29th July 2009 at Sonderborg, Denmark
Meeting started at 2012hrs and ended at 2223 hrs
The meeting was opened by chairman Neil Smith.
Apologies from: Gil Woolley
Ben Holden commented that the Agenda for the meeting should have been posted prior to the Meeting
Neil Smith ran through the Agenda and introduced himself, Jan, Marco, Chris and Jens.
Matter Arising from previous AGM:
Jan Von der Bank apologised for not having got round to re writing the class rules and said they would be rewritten by the next AGM.
Chairman's report Treasurer's report - Other Business
Neil thanked everyone for coming and thanked the Danish Team at the Yacht Club and the Race committee for organising the event with special thanks to Flemming.
He went on to thank the national representatives for helping the class to grow , especially Germany which now has a larger contender class than lasers. He also thanked the sailmakers, boatbuilders and other people connected with the class for their work in keeping the class going.
He mentioned the challenges faced over the past year, in finding a new class secretary, a new international measurer in which we have Andrew Davies, a new content and web manager for the website who is now Jan and Nikky and praised them for the production of the web page, links and frontage and asked if anyone had any content they wished to be published this could be sent to himself for forwarding.
He mentioned about raising the profile of the class by advertising on line with Sailing Anarchy and if there were any other prospective websites which would be good for the class then contact the ICA committee and it may be able to help fund this.
He mentioned the 2008 worlds in North America and how this was helping to gain momentum for the class with 7 boats in the last 2 years.
Plans for the forthcoming year were to increase advertising and web presence and the introduction of a YouTube competition with a prize.
He also suggested that the National Associations could learn from the growing countries and should pass on what they’ve been doing to other NAs.
He suggested that we should get greater ISAF coverage and although there is a strong European presence and growth in North America we should continue to grow and promote the class.
He asked the National Associations that if they were planning on doing anything they should involve the committee early and seek approval before spending anything.
He finished with asking for any new or unique ideas to promote the class and if anyone had any thoughts on how we can promote the class better to contact him directly.
All fees are now in for 2008, but still awaiting some fees for 2009, despite this there is almost 19,000 euros in the bank, which is 3k less than last year.
The worlds video had cost 2k and the money which had been lent to Canada had now been returned and once this has cleared we will have broken even.
There has been a growth in paying members although CAN, USA, ITA, BEL, EST and FIN were still unpaid which has resulted in overall growth.
JVdB proposed that we didn’t charge countries with small memberships
Soren proposed all pay but the ICA fund them
There was then a discussion about the criteria for a small membership i.e. number of members
JVdB then clarified that we needed to be see the monetary transactions
Neil said that we’d been down the not paying route before and that hadn’t been successful/
Soren suggested that in that case a bill to the value of the subscriptions to the ICA would suffice and all agreed, Jens therefore plans to take a relaxed approach to the smaller countries.
Back to the treasurers report, AUS had been leant money to build a mold and the monies were being returned as aboats were built.
Richard Buttner suggested that the class publish a yearbook as a means of promoting the class and offered assistance.
Election of Officers
President: Jan Von der Bank was nominated, Stephanie Mah Proposed and Andrea Bonezzi seconded
Chairman: Neil Smith was nominated, JVdB proposed and Soren seconded.
Technical Chairman: Marco Versari and Gregg Barrington were nominated, Chris Southerland proposed and Jaqueline Rufenacht seconded
Treasurer: Jens Langendorf was nominated, Soren proposed and Andreas Voight seconded
Secretary: Chris Boshier was nominated, Soren proposed and Marco seconded
Upcoming Events
Worlds 2010: Brisbane, Australia
Chris Sutherland stated that Brisbane is less than 6 months away and that he and Matt Mulder will do anything they can to make it happen. He said what a lovely place it is and that everyone goes there for their holidays. The venue is only a 10 euro taxi ride from the airport and once there, camping on site is ok and everything is pretty local so you’d only need a pushbike to get around. He also mentioned that containers will be left on site.
Andrea mentioned that the Italian container would be able to take some rental boats out if necessary and may be able to do up to 6.
Simon Mussel l said that there should be 11 boats going from the UK.
Schappi wasn’t sure of numbers from Germany but stated the difference in price between a 20’ and 40’ container was minimal per boat.
Andrea asked if there would be support from the ICA for shipping boats to Brisbane. The ICA responded that find out the final shipping situation and let us know.
Worlds 2011: Weymouth, UK
Matt Aston started that Weymouth is a great venue and the 2012 Olympic venue with a choice of sailing in either the bay or the harbour dependant on weather, the event will be preceded by the British National Championships in the 2nd week of July. The venue has accommodation, containers can be left at the club and caravans and campers can also stay on site, camping however is currently under negotiation.
The venue is 3.5 hours from Dover, containers would come into Southampton. The event has a website, http://www.contenderworlds2011.co.uk/ Weymouth also has its own website, Matt promised 15+knots everyday and sunshine.
Worlds 2012: St Petersburg, Florida
Neil Smith suggested dates April 23-29 with Ethan Bixby organizing the event. They have recently hosted the 2007 FD worlds and hold the NOOD regatta annually. Several options were offered, either Fort Desoto or at the sailing centre. It’s a fancy club with cannons at sunset and a swimming pool. Weather is 80F (25/26C) and the water’s lovely, nice shorty weather. The event is timed to fit between the Australian and Euro seasons. Motion passed to have the 2012 Worlds in Florida
European 2010: La Rochelle
Francois started that there were few contenders in France but even so they had grown from 2 to 10 in a year, he then went on to give a presentation for the Europeans stating that La Rochelle was the biggest sailing club in France, the prevailing winds are south westerlies at that time of year and the sailing area in the bay is protected to a degree from the Atlantic swell . The harbour is approximately 2km from the town. Camping is ok at the harbour. He gave examples of the experience of the race and organisational team there having hosted the Tornado worlds and it also being the french olympic training venue. There were some graphs from the french meteorological office showing that 41% of the time it below 4beaufort+ and the average temperature at that time of year was 21C. He suggested that it was worth visiting for more than a week and a visit to the vinyards was recommended and could be incorporated.
2012 Euros Discussion
Sweden was being considered for 2012
JVdB said that Kiel will not host another Worlds, however Germany were looking to host a World Championships soon.
JVdB then thanked the National Associations for presenting and planning the events.
Proposals for Rules Changes
Remove towing eye from rules. vote 21 for 5 against, goes to ballot
Proposal: Rule 8.2 outlaw chines from new boats – insert ‘hull not to curve less than 35mm’ to be measured at right angles and referenced to the stations. Vote 31 for 1 against, goes to ballot
Proposal: Rule 17.2 sail measurement – rule needs redefining for leach length, sail batten placing and measurement marks as there are legacy anomalies from when IYRU changed to ISAF and the ERS were created. Vote 32 for none against, goes to ballot
Proposal: Rule 19.2 clarification required – proposal that the maximum rudder pintle size including any packing be limited to 80mm wide (transversely) and 40mm deep (longitudinally), 35 for none against, goes to ballot
Proposal: Rule 19.2 (2) redefinition of skin projections and a minimum height for the rudder fitting from the bottom of the hull, 19 for 8 against. No action as will be included in 19.2 above
There was one rule change that did not make it.
Championship rules changes
Chris Sutherland gave a preamble that the current rules were legacy and impracticable for a race committee to work with and that they needed modernizing and including more instructions. Soren thanked Chris S and explained that the proposed rules were a great improvement. Ben Holden suggested that the new championships rules be circulated to all national associations and the secretaries to distribute for feed back from the national classes in time for the next AGM. This was agreed.
The proposed new rules were circulated to the floor and varies items were discussed
Mark Robinson was against pre seeding competitors and a seeding discussion ensued
SM wanted to know who would decide on the seeding
2 boat zone was also discussed Marco suggested that ISAFs 3 boat lengths had made it too soft
BH suggested we move on and awaited the rules being circulated properly.
JVdB said the ICA would decide and then said a draft would be sent out to the NA’s for circulation as per BH’s suggestion so we can vote at the next AGM.
There was a discussion on templates and it was decided there was no need to discuss with ISAF.
Submitted by Chris Boshier, Secretary, dated 29 July 2009
Any Other Business
Poll proposed a vote of thanks to Gil in his absence for his extraordinary work over the years as class secretary and proposed the he be made an honorary life member, Soren proposed this and JVdB seconded, the vote was unanimously in favour.
Neil mentioned the youtube competition, this would be a 1-3 minute video to promote the class and had to include contender sailing, the award would be given to the video clip with the most hits over a year and the award would be sailing equipment to the value of 500 euros. The ICA committee will come up with full rules in due course. Mention was made not to use commercial music as a soundtrack as this could infringe copyright and cause legal issues, Neil mentioned that there were plenty of copyright free music sites to get music from.
A European trophy is required for the Europeans
Soren mention the requirement for a tow rope and that it should be included in the championship rules.
Meeting closed at 22:23
