La Federación Argentina de Yachting presentó una declaración dirigida a Kim Andersen, Presidente de la World Sailing, sobre ciertos aspectos actuales que afectan a varias clases náuticas.
Buenos Aires, November 02nd, 2018
Dear Mr. Kim Andersen,
Due to some comments received and the note published by WS, answering an email sent by the representative of Group M in the Council, we consider it important to express the following thoughts:
• The important decisions that we must take, along with their possible legal implications, oblige us to be properly advised from the sports and legal points of view.
• We don’t know why, but it seems that there are other «reserved» legal reports that are different from the one requested by Mr. Vice President Scott Perry. If that is the case, those reports have not been made available to the members of our organization. Therefore, we request that a copy of these legal reports is distributed to all the MNA’s.
• The problem of monopoly is negatively impacting the world of sailing. The development of our sport and our athletes is suffering serious harm from this cause.
• Four Argentine athletes have obtained Olympic Gold medals in the Nacra 17 and the Nacra 15 classes. However, the situation of monopoly generates serious problems related to the costs and the provision of material and prevents us from gaining a critical mass of competitors at local and regional level. It is not necessary to attach the testimonies of our athletes, some of them already has shared their thoughts to some members of the Board.
• As far as the laser class is concerned, the situation worsens day by day. A policy of low stock and the unjustified veto for boatyards to build boats in our region has tripled the cost of the Laser, compared to similar boats.
• The uncertainty created around the selection of equipment and events for the Olympic Games of 2024, has frozen the work that this Federation was doing to guide youths towards high Olympic performance.
• There are no statistics showing the development of our sport in each continent. This is important to understand to what extent the continents would be represented at the Olympic Games of 2024. We need to work at the base of the pyramid.
• All the MNA’s need to know all the information about the existing procedures in the Italian and European anti-trust commissions. It is said that the Italian commission closed the investigation understanding that there was merit on it, and that it was sent to the European Commission for its greater scope of jurisdiction. The European Commission continues with the investigation, but the possible negative consequences are not yet known.
• It is for these and other reasons, that for the sake of brevity we do not mention, that we consider it necessary to share all the needed information. Only through dialogue we will find a solution to the current crisis. We need to establish a clear antitrust policy, which would allow us to expand the base of sailors, allow the participation of properly trained athletes from all continents in WS events,decrease the campaigns’ costs, and provide predictability to every member of our organization and its athletes.
