Report of the Round Table New Structure of the IFDCO

During the last World Championship in Porto Sherry, we organized 2 round tables, as announced. I also discussed this topic with many people in the boat park and at other locations. The purpose of the round tables was to have a dialogue about a future-oriented structure of the IFDCO.

The IFDCO is a foundation under Dutch law, established in 1960. There have been changes to the foundation rules in 1988 and 1997. The bye laws have been amended many times, the last time being in 2013. In recent years, we have changed as a class and therefor the current structure no longer suits to who we are now. Questions that were raised at the round tables and the discussions were: What do we think the IFDCO should be? What do we find important? What is missing in the current IFDCO?

The answers were broadly as follows:

• No one values the legal entity of the IFDCO. In other words: If the organization stands for what we consider important, then the form does not matter.
• The IFDCO must stand for International Flying Dutchman sailing, competitions at various locations and control over the development of the boat / class rules.
• Everyone endorses the necessity of organizational balance within the organization. Think here of the influence of countries, persons or regions within the IFDCO. What the right balance is and how to guarantee it was less prominent.
• The participation of the (international) sailors was also an important point. Here too, the ideas about how to organize this were diverse. There were voices to give every sailor direct voting rights, but there was also a group in favor of a more tiered democratic model. Everyone thought it was important that the sailors have a say on important points. Here too, the ideas about how to find a balance between governability and participation differ.
• The idea of ​​appointing more commodores so that more countries/regions can have a say at the administrative level was warmly welcomed.
• The idea of ​​abandoning the country division and working with a regional division also received a lot of approval. How that division should be has not been discussed in depth.
• The appointment of commodores must come from the country regions. Many do not see the point in the current restrictions on the term of office of a commodore. They think this is something for the countries/regions themselves.
• In line with the above, almost everyone is in favor of a limitation in the term of office of the President, Treasurer and General Secretary and in many cases also the rest of the board.

What next:

• As previously announced, we cordially invite national class organizations / groups of sailors to discuss this topic with us via a Teams meeting. Do you want to organize that? Let me know.
• We will discuss within the board how we are going to shape the transition. We are supported in this by a legal advisor. We will also consider how feedback from the sailors will be organized.

If you have any questions or want to organize a Teams meeting, email generalsecretary@IFDCO.net

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