Left: Gerardo Seeliger racing at the 2019 Finn World Masters in Skovshoved in Denmark where he finished a far from disgraceful 138th overall in an entry of 241 boats – and seventh in the Legends category for sailors over 70 (a 24th in race one was impressive.) But in spite of his allegiance to the Finn Seeliger is increasingly enthusiastic about its two-handed offshore Olympic replacement. Above: today’s outstanding grand prix success story, the TP52 Super Series has survived some very testing times and continues to thrive at the top of the sport. Yet the involvement of World Sailing does not currently extend beyond being notified of the dates
Only about 60 countries attended the Bermuda meeting. It will therefore be an election with much greater participation. Covid has also meant another change in
that we have not been able to travel, and this has prevented Kim Andersen (current president) from spending World Sailing money to travel and boost his own cam- paign. I had a modest ⇔50,000 budget to travel and make presentations at regional meetings, all of which have been cancelled! SH: If you are elected president how would you feel working with seven vice presidents not all of them in your camp? GS: I am optimistic, because a person who has been elected vice-president already has support that deserves to be respected. But for me the important thing is that they are not weak, that they are strong, that they no longer say yes to everything and look the other way when the president acts… A vice-president does not have to be
honorary, it has to be an involved person who works hard. I fully share some words from Martin Luther King when he said, ‘I am not concerned with the cry of the violent, the corrupt, the dishonest, the unethical. What worries me most is the silence of the good. We are not only responsible for what we do but also for what we do not do, for what we do not defend and for what we keep silent about.’ So I would like vice-presidents with a lot
of personality and a lot of knowledge, but who are gentlemen and behave intelli- gently so we get the most out of everyone. The current board had very good people
but they were never motivated and simply kept quiet. There are today three serious complaints before the World Sailing Ethics Committee, and deep down all should be responsible due to their collective fiduciary responsibility. The question is what they knew and when they first knew it. The signatures of vice-presidents have
been forged (sic). Four votes were later changed in a vote to confirm the new Olympic classes. And there is another serious dispute relating to contracts with an outside company. I would like to work with a unified but diverse board, with skills that complement each other. And when we debate I want opposition, I do not want docile and servile yes-men. SH: So an outline economic plan… GS: Immediately we have to halve our operating costs – first chopping away all of the costs we incurred through vanity. The change of offices is one of the urgent
matters that I want to solve. The current headquarters in London are an absolutely excessive cost that we simply cannot main- tain. We must start to quickly implement teleworking to simplify our facilities and help cut overheads. Many of the MNAs are also very critical of this. It seems to me that
that was an irresponsible financial commit- ment, again driven by vanity. The Bermuda meeting is another example, the cost was enormous. Only 60 countries were able to attend. Switzerland, the richest country in Europe, did not attend as its president considered it a complete waste of money. You have to work hard so the percent-
age of budget that reaches the athlete is the maximum possible. In Spain, for example, a foundation can only allocate 15 per cent of its budget to management, otherwise it loses its tax benefits and government aid. But we have to fight for it, each first-class ticket or luxury hotel room is money taken from the sailor. My motto is Sailors First. SH: Can the AGM be run remotely too? GS: It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. We should just look for less exotic and cheaper places to meet! But it is important that people can meet personally, since per- sonal contact favours the exchange of ideas, trust, spontaneity and more meaningful rela- tionships. However, the congress does not have to last nine days as it does now, it can easily be reduced to three with many of the meetings being held online beforehand. And if we don’t do that someone will
demand it of us, be it the IOC or potential sponsors. We must start to learn from other federations of summer Olympic sports – many of them have successfully changed to meet the new environment.
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NICO MARTINEZ
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