Dear 49er Sailors,
We are looking for 2 volunteers to represent the 49er and 49erFX at the Athletes Commision. This is actually a very high profile group within ISAF and the ability to interact with smart and interesting people with the goal of pushing sailing forward is available.
Peter Kruger Andersson has been our representative since the Commission started, but is forced to resign now that he is a VP of the class. Please speak with him, Ben, or Marcus if you have questions about the role and let us know if you are interested in representing the class.
Here are Peters comments on the positions: ”
The work in the Athletes Commission is based on one annual meeting, some conference calls and sometimes we meet at regattas if possible. Usually we try to divide the different topics between each member. Every member then becomes responsible for a certain topic and works towards improving this and give feedback to the group. I was responsible for ISAF event, mainly trying to implement the World Cup. As a result I was a member of the ISAF World Cup working forum and did some conference calls, commented on some papers etc.
The role of the Athletes Commission is firstly to be the sailors voice. To make sure the sailors are heard on various topics decided by ISAF. This goes from the organization of major ISAF events like the olympics, the ISAF worlds and the ISAF Sailing World Cup to commenting on submissions made on the ISAF meetings. Secondly the Athletes Commission is working on improving the decision making process within ISAF. The aim is to give more power to the sailors and the people affected by the decisions, and make the whole process more democratic and open.
The work in the AC can be interesting and you will actually experience that people listen to the sailors.
The biggest challenge and frustration for the Athletes Commission is the fact that the AC are not really able to discuss or have an opinion about class specific decisions, because every member of the commission are disqualified to have an objective opinion in this matter. “
