John,
The 'inside' persons representing the MH community at ISAF in Athens this go will need to be persuasive, firm, credible and convincing, and prepare Pederson appriopriate to the expectations of the IOC EC. Who are our inside champions? What is the plan? The IOC reaction to the Athens meeting and its conclusions/summary need to be prepared to react to a ten year equipment mandate from the IOC EC as the IOC EC may have reached the bitter end wrt equipment politics. An 'ISAF vision' is now required that is at once concise, powerful and exciting as there are other sports that desire a place at the Olympic table. Is there to be an ISAF white paper at some point? One logically thinks 'excitement, youth and future' includes Cats, 49ers, and largely accessible youth platforms such as the Laser. I want to see this in ISAF writing somewhere.

In the past, ISAF was not resolute in reacting to IOC EC suggestions and allowed the agenda to be manipulated. The IOC EC is now very aware of this behavior. Estoril was, for want of another word, a 'failure', and I actually feel that if ISAF repeats itself and ISAF does not deign to the terse language of the IOC 'suggestions', (and spin cats are not included the Olympics, in whatever form), Olympic sailing, collectively, will become a footnote of historical record.

Suggestion: The ISAF, including any MH champions, need to offer G. Pederson, and ultimately the IOC executive committee a very cohesive, fair and sustainable plan, absolutely free of the historical tactics of neer-do wells of the past. They also need to be transparent to all members of the sailing community. Finally, stating what the 'MH platform should not be' is far less powerful than advocating a precisely defined plan for what platform it 'should be'.

I really feel that the IOC EC is now at the edge of tanking sailing completely in 2016. The ISAF must present itself with an organized unified vision, required to sustain the sport. It's do or die this time, not only for the MH, but for Olympic sailing altogether, and there had better be a good vision moving forward.