The Europeans and World Championships of the Nacra 17, in 2017, will effectively be closed regattas due to availability of equipment. This post delves into the long-term effects of this unfairness in attempt to communicate its effect on the fleet in the next four years. Each closed regatta or series will be covered, and the effect outlined as best as can be predicted.
Sailing World Cup 2018
For the Nacra 17 this series will only consist of 2 regattas and the finals, since we expect the Japanese event in October 2017 to be cancelled. Series invitations are being sent out from the World Sailing office based on the rankings as of May 1, 2017. Since there are no regattas using foiling equipment impacting on these invitations, we can deem the 2018 World Cup to be unaffected by the distribution of foiling equipment.
Aarhus Worlds 2018
There are 80 berths for the 2018 Worlds, and the invitation protocol has already been announced. The procedure leans heavily on the 2017 Worlds, and therefore the lack of equipment availability will have an impact.
- There has never been a Nacra 17 regatta with more than 63 boats. Therefore, it goes to logic than with a quota of 80 boat in Aarhus there is a high probability of everyone that wants to compete being able to compete regardless of what the invitation protocol is.
- Having said the above, if the quota of 80 boats is tested, the part of the invitation protocol that will be in play is section 2.4 stating the order of invitations to be:
- “MNAs that have no entries and may have missed the deadlines above.
- MNAs that only have one entry in an event may be awarded a second entry.
- Emerging MNAs or special circumstances.
- MNA’s that have a fifth or sixth entrant in the top 100 of the ranking available 15 December 2017.”
… going on to say in section 2.5
“2.5 Entries for places available after 15 March 2018 will be first come, first served”
Ultimately, the Aarhus regatta is likely to be open to all, but if it isn’t, the limitations that are in play are based on participation by MNA (points, a, b, c, and d, above). After that it is first come, first served, and therefore not too biased by the 2017 Worlds being a closed event. As was going to be the case in any circumstance, the teams most likely to miss the quota are teams from nations that already have 6 boats entered into the regatta.
2019 World Series
Note, the first event of this world cup is likely to be in October 2018, and will likely be a high demand regatta due to being in the Olympic venue. Therefore, it is critical that we evaluate the impact of the 2017 Worlds on the 2019 World Series
a) 60% of the places for the World Cup will be awarded, 1 year from now, following Hyeres, based on the rankings. For new teams to the Nacra 17, given that the highest scoring regattas in the rankings include the 2 previous worlds and World Series Regattas, it is virtually impossible to qualify for these spots for teams not competing at Worlds 2017 (and 2016).
b) The remaining 40% of places will be awarded at the ‘Sail in Regattas’ of Palma and Delta Lloyd Regatta, 2018. The plan, yet unpublished nor agreed to, is to have the top 6 teams from Palma not earning spots via ranking and the top 6 teams not yet earning spots via ranking at Delta Lloyd Regatta, to earn automatic entry to the World Series in 2019. Therefore, teams who are not able to race at Worlds 2017, must plan on attending and placing well at one of these two regattas in 2018 if they hope to qualify.
2020 World Series
Note, the first event of this world cup is likely to be August or September 2019, and will likely be a high demand regatta due to being in the Olympic venue and back to back with the test event. Therefore, it is critical that we evaluate the impact of the 2017 Worlds
a) 60% of the places for the World Cup will be awarded, 2 years from now, in May 2019, based on the rankings. For new teams to the Nacra 17, given that the rankings include the 2 previous worlds and World Cups, it will be very difficult to qualify for these spots for teams not competing at Worlds 2017. Certainly, if a team didn’t compete at the 2017 Worlds nor the 2018 World Series, then it is virtually impossible to qualifying via the World Ranking.
b) The remaining 40% of places will be awarded at the ‘Sail in Regattas’ of Palma and Delta Lloyd Regattas, 2019. The plan, yet unpublished nor agreed to, is to have the top 6 teams from Palma not earning spots via ranking and the top 6 teams from Delta Lloyd Regatta not yet earning spots via ranking, to earn automatic entry to the World Series 2020. Therefore, teams who are not able to race at Worlds 2017, should plan on attending and placing well at one of these two regattas in 2018 if they hope to qualify.
2020 Olympics
The plan for Olympic qualification, not yet published nor agreed to, is likely to be based in a similar manner to how the 2016 Qualification went.
- 40% from Aarhus 2018. We have established previously above, that every team should have a chance to participate if they wish
- Roughly 30% from class Worlds 2019. This will be an open participation regatta, so all teams should be able to attend if they wish
- Roughly 30% via continental qualification, yet to be determined, but there is a commitment for all regattas to be open entry
Therefore, Olympic qualification should not be impacted by Worlds 2017 in a direct manner.
