ISAF

Whilst the top dinghy sailors in the world are competing in the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth, young kids are learning the ropes in Portland Harbour care of the Sail Laser Sailing School based at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.

The success of almost any major sports event is now dependent on the volunteers and their connection with the event. The final regatta of the 2009/10 ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth has attracted a record fleet of nearly 700 boats and requires a large team to manage them. At this years regatta there are around 350 volunteers.

Xerxes Avari and Megboob Rafiq are two sailors from Pakistan who fell victim to the blustery weather conditions on day two of the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth, the final leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup.

It was a day when the trapdoor opened - we're at the end of the opening rounds of Skandia Sail for Gold 2010. The Gold fleets will be separated out tonight, and tomorrow we get down to the business end of the regatta.

ISAF Training Partner, Rockley International, has been working in partnership with the Bermudan Sailing Association (BSA) and the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) to deliver a series of 'Learn to Sail' Instructor courses and with the Icelandic Sailing Association in Reykjavik to work with Coaches and Instructors on a schools sailing camp.

This Saturday, 14 August 2010, some 3,600 talented young athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 from around the world will be eagerly awaiting the start of the opening ceremony of the first ever edition of the Youth Olympic Games.

As one of the world's most renowned sailing coaches, Victor Kovalenko, celebrated his 60th birthday on 5 August.

It was forecast to be big Tuesday a couple of days ago - Doug Charko, the USA Team AlphaGraphics weather man told us on Sunday it would be 15-20 knots and gusting 25 - and so it was, with 49ers, Stars and Finns all sent back to the harbour early, and the SKUD-18's not racing at all. Unfortunately for Doug, when the fleet was greeted with a flat calm this morning, he wound back his weather forecast a few notches.

A number of classes were held ashore waiting for the breeze to build on day one of the final leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth. But gradually the wind did build and combined with mainly overcast and cool summer conditions the fleet of nearly 900 boats set out to begin racing on seven different courses.

In blustery conditions, Mohd Masyuri and his Royal Malaysian Navy 1 team came from behind to snatch victory and be selected as the keelboat match racing team to represent Malaysia at the 16th Asian Games, to be contested later this year from 12 - 27 November, at the Guangdong Ocean Sports Training Centre (GOSTC) in Shanwei, China.

Seventy-nine boats are competing at the 2010 Marinepool Melges 24 World Championship in Tallinn Estonia, with entries from eighteen nations across three continents and features crews from as far afield as South Africa and Japan.

If you took a wander around the fine old English seaside resort of Weymouth, you'd find a mix of motives for being there on this particular Sunday in August - the beach, the sea, the ice cream.

In a race today marked with penalties, blown sails and broken equipment, BMW ORACLE Racing defeated TEAMORIGIN around the Isle of Wight by 1 minute and 55 seconds to win the Trafalgar Cup.

Paul Campbell-James on The Wave, Muscat has won the UK Round of the Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes Week - the first ever regatta win for the youngest skipper on the circuit - claiming an OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean watch as part of the prize as top Skipper for the UK round.

Please note that Nominations for the IFDS Executive Committee and IFDS Committees must be provided in writing by completing the appropriate forms which are available by contacting the Disabled Sailing Secretary by email at the address show below.

The action continued on day four of the Extreme Sailing Series in Cowes, with gusts of up to 24 knots leading to more spectacular, yet taxing racing for the fleet. Before the racing, as part of the afternoon entertainment, Team GAC Pindar's skipper and windsurfing fanatic, Nick Moloney, challenged a fleet of windsurfers to race against the team's high speed Extreme 40 catamaran.

It didn't matter what the Aarhus weather threw at them, Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner's team work coped with the most extraordinary conditions to win the SAP 505 World Championships with a race to spare.

From 26-31 July the 2010 Zoom8 World Championships took place in Lohusalu, Estonia. The competition was particularly successful for Finland and Denmark but also of utmost importance to the organising country Estonia.

Youth Olympic Games begins August 14th in Singapore and two Australian sailors are preparing for what will be the adventure of a lifetime as they head to the event to take on the World's best youth sailors.

As the athletes prepare for their arrival in Singapore, there is added excitement with the unveiling of the first medals for the Youth Olympic Games.