Frederik @ ISAF conference in Portugal

Crown Prince Frederik is currently in Portugal at the International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) annual conference, being held this year in Estoril in Portugal (he will be there 5-8 November). Frederik is a member of the Events Committee, which decides on policies and implementation of policies for all ISAF calendar events worldwide, and also major international events, team racing, the youth championships and rules determining rankings. The Events Committee also decides on the nature of competition and the rules for the Olympic Games and will be deciding and recommending which classes of sailing (ie: which boats) will be participating in the Beijing Olympics and what the courses will be.

This year is the centenary year for the ISAF, the world governing body for international sailing having been founded in 1907. The centenary will be celebrated during the annual conference, following micro, national and international events among national sailing bodies and clubs during the past year. On Monday November 5, the ISAF Hall of Fame will be inaugurated at a gala dinner and the Sailor of the Year will be named on November 6.

So far there have already been three days of conference deliberations, including the announcement of Perth, Australia as the host site of the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships. The four yearly championships precede the next Olympic Games and the Perth championships will be the sailing qualifiers for the 2012 games.

There will be 221 submissions discussed during the 10 day conference with each one focused on some change or another to policy and rules. A hot topic will be the selection of the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, because the sport has to reduce from eleven to ten Olympic medal events. There will be some other hot organisational topics for the sport (eg: changing the ISAF Sailing World Championships from every four years to every two years, the future of the ISAF World Cup, racing rules, etc.) and the big issue of gender representation across all ISAF committees and the ISAF Council.

Estoril
Lisbon coast: Estoril
ISAF member nations
Day two at the ISAF conference
Day three at the ISAF conference (including plans to increase focus on women's sailing, with numerous submissions on this subject from Denmark, and preparations for the Youth World Championships for the next 3 years. Denmark will host the 2008 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships)
ISAF Hall of Fame 2007 (an extra royal connection here: the Honorary Chairman for the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame is Frederik's uncle HM King Constantine, who is also an ISAF President of Honour)
Nominees for World Sailor of the Year
Added: ISAF Council Decide Ten Sailing Events For 2012 Olympic Games
Hall of Fame photo gallery and photo gallery 2 - both with pic of King Constantine
Sailing's most prestigious award World Sailor of the Year 2007
Photo gallery - awards night, includes pics of King Harald and King Constantine