Today is the second day of Euro Cup in Międzyzdroje. There is 17 women participating in this 4th edition of FW Women Cup! Please read our request to the FWC Committee about changing the venue of the World Championships to the 21-25th August in Belgium and send us your comments. Tonight we have the meeting when we will continue discussion and hopefully decide on the proposal of 2003 rule changes.
Międzyzdroje, 11 July 2002
To FWC Committee
We, Women Fleet of Formula Windsurfing, ask the FWC Committee for the change of the venue of 2002 World Championships from Sylt Westerland (21-29 September) to Belgium (21- 25 August).
We believe this venue is unsuitable for Women Fleet FW racing for the following reasons:
– severe cold, rain, strong wind, high shorebreak in this time of year in Sylt
– rapidly changing weather, especially the force in the wind
– 9 days long event – high expense of the trip
– impossible to sleep in the cars, vans or other outdoor facilities due to the low temperature;
– Windsurfing women forsee Sylt venue as a very rough location and even if it happened to be very calm this year, it is not possible to convince women to participate there in WC. For example, last week in Women Cup at Sylt there were 7 women competing and this week in Miedzyzdroje we are 18. After the event, 3 of those 7 women said they will definetely not come back for the Championships. This could leave as little as only 4 top women FW racers to participate in Sylt WC.
The women fleet of Formula Windsurfing is in a very fragile state of building and the reasons written above could very greatly reduce the number of female competitors.
There is a real chance for 20 competitors to participate in this years Worlds in Belgium. In our opinion this venue is much more suitable and we can promise to arrive there in big number.
We would also like to emphasize our gratitude towards the organizers who exercised our new racing rules, especially by starting our fleet first and learning the new Silver Fleet system. Also, special thanks to those who reduce the costs of entry fee and show their comittement to women windsurfing. The cooperation helps the Women Fleet grow, makes it very visible to media and introduces newcomers. We would like to continue the wonderful development of the class.
