July and August saw Aarhus, Denmark, hosting the Hempel Sailing World Championships for all 10 Olympic sailing classes plus Men’s and Women’s Kiteboarding. It was one of the largest sporting events ever to take place in Denmark.

We had the pleasure of welcoming 84 sailing countries and 1,247 sailors over 14 days of competition, as well as over 400,000 visitors, with some of our greatest sports personalities and heroes in attendance.

This event was the largest, most successful and sustainable Sailing World Championships in history. Sportcal were commissioned to produce a Global Sports Impact Report which detailed analysis across eight pillars of impact, of which sustainability was a key element. For example, 5 tonnes of food was converted into 7.5 tonnes of biogas and 52% of all waste from the event was recycled. All trams and buses were free for athletes, spectators and officials during the Championships.

Worldwide, 75 broadcasters showed live, delayed or highlights coverage of the event in 198 nations and territories. A unique audience of 15.67 million watched more than 7.55 million hours of television coverage worldwide. In Denmark alone, 30 hours of the event were broadcast live on the domestic broadcaster, DR.

September also saw the very impressive World Cup Series Round and the first test event for the Tokyo 2020 Games in Enoshima, Japan. There were 35 Olympic medalists and numerous World Champions, with 466 sailors from 44 nations competing and familiarising themselves with the waters of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing venue. I know this will be a great venue for the Hempel World Cup Series and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games!

The Para World Sailing Championships took place in September last year in the US – the pinnacle event of Para Sailing. Despite Sailing not being included in the 2024 Paralympic Games, the efforts made to develop and excel this hugely important area of our sport have been successful although our Para Sailors missing the opportunity to compete in Paris is a disappointment. Para sailing has developed positively, despite losing major national funding by no longer being a Paralympic sport. Let’s continue the development and support for Para sailing and have a constructive dialogue to secure the backing of the IPC. The numbers speak for themselves: in 2016, 88 participants and 23 nations took part, in 2017 this was 78 participants and 37 nations, and in 2018 the figures were 98 participants and 39 nations. I’d like to encourage all MNAs to get behind Para Sailing in your individual countries and come along and support the Para World Sailing championships.  The 2019 edition takes place in Puerto Sherry, Spain in July.

We also have of course our World Sailing Special Events, which means that World Sailing, as the world governing body, formally recognises and sanctions a particular event. Throughout 2018 we had several exciting events held around the world including the culmination of the Volvo Ocean Race last summer with the Dongfeng Race Team winning, and the World Match Racing Tour featuring the leading match racing events around the globe. Then in December we saw the Finals of the Star Sailors League take place. In the high-octane Extreme Sailing Series, and for the fourth time in their eight-year history of competing, Swiss team Alinghi took the championship title after an amazing final in Mexico.

For 2019, we have the new SailGP Series, a thrilling new fan-centric grand prix racing circuit. The F50 equipment are high-tech Wingsail Catamarans using the latest technology, allowing world class sailors to compete in a series of events, which creates a career path for our athletes. The series will be kicking off in February in Sydney and then continuing on to San Francisco, New York, Cowes and Marseille.

eSailing: This innovative discipline was introduced at the beginning of 2018 and was officially launched in our Mid-Year Meeting. Since its introduction, 169,000 distinct players competed in the 2018 eSailing World Championships, with 16,000 registered in 74 countries, and 1,000 players invited to the PlayOffs and 8 live finalists in Sarasota, Florida.

The eSailing platform provides an excellent way for us to provide a sailing simulation platform that is attractive both to Sailors and non-Sailors. In the future, just imagine being able to compete virtually with the heroes of our sport, as the competition is on!

World Sailing introduced a new format to the annual awards at the conference in Sarasota, Florida in late October, with four new awards given out including: the eSailing World Championship, World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award, Team of the Year and the Boat of the Year.

The awards were a huge success and the innovative new format was a big hit with attendees.