Minutes from the IACA World General Meeting
12th
February, 2014
Takapuna
Boating Club
AGENDA
Welcome
1. President
Report
2. Secretary
Report
3. Economic
Report and presentation of accounts and budget – Allocation of IACA funds
4. Membership
Fees
6. Election
of I.A.C.A. Committee Members
7. Proposals,
received by the Secretary from National Associations, ISAF or other
institutions.
8. Regulatory
and Technical Affairs (Alterations in the I.A.C.A. Constitution, Championship
Rules, Ballots etc.)
a. Constitution changes
a.i. Add here
b. Championship Rules changes
b.i. Add here
b.ii. Add here
9. Selection
and ratification of venues for 2015 Worlds, 2016 Worlds/Euros
10. Various
Meeting
opened by President Andrew Landenberger at 18:07.
Delegates
in attendance:
AUS
– Andrew Landenberger (Pres), Ian Johnson (Vice President & AUS Rep),
Graeme Harbour (Chairman Technical Committee and Auditor)
SUI
– Luc De Bois
NZL
– Ken Uquhart, Murray Philpott (committee)
GBR
– Nigel Lovett
NED
– Jan Groot, Piet Saarberg (Secretary)
CAN
– Gerry Mawson
GER
– Georg Reutter
DEN
– Thomas Paasch (Rep & committee member)
USA
– Ben Hall (Rep & committee member)
POL
– Jacek Noetzel
ESP,
BRA, FRA, ITA – Proxies to the President
1. Presidents
Report 9.02.14
Dear
Presidents,
2013 has been
an interesting year with many new challenges for the A Class Association. After
the 2012 Worlds in Islamorada we set about to increase promotion and
international participation in the class.
One of the
first steps was to introduce a professional editor for our webpage who has done
an excellent job to date to keep our website current, informative and
interesting for our members and followers. I thank Martin for his work in this
area and look forward to another year of his enthusiasm.
We have also
sailed the past two seasons under trial Championship rules. It was intended
during tis period to test an open worlds format. To date this format has not
been tested but with possible fleet numbers being extended from 100 to 120 we
have seen more nations participate. At
this point I have had only positive feedback as the system has allowed more
countries to fill containers and make the journey to our international events.
In New
Zealand this year we also test a one discard scoring system which has been
tabled several times in the past for a possible rule change. Given what we are
seeing with new developments in the class the one discard system may be very
helpful in keeping the class innovators on a slightly more conservative
approach.
Since
Islamorada our Technical committee, Chaired by Graeme harbor has been faced
with many challenges. The class rules have been constantly tested and
challenged and the technical committee has been diligent in providing clear
interpretations. I would like to thank particularly Graeme and Thomas for their
work in this area.
This meeting
we are faced with several submissions for potential rule changes for the class.
With the innovations we have already witnessed in the past days we must be
careful we make the correct decisions to ensure the future of the A class
association remains as strong as we see our class today.
Yours in
sailing,
Andrew
Landenberger,
IACA
President.
2. Secretary Report (presented
by Piet Saarberg)
The year has been a turbulent one since Barcelona
European champs. There has been a lot of discussion on which way the class
should be allowed to develop. This is all with regards to flying A’s. Glenn
Ashby remarked in an interview flying with an Americas Cup Cat is completely
different to flying an A-Cat. The first has 11 crew on board to keep it under
control and on an A-cat there is only the man in the mirror with only 2 hands
and one body.
We have seen controlled flying in this WC by the very top
sailors, the rest had to watch them disappear into the distance when the
circumstances were right to fly. On the topic we have received a lot of mail
for and against. In this meeting we have to decide how to approach this issue
and this will be dealt with in point 8 of the agenda.
The total numbers of members have decreased mainly due to
lower number in USA following the 2012 Worlds and also the Netherlands who have
cleaned up their membership register. We hope the present development in the
class will not show a further decline over the next year.
3.
Economic Report
Bank Balance Euro
39,833. Discussion on gaining some interest on money as account set up at this
stage does not get any interest.
Action – Piet
to arrange to put a sizeable amount (say 30,000 Euros) into an interest bearing
account.
Dear President & Committee Members.
As
IACA Financial Auditor I present Balance Sheet & Profit & Loss for the
period 1-1-13 to 31-12-13. Due to timing of WGM this is outside IACA
Constitution Rule 7.1.15. and for this reason, I have not presented a
budget for the coming year and will await outcome of WGM before doing so.
The year has seen a turnaround in our financial
position showing a current balance of 39477.06 Euros in our bank account. This
positive change from the previous year is a result of increasing member subscriptions
from 4 Euros to 10 Euros per member and the cessation of container subsidies.
Income from membership is again distorted with many
countries still not paying by due date and a continual lag is evident in this
figure. This issue needs to be addressed. Expenditure for year was
minimal. Support of 2000 Euros previously approved to assist
countries running World Championships was requested by New
Zealand. IACA website costs inline with budget and website is considered a
positive aspect to the class.
IACA receives no interest on funds held and this year
paid 148 Euros in bank fees for the privilege of the Rabobank holding nearly
40000 Euro of our funds. It is strongly suggested that if possible a portion of
these funds be placed in some form of interest bearing account to at least
offset the bank fees.
Overall the class appears in a very healthy position
and our thanks should be given to Piet Saarberg for his continued excellent
control of IACA’s finances.
Graeme Harbour
IACA Financial Auditor
4. Membership Fees
In the absence of a budget the fees would remain the same
at 10 Euros per member.
5. National Association and
Fleet Reports
All reps gave a brief outline of what has been happening
to the fleet in each Nation for past year. Please send written report to ian.m.johnson@bigpond.com
for inclusion in the minutes. Received from NED.
6. Election of Office Bearers
All existing office bearer positions were again ratified
for the coming year. ITA will be asked to supply a representative to the
committee to deal with the 2015 Worlds
7.
No
other proposals were received from NA’s or ISAF.
8. Regulatory and Technical
Affairs
a.
The proposal submitted by AUS, ITA and
Belgium was modified to remove the rotation example and then approved with all
but GER in favour. GER abstained from the vote.
“World
championships should be run once every calendar year, preferably with no less
than 6 months between events. Preference should be given to helping developing
National A fleets if they are able to run such an event. The rotation should be
evenly spread between the National fleets and Continents. No one country should
hold 2 events in any 6 year period unless there is no other suitable option
available. Any National fleet could bid to hold a World championship at any
time”
b. Changes
to the Constitution to allow Internet voting was passed as all Nations had
approved this earlier by email votes.
c. Removal
or rule 8.2 by UK, DEN, ESP. This vote was to agree to a ballot to remove rule
8.2. The votes were 56 in favour and 49 against. As the 2/3rds majority was not
reached the motion was defeated. Details of votes counted were:-
. YES NO
AUS
(11 votes) NZL
(6) SUI
(9) NED (5) GBR (4) POL
(5) CAN
(2) ESP
(8) GER (14) FRA
(10) DEN
(3) ITA
(15) USA
(13) BRA
(0) – Unfinancial
d. Removal
of rule 8.2 for a trial period of 2 years by GER, DEN, UK. Similar voting as
previous except that SUI voted no and ITA yes. Motion defeated as 2/3rd
majority not attained. The votes were 62 in favour and 43 against.
e. Rule
8.1, reduction of 1.5 m rule supported by GER, DEN, UK. After some discussion this motion was rejected as not being
properly worded.
f. Removal
of rule 8 on a trial basis for 1 voting period with a ballot following. Votes
cast were the same as 8.1 and therefore defeated. In favour 56, against 49.
g. Technical
Committee report presented by Graeme Harbour.
Discussion on the new measurement form with some minor
changes agreed.
Action
– Tech Committee to publish and distribute.
h. Discussion
on Championship Rules being either out of date or not strong enough to clearly
define.
Action – Ian
Johnson to seek support from Jury and Pete Melvin to look at how we re-write
the rules to be clearer..
i. Discussion
around having Graeme Harbour attend the ISAF International Measurers Conference
to get accreditation as International Measurer. Agreed unanimously that Bags
has done a great job as measurer and we need more certified measurers. Agreed
unanimously to send him to conference and an amount to be agreed by the
executive (no more than 5000 Euro) be spent to cover his airfare,
accommodation, some incidentals and conference entry fee.
j. Selection
and Ratification of 2015 and 2016 Worlds. Punta
Alla has been confirmed as venue for 2015 Worlds as proposed via email from
ITA.
No
proposals at this stage for 2016 Worlds.
Action – ask all Nations for recommendations.
Discussion then centred on lessons learnt from the
organisation at Takapuna and the need to have the check list for all venues and
a validation procedure. After the meeting Andrew Landenberger produced a
template check list proposed by Arno Terra. (attached).
Action – Executive to consider and comment to develop
further.
9. The
webmaster, Martin Vanzulli has requested a pay increase to 3000 Euros per year.
This was agreed to unanimously. Martin still needs to have input from all our
regattas so he can publish The best are reports plus good quality photos. Send
to martinv@addvantive.com
.
10. Jan
Groot led a discussion of the timing of the Lay Day and whether it was
necessary or should be at end of regatta. It was agreed the Lay Day is used to
catch up when races have been lost and also gives a final date for competitors
to know when to book flights. It was agreed to leave the Lay Day schedule as
exists.
11. The
Open Worlds trial has not really been tested yet outside Europe Andrew
Landenberger proposed to extend the trial for 2 more World championships.
Seconded AUS, Passed unanimously.
12. Allocation
of competitors for Euros. NED
requested a review of allocation of entries from outside Europe. The discussion
was about the decision some years ago to make all IACA events Open and
therefore available to all Nations. The present allocation system asked for
expressions of interest from Nations 3 months prior to event and therefore give
the European countries sufficient time to have their allocation revalidated as
(traditionally) Nations outside EUR have fewer entries to Euros than Worlds.
13. NED
questioned the legality of the cassette centreboards on Jakub’s Exploder.
Graeme Harbour replied that ISAF have been asked for a ruling and have
approved. NED requested send email correspondence with ISAF out with minutes.
Andrew Landenberger spoke against this as there was no need to tell everyone as
the modification had been approved and therefore legal.
Andrew
thanked all those for their attendance and closed the meeting at 21:24
World Champion – Glenn Ashby (AUS)
Master – Andrew Landenberger (AUS)
Grand Master – Luc de Bois (SUI)
Great Grand Master – Scott Anderson (AUS)
Junior – Blair Tuke (NZL)
Ladies – Denise Hillebrand (NED)
[1]
[1] Each National Association will be represented at the WGM by its President or President delegate as notified to I.A.C.A. in writing
[1] Each National Association will be represented at the WGM by its President or President delegate as notified to I.A.C.A. in writing
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