International Windsurfer Class Association Europe
A not-for-profit organisation which administers and promotes activities for the Windsurfer in Europe and in Italy.
Originally founded on April 1st 1977 as International Windsurfer Class Association - Distretto Italia, after the stop of all activities in the 90's, was refounded on April 19th 2011, thanks to the initiative of some former sailors. In september 2016 the association adopted the name International Windsurfer Class Association Europe, to better focus the efforts of restarting Windsurfer activities across all Europe.
A volunteer committee of sailors oversees the administration of the Class with elections that are held every two years. The key roles are President (Luca Frascari ITA), Secretary (Edoardo Thermes ITA), Treasurer (Giampaolo Fantozzi ITA), and board members. The committee is renewed every two years at general meetings based on votes of all European members.
Current committee, elected at the end of 2017 before the class releaunch, is mainly composed by Italian sailors, but with the strong growth of members across all Europe in the last two years, the Class expect to have soon an international board with members from all the main European countries.
IWCA Europe also administer the European membership system and sail number registry for Europe. European sailors that want to compete in official events or simply sustain the class, can apply for membership on windsurferclass.com and obtain a personal and unique sail number.
IWCA is actively working to promote the constitution on National IWCA associations. If you want to start a National Class Association in your European country, get in touch with us at [email protected].
Consituted National Class Associations in Europe:
IWCA Denmark (work in progress)
IWCA Finland
IWCA France
IWCA Italy
IWCA Nederland
IWCA Spain
Consituted National Class Associations outside of Europe:
IWCA Australia
IWCA Canada
IWCA Japan
IWCA South Africa
The main source of funding for IWCA Europe are the membership fees, as the association is a separate entity from the commercial company Windsurfer Europe Srls. Revenues from membership are shared with originating countries (if a national class is present in the country) or spent in promotional materials and activities (video, photo, beach and regatta flags, gadget, ...). Equipment rental, private boards transportation to races and promotion of the class in national and international commercial fairs, are managed and paid by the involved commercial companies. Windsurfer Europe Srls commercial company played a pivotal role in developing current LT equipment and helping the other commercial brands in joining the class ecosystem.
IWCA Europe also coordinate and administer the European Events Calendar
IWCA Global
IWCA Europe ASD is part of the worldwide International Windsurfer Class Association, created in July 2018 to help guide the class into the future. IWCA Global is delegated an International Class by World Sailing and is managed by our international committee elected by the members. The class is supported by regional or continental organisations who work to run administration of the class and events in each region. If there is no association in your region you will fall back under IWCA. The IWCA also works to create, administer and regularly update the class rules in the best interest of the global IWCA Community.
The Committee
The Committee of the IWCA is voted into office each year by the members of the IWCA and their associated National Organisations. Elections are held once every year. If you would like to get involved please feel free to contact the IWCA or your associated national organisation. The current members of the IWCA Committee are:
Executive Committee:
President - Maurizio Bufalini (ITA)
Vice President - Greg Johns (AUS)
Vice President - Russel Egan (RSA)
Executive Secretary - Vincenzo Baglione (ITA)
Treasurer - Guido Amato (ITA)
Chairman Technical Committee - Nick Bez (AUS)
General Members:
Celine Bordier (FRA)
Gerard Delmas (ESP)
Berry Donkersloot (NED)
Technical Committee:
Nick Bez (AUS)
Edoardo Thermes (ITA)
Miki Hideki (JPN)
Visit IWCA Global website: windsurferclass.org