So many dreams crushed, jobs destroyed and years of training put to waste.. A sport that is growing more than ever whilst being a true Olympic discipline, requiring physical fitness, tactics and dedication, crushed by a a seemingly so ill-informed council. Have they thought of the industry? The people who spend thousands upon thousands on the kit they chose to impose as a one design class?

Sign the petition and appeal against the controversial (let alone awful) decision made by ISAF to replace windsurfing with kitesurfing at the Olympics..

Whilst the logic behind competitive kitesurfing is leaving a lot of people confused, there is no reason why we cannot have both Windsurfing and Kitesurfing as Olympic classes. If they want to cut disciplines, at least let it be even and justified throughout the sports.

Information about the decision can be found here http://www.sailing.org/38281.php

Join the facebook movement https://www.facebook.com/votewindsurfing

 **if your are an isaf member please include your  ISAF ID before your first name**

Its not too late, if it comes to that, a 3/4 majority to reopen the matter followed by a straight majority at the ISAF annual meeting  in november can overrule this decision - keep signing and get our opinion heard.

Our next step is to contact the various medias - if you know someone who works for a newspaper blog or news website, local or national, push them to write a story about our movement. The more coverage- the more weight our voice will have.

 

Finally, if you are looking for your next step: send emails - contact people here:

http://www.sailing.org/contactisaf.php

 email: pressoffice@olympic.org

 https://secure.registration.olympic.org/en/faq/ask-question

 

Points Raised as the campaign progresses:

1. This does not affect just the olympic classes (which some people may consider elitist) - the entire windsurfing infrastructure will be irreversibly damaged. All of Team15 and youth fleets are funded by national funding which will disappear as a result of this decision.

2. The argument that Kitesurfing is more accessible is basically void, as olympic equipment will undoubtedly be overpriced, let alone the fact it has been banned at many inland waters in the UK and still considered too dangerous by many.

3. ISAF have taken the 10 sailing disciplines available at the Olympics and distributed them with total disregard for variety with 7 dinghy, 2 Kiteboard and 1 mixed multihull, forgetting Windsurfing and many more important sailing disciplines.

4. Kiteboarding racing is still in it's infancy. A major part of the olympic games is image - what would the consequences of a major accident be? There is no time proven safety / rescue system in place for kitesurfers, let alone an organised national race series in most countries as there is for windsurfing. By all means run a trial event but do not replace a time proven sport with a one event wonder (or failure)