and knew that key sailing nations also supported this view.
“Creating the current” this was probably the hardest part of the campaign – 4 months of hard
work, many trips around the world, meetings with federations and key people, which led to a
result that out of all 55 submissions sent to ISAF proposing a slate of events for the 2016Olympic Competition, 39 supported two 470 events – men and women. This resulted in a hugeconsensus in the sailing community around the world for the events they wanted in the 2016
Olympic Sailing Competition. And as you all know very well – it is hard to go against the current.
The Events Committee decision on 5 May 2011 to support the submitted slate with two 470
events – men and women was a confirmation that this vision is what the MNAs and stakeholdersof ISAF wanted and was what they believed is in the best interest of the sport of sailing. The
main issue that was on the table at the Events Committee meeting was two 470 events for men
and women in preference to keelboats men and women.
After their meeting on 5 May, the ISAF Executive Committee decided to support the Puerto
Rican submission (M29-11) which included the two 470 events but removed the skiff. By making
this decision, the ISAF Executive Committee put the 470 Class in a very strong position – wecould win both ways. Therefore, the main issue on the table at the ISAF Council Meeting of 6May 2011 became a choice of whether to select the skiffs in favour of the keelboats or vice versa.
The challenge that the skiffs faced was how the 470 Class would react to the ISAF Executive
Committee decision. On one hand the 470 Class recognised that by supporting the Executive
Committee decision we would increase the strength of our position for the 2020 Olympics, but…
The 470 class made the decision which we believe to be in the best interest of the sport ofsailing.

www.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org

We continued to support the original slate to remove the two most expensive boats from the
Olympic Sailing Competition – the keelboats - which will save millions to the MNAs, event
organizers and sailors around the world. This decision will benefit the organisers of events by
reducing the costs for special facilities for these boats and race officials. At the same time theslate of ten events now approved by the ISAF Council enables MNAs to send their whole
Olympic team in one 40 foot. container, which also makes considerable cost savings from alogistical point of view.
Before going shopping we usually count our money and we buy what we can afford to pay. Thiswas the situation on the last day of the ISAF Council Meeting on 7 May 2011, when the mostimportant decision was to be made. There was a huge consensus in the meeting room on whatshould be the slate for the 2016 Olympic Competition and after considerable comment aroundthe ISAF Council table, Submission M20-11 was moved, seconded, voted and passed.
The International 470 Class had chosen to adopt a strategy of fair play and integrity and tosupport a slate of ten events which in our view best represents the interests of the worldwide
sailing community.
The International Sailing Federation clearly supported this view by confirming the same slate often events for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition, including the 470 Class as the equipment
for the two-person dinghy men and two-person dinghy women.
You could say we adopted the “sniper strategy” – keep quiet, aim precisely and shoot right in theheart. We shot only 3 bullets:
1. “Creating the current” - we organized 39 submissions that supported two 470 events –men and women and the support from those MNAs and their ISAF Council Delegates
which facilitated “Creating the current”.
2. Passed the slate at the ISAF Events Committee meeting.
3. Passed the slate at the ISAF Council meeting.
Several of the Olympic Classes worked together on this slate, again acting in what they eachbelieved to be in the best interests of the long term vision for sailing and supporting the criticalpathway from youth to Olympic sailing.
The people behind the success:Luissa Smith – our Class Manager. Luissa is the best investment that the 470 class has made in
the recent years. A hard and passionate worker who is devoted to the ideas that she believes inand an expert in PR, media and development, with an excellent knowledge of ISAF and a huge
network of contacts in the sailing community. Without her it would be impossible to achieve ourgoals.

www.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org

Victor Kovalenko – the “Godfather” of the ten event slate that has now been approved by
ISAF – and the best person to provide his expert opinion; a wise adviser and inspirer.
Heinz Staudt (and Linda) – our President of Honour – a wise adviser and a great supporter inmany Olympic campaigns. Heinz and Linda personally attended the 2011 ISAF Mid-Year
Meeting in St Petersburg, Russia and supported the class and I believe that they indeed enjoyed
our success there.
Nino Shmueli – our First Vice-President. Nino has always been next to me advising on ourmoves and supporting all of our actions. Also holding the role of President of the International
420 Class Association, Nino (and his team – Jose, Pedro, Catherine and Dimitris) is committed tosecuring the integrity between the two classes and facilitates the common strategy for developing
two-person dinghy spinnaker sailing through the 420 to 470 pathway.
Dimitris Dimou – our Secretary General and Technical Committee Chairman - the perfect man
for the technical issues and a good adviser for making the hard decisions.
Malcolm Page – our 470 Star, Olympic gold medallist and 5 times World Champion – a hard
worker and determined supporter of our campaign.
Hirobumi Kawano – President of the Japan Sailing Federation and Chako Tobari – theJapanese power in our team. Despite the hard times since the earthquake, the Japan SailingFederation was strongly represented in St. Petersburg to defend the class and secure its future
development in their country and the Asian continent.
Kevin Burnham – our 470 Star, Olympic gold and silver medallist – the expert behind thepreparation of the submissions and determined supporter of our campaign.
Dave MacKay, Paolo Portiglia (Nautivela), Slawomir Baranowsky and Lukas Formella(Blue Blue) – our main boat builders, who have always responded to the needs of the sailors
and the International 470 Class Association.
Martin Steiger – our Treasurer, who always keeps a good eye on our accounts and on themoney we spend and how we spend it to benefit the class and sailors.
Iulia Negoescu and Fernanda Sesto – long time 470 sailors who are both members of ourManagement Committee and the team who administrate the 470 Development Programmes andClinics.
Alain Corcuff – our ex Secretary General, currently Management Committee member –although we have had disagreements, I believe that everyone is happy and satisfied with the resultthat we have achieved. Alain is now the person in charge with the preparation and organizationwww.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org

of the 50th Years Anniversary of the 470 Class in 2013 and I believe that this will be awonderful and memorable event in the life of our class.
It has been a privilege for me as a President to manage this team and to be on the helm of the470 class in the last two and a half years and throughout the campaign for the 2016 Olympic
Games.
I strongly believe that we demonstrated to the sailing community our leadership and integrity
alongside the worldwide strength and support of the 470 class - the Olympic Class which
deserves to be at the leading edge of Olympic sailing in the 2016 Olympic Games and beyond.

470 FOREVER!

Yours

Stanislav Kassarov
PresidentInternational 470 Class Associationwww.470.org

Registered Address : 135 Montee du Cantin, 69270 Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France
office@470.org