Eligibility

To be eligible for selection to compete in this event each Sailor must:

• Be a South African citizen at the time that the nomination is made (proof required).
• Have a valid South African passport at the time of entering the event and have a valid South African ID document to be presented at the beginning of the selection event (proof required).
• Be a current member of a yacht/sailing club affiliated and in good standing with South African Sailing (proof required).
• Be a paid-up member of South African Sailing with a valid South African Sailing membership number (proof required).
• Be under the age of 19 years on 31 December of the year of the event. / Meet the age requirements as is specified as per the Notice of Race published for each event.
• Be registered as a “World Sailing Sailor” on the World Sailing website.
• Comply with World Sailing regulation 19 – eligibility code.
• Comply with World Sailing regulation 21 – World Sailing Anti-Doping policy.
• Comply with the gender requirement of the event and class for which they are nominated. In the case of Mixed, male or female sailors are eligible.
• In the case of the Nacra 15, have a combined crew weight within the range 115 – 125kg; and
• Must not have represented another country at any Class Nationals (or higher level of competition) within 3 years prior to this event.

Selection

At the end of the Selection Window (defined below), Eligible Sailors/Teams who have competed in the Selection Events will be ranked according to the Youth Worlds Squad Ranking (defined below) for each class. The SA Sailing Selection Panel will use this ranking to select (at its discretion) the Sailors in the final SA Sailing Youth Sailing Team for the upcoming Youth Worlds regatta.

Even though the Youth Worlds Squad Ranking will be the main factor considered in the Selection Process, the SA Sailing Selection Panel may exercise its discretion in the case of extraordinary circumstances, or inappropriate conduct of the sailors either on or off the water.

Selection Events

All Selection Events must be sailed in the equipment in which an application is made. The exception to this is that the Hobie 16 will apply in the case of the Multihull entry. xx

For all classes listed above, the following regattas must be included in the Selection Events:

• Open Class National Championship within the Selection Window
• PLUS, Youth National Championships within the Selection Window (for classes that hold Youth Nationals regattas)
  • OR, One other suitable regatta, nominated by the relevant class, and which must take place within the Selection Window. This regatta must be nominated in line with the SA Sailing Event Regulations Policy timelines.

Where class(es) that do not partake in Youth Nationals and do not nominate “one other suitable regatta”, the Open Class Nationals will be the only Selection Event regatta.

If any of the above regattas is a “non-event”, as defined in the Notice of Race for that event, the remaining event will be the sole Selection Event for that class.

In special instances where none of the three regattas take place within the Selection Window, consideration will be given based on motivation submitted which must note:

• • Previous results,
  • Details of current training programs, and
  • perceived future potential at Youth World Championship events.

Additional requirements for the Multihull Class:

• Participation at a Nacra 15 event preferred.

Selection Window

Youth Worlds held in July:

• 1 Jan To 31 Dec of the year prior to the Youth Worlds.
• Class selection event(s) confirmed annually before the selection window start (i.e. by 1 Jan of the year prior to the Youth Worlds)

Youth Worlds held in December:

• 1 Jul of the year prior to the Youth Worlds to 30 Jun of the year of the Youth Worlds.
• Class selection event(s) confirmed annually before the selection window start (i.e. by 1 Jul of the year prior to the Youth Worlds).

Youth Worlds Squad Ranking

The Youth Worlds Squad Ranking will be based on results at the Selection event regattas, in order to determine the top ranked Sailor/Team for each of the Youth Worlds classes:

• Sailors/Teams will be assigned points for each Selection Event regatta based on a High Point Scoring system. Points will be applied to the final results of the regatta; such that a Sailor who wins a regatta with 25 youth boats will receive a regatta score of 25 points.
• The overall squad ranking will be calculated by summing each eligible Sailors regatta scores. The Sailor/team with the highest score will be ranked as the first team.
• Final positions in each Selection Event will be calculated by excluding non-youth competitors from the results.
• For the ILCA class, if a selection event is held offshore, the high points ranking scores will be increased by 25% e.g. 1st place in an event with 25 youth competitors would score 25 points for an inland venue but 25 x 125% = 31.25 points for an offshore venue.
• In the event of an Sailor/Team/ not attending a Selection event, a DNC will be recorded, and zero points will be allocated for that event to that Sailor/Team.
• In the event of a points tie breaker on the Squad Ranking table, the tie breaker will be broken by applying the Racing Rules of Sailing tie breaker stipulation (RRS A8) to the Squad Ranking table.

In the case of 420, Multihull and 29er Teams, if the Team breaks up during the Selection Window and the team members wish to continue separately, then a special application will need to be made to the SA Sailing Selection Panel for consideration of a new team combination. The decision on whether or not to consider the new team combination for a position in the SA Sailing Youth Worlds team, is entirely at the discretion of the South African Sailing Selection Panel. Should the panel agree to consider the new team combination, the new team combination will be scored as follows for their Youth Worlds Squad ranking:

• For regattas (within the Selection Window) after the recombination, the new team receives points for the regatta as described in the Youth Worlds Squad Ranking section above.
• For any regatta (within the Selection Window) before the recombination: the new team is re-scored for that event such that their score is the average of their individual previous scores (e.g. team mate 1 won the regatta and earned 10 points; team mate 2 came 3^rd in the regatta and earned 8 points; the new team combination is assigned a score of (10+8)/2 = 9 points.

Further Requirements

The selection of SA Sailing Youth Worlds Team for the Youth Worlds will be subject to:

• Each Parent or Guardian of Sailors completing and signing an agreement with SA Sailing prior to final selection. This agreement must be co-signed by the Sailor.
• A full commitment by Sailors/Teams to all team training requirements and an ongoing monitoring of personal competition and training programmes by the SA Sailing High Performance Working Group.
• It is expected that the selected Sailors/Teams will compete in their relevant Class National Championships prior to the Youth Worlds.

SA Sailing reserves the right not to select a Sailor/Team in an event for whatever reason. Any decision on the non-selection of Sailors/Teams will be made at the sole discretion of the SA Sailing Selection Panel.

SA Sailing are aligning to the SASCOC requirements and striving to achieve a 50/50 gender and 50/50 racial team representation.

The SA Sailing Council will confirm selection of Team South Africa for the Youth Worlds as soon as reasonably possible after the selection window has closed. SA Sailing agrees to provide a team manager and/or team coach for the Team at the discretion of the SA Sailing Council.

Funding

Sa Sailing will pay each team’s entry fee (including entry fee and organizer provided meals during the event) on the following basis (per team, final placement in its fleet at Youth Sailing Worlds):

• On or above top 20% – 100% entry fee covered.
• Below the top 20% but on or above the top 30% – 75% entry fee covered.
• Below top 30% but on or above top 40% – 50% entry fee covered.
• Below the top 40% – 0% entry fee is covered.

All entry fees must be paid up front by the Sailors/Teams, at the requested times, and will be reimbursed by SA Sailing following the completion of the event, based on their performance in accordance with the schedule above.

Costs (travel expenses, entry and meals) for the coach and / or manager will be added to the total cost and

divided equally amongst all the sailors.

The competitors will be responsible for all expenses not covered by SA Sailing above and will be required to contribute to team expenses.

Medical Agreement

All selected Sailors must adhere to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) www.wada-ama.org regulations. If any sailor is on medication that includes, or may include, any banned substances, it is his/her responsibility to acquire a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) certificate from a registered medical doctor. (Kindly note that TUE applications need to be done at least 30 days prior to the event.)

If any selected Sailor is in contravention of the anti-doping regulations, he/she will be excluded from the squad with immediate effect and a replacement may be selected. For any questions regarding medical requirements contact Lucy de Freitas on lucydf@sailing.org.za

If a selected Sailor suffers illness or injury, he/she may be required to undertake a medical assessment by a SA Sailing approved medical advisor. The Sailor may be removed from the team in the event the medical advisor makes such a recommendation.

All selected Sailors are required to complete a medical form and submit it to SA Sailing prior to departure for the Youth Worlds.

All team representatives are expected to adhere to all COVID-19/Health and Safety protocols in place by SA Sailing, event organisers and SA Sailing recognised affiliated institutions where training or events may take place at any given and under the regulations and its directions as they apply at that times.

Replacements

In the event of a replacement helm, crew or both being required for any reason, the replacement(s) will be selected at the discretion of the SA Sailing Selection Panel. Having said that, in the case of a two-person team, the remaining team member may submit a motivation to the SA Sailing Selection Panel for the consideration of an appropriate Replacement.

Deviations

In the event of a Sailor/Team needing to deviate from the above laid out selection criteria, due to illness and/or for the attendance of a relevant international event, the Sailor/Team must submit a formal request in writing via lucydf@sailing.org.za - “Att: SA Sailing HP working group”, with the reasons for not being able to attend and thus comply with the above laid out criteria. Any such request will be evaluated by the SA Sailing HP Working group at the time and taken into account in the final team selection.

SA Sailing HP Working Group reserves the right to amend these selection criteria for 2024 as it continues to work towards strengthening the SA Sailing squad system and will as much as possible provide adequate notice of any such changes should the necessity arise to apply any changes. Wherever possible such changes will be avoided or kept to a minimum.

Disputes

Where there is a conflict or dispute in respect of this selection criterion, SA Sailing reserves the right to interpret this document and to use its sole discretion in resolving the matter in conflict or dispute.

• No legal action may be taken arising from a decision made by the South African Sailing Selection Panel.
• Any appeal relating to the selection process will be conducted in accordance with the SA Sailing Appeals Policy available.

Channel of Communication

All correspondence should be directed to lucydf@sailing.org.za - Att: SA Sailing HP Working Group. SA Sailing will, when appropriate, post further information regarding selection of the SA Youth Worlds team on the SA Sailing Facebook page: /sailing.org.za

SA Sailing Performance and Training Work Group

2024-05-21 Appoved revision for Youth Worlds .