The Yacht Racing Forum will reassemble the international yacht racing community in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 7-8. Besides the principal conference focusing on business and marketing, two conference streams entitled Design and Technology and Risk Management and Safety will deliver important ideas and concepts.Running paralle to the Yacht Racing Forum are two complimentary conference streams: the Design & Technology Symposium, and the Risk Management and Safety Conference.
These conference streams will take place on 7 December, the first day of the Yacht Racing Forum. December 8th will see all delegates join together for sessions focused on issues that affect the whole of the yacht racing industry.
The Design Technology Symposium brings a vital technical counterpoint to the commercial discussion that occur in the Yacht Racing Forum. This year, the DTS will focus on several key areas of yacht design, build and engineering. Topics include the future of foiling: will monohulls ever truly fly; what are the learnings from the AC; how will foils cross over into the mainstream and how foiling will develop for offshore racing. Other sessions will focus on what yacht racing can learn from motorsport and aeronautics, what are the latest developments in yachts chasing line honours records. The speakers will also debate whether refurbished yachts can truly challenge new builds, the benefits of integration across the design and build process for sails, rig and composite materials and how design can best be optimised for rating performance.
Speakers in the DTS are industry leaders across design, engineering and fabrication including Juan Kouyoumdjian, Guillaume Verdier, Steve Clark, Patrick Shaughnessy, Bertrand Cardis, James Dadd, Paolo Manganelli or Sabrina Malpede.
Risk Management and Safety is a new conference stream for 2015. Managing risk levels to increase safety and reduce potentially huge expenses is a key area for all involved in organising races, running teams, designing equipment and, of course, competing in the races themselves. The Risk Management and Safety Conference will look at some of the key areas where savings can be made, safety can be improved and potential liabilities decreased. Topics will include: how can risk management save you money, what are the latest regulations and technical improvements to improve crew safety, are insurance obligations an overly strenuous regime or a long term cost saver, how can race organisers reduce their risks, and can offshore racing ever be truly safe and how can risks be minimised?
Speakers include Chris Hill – Spinlock; John Quigley – QXI International; Paul Miller – Hiscox, Alistair Hackett – Ocean Safety, Stefano Beltrando – QI Composites, Jason Smithwick – ISAF, Hasso Hoffmeister – Germanischer Lloyd.
On Day 2, delegates will join with the Yacht Racing Forum to share their insights, take part in round table discussions and hear panel sessions on the future of the yacht racing industry.
The Yacht Racing forum brings the key players from across the yacht racing industry together in a business focused yet relaxed environment for 2 days of learning, networking and business development. We hope you can join us in Geneva on December 7-8.
