World Sailing introduces measures to deal with the effects of COVID-19 In the context of the escalation and unprecedented development of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, World Sailing President, Kim Andersen, has been conducting a series of Townhall meetings for World Sailing Member National Authority Presidents, Council members, Committee Chairs and Olympic Classes. The purpose of these meetings has been to share information about ongoing measures being taken by World Sailing to deal with the crisis and to promote dialogue on other initiatives World Sailing can adopt to ease the sporting and financial consequences of the pandemic for World Sailing and the sailing community. A series of financial and operational measures have already been put in place to manage the situation. Additionally, in collaboration with the Medical Commission clear guidelines regarding health and safety information and recommendations on COVID-19 have been issued. A message from World Sailing President, Kim Andersen: Sailing is at a halt worldwide. We are now realizing the magnitude of COVID-19 and the challenges ahead of us to rebuild sailing activities and events around the world. The international calendar of events has been cleared until the middle of the year and we are now actively monitoring the events in the second half including World Sailing’s Offshore Sailing World Championship, set to be held as part of Malta’s Rolex Middle Sea Race in October, and the Youth Sailing World Championships in Brazil in December 2020. As we talk to organisers and Class Associations it seems that if and when national restrictions are lifted we should initially aim to focus our efforts on supporting regional, national and local sailing activities. At this point, holding Continental events before 2021 is challenging and we need to monitor the situation to see if they can be held later this year. For 2021 we are in dialog with the Olympic Class Associations regarding the hosting of their major championships and the remaining Olympic qualifications events to allocate the remaining 15% of quota places. I would like for all MNAs, Event Organising Authorities and Classes to carefully study the “Corona Virus (COVID-19) Guidance for Event Organizers for the Protection of the Health of Sailing Communities”. Following advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Olympic Committee (IOC), the document will support all of the sailing community to safely deliver the sport we love in the future. COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on the activity level worldwide weighs heavily on World Sailing’s finances The effect of having to cancel events is hitting event organisers hard. A considerable number of events have already been cancelled and we will see further cancelations going into the second half of 2020. These cancelations will have a financial impact on all our stakeholders and will have consequences for World Sailing’s finances. The Olympic Games is a major part of World Sailing’s income for a quadrennial. With the postponement of Tokyo 2020, the delay in receiving that income is causing a financial challenge for our Federation. As a result, we need to bridge the lack of income from activities and the postponement of Olympic revenue until September 2021. We are putting a plan in place to enable us to manage within our means until September 2021. We are evaluating this plan on an ongoing basis. We are in regular contact with the IOC and they are examining our financial situation to see what interim support may be provided. To operate and deal with the situation at hand the Board of Directors delegated the task of dealing with the various financial challenges which have resulted from the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting postponement of Tokyo 2020 to Scott Perry, Kim Andersen, Yann Rocherieux and Jan Dawson. The taskforce have been and will continue to report regularly to the full Board on progress made. First steps in a necessary cost-saving plan There is no clear view of when the crisis will end. World Sailing has modelled several scenarios of the impact of current events on its finances. The taskforce has approved a cost-saving plan with the following principal points: • Furlough leave – From 15 April 2020 until 6 May 2020, almost all of World Sailing’s staff are on ‘furlough leave’, a UK Government financial support scheme. After 6 May, the Board will review the position with the Senior Management Team and decide whether furlough leave is extended or whether staff will return to work; • The Senior Management Team and staff earning more than a certain amount have agreed to accept a 20% pay reduction requested by the Board until the end of the year (or earlier if possible); • A total revision of planned projects and objectives that had been fixed for 2020 and following years, and those in progress; • Examination of contracts of service providers at events, consultants and general providers; • Evaluating the cancelation of lease agreements and obtaining rent relief. The international sporting community and World Sailing is going through an unprecedented crisis never seen or experienced before. COVID-19 is hitting athletes, teams, organisers, partners, industry, stakeholders in general and all our clubs, people in our organizations and volunteers, contributing to our sport. The situation calls for rallying all of our resources, increased solidarity, determination to plan and preparation to recover our great sport of sailing from this health crisis. We have taken bold and radical steps to be safe and plan ahead for weathering the storm. Decisions have been made under difficult circumstances, but they are necessary to “Re Open Sailing” once the crisis subsides. Kim Andersen President World Sailing .