The Annual Conference of the governing body of World sailing, the ISAF takes place from Thursday in Dun Laoghaire, crowning a spectacular year for Ireland on the global stage of the sport.
700 delegates and as many again of partners and support staff will be present in the town providing a huge economic boost to the county and the city of Dublin.
The main area of discussion is likely to revolve around a decision to replace windsurfing with kitesurfing at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016.  Both sports are popular around the coasts of Ireland and the two groups are expected to fight hard to maintain or amend their Olympic status.
In addition over 130 submissions have been sent to ISAF proposing changes to existing policies, regulations or rules as well as looking to introduce new ones.
In July Dublin Bay hosted the prestigious ISAF World Youth Championships, sponsored by Four Star Pizza and the choice of venue for this and other events will also be decided between the 1st and 11th of June.
The social highlight will be the Ireland will be the presentation of the 2012 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards on Tuesday 6 November. Nominees for this include multiple Olympic Gold Medal winner Ben Ainslie.
Aside for the World Youth Championships Ireland also hosted the conclusion of the Volvo Round the World Race in Galway over the summer, a leg of the Mod70 European Tour in August which attracted 100,000 spectators to Dun Laoghaire and other major international events in Dublin and Cork
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