Wednesday, 17 June 2015 10:22

Minutes of 2015 Annual Masters Meeting

Minutes of the annual Finn Masters Meeting

Held at the Galaxy Hotel Kavala, Greece at 10:30 Wednesday June 27 2015

Present:

President : Andy Denison

Committee: Henk de Jager, Marc Allain de Beauvais, Rolf Elsaesser

Finn Sailors: around 100

1.   Opening by the Masters President

President, Andy Denison opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. He thanked everyone for their involvement in organising the excellent 2014 event in Sopot.

He reported,

  • he is due to visit the 2016 WFM venue in Torbole on Lake Garda in October to confirm and finalise the details for the 2016 event
  • in March he met with the organisers for the championships in 2017 in Barbados. The cost of transporting boats in containers to Barbados should be around €120 per boat in containers from Europe and the UK. He recommended that Country Representatives begin to look at shipping arrangements as soon as possible to collect names and deposits from sailors. Pre-entry commitment forms will be available on the WFM website by September. There will not be any camping in Barbados!
  • he will visit Barbados again in December and provide a detailed article for the Masters Magazine
  • he identified the new Micro site on the WFM website which will allow users to go directly to the current event site, and thanked Garry Sibbald for his work in setting up the new improved WFM website. He also thanked Robert Deaves for his work in editing and producing the Masters Magazine and to Yan Kingma for his work in providing graphical representation of entries on the website for Kavala
  • he has revised the standard guidance now given to all potential WFM competition venues and has also developed a revised Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions.

2.   Minutes of the last meeting

Minutes were published on the World Finn Masters website, there were no questions and the minutes were proposed as a true reflection of the meeting by Will Patten (GBR 52) and Seconded by Jay Harrison (AUS 68).

3.   Raising the Entry Fee

The President asked the meeting to approve an increase in the potential entry fee to the WFM event to a maximum of €200 to allow him some flexibility in working with  host clubs. This was agreed by a significant majority vote.

4.   Approval of revised rules and guidance

The president told the meeting he has revised the rules and guidance given to potential host clubs to help them prepare for hosting the WFM, but would continually look to update the information based on lessons learnt. The meeting unanimously accepted the changes.

5.   Committee membership re-elections

Only the position held by Henk de Jager was due for change and Henk has agreed to stand again for a further four years.

6.   Super Legends

The president explained he has received a number of requests from within the membership to establish a classification for super legends, over 80yrs. This was unanimously agreed by the meeting.

7.   Finance

The president presented a summary of the accounts to the meeting identifying a surplus in the account of 16702.00euro after the WFM event in Kavala. There is no outstanding expenditure with medals and prizes already purchased for the next three years. Some of the surplus will be used to reinvest into the Masters Magazine, which was well thought of and much appreciated by the meeting.

8.   Magazine and Website

Robert Deaves has been appointed as the editor of the magazine, but would appreciate help from members to provide articles and reports that can be included in the magazine. The president reported that magazine has produced a small surplus of £1300.00 in 2014/15 which will be used to reinvest into the 2015/16 magazine.

9.   Wind Strength

The president introduced this item to gauge opinion from the membership and prepare the ground for the future asking for comments from the membership about changing the current wind strength recommendation. The 20 knot wind strength is a recommendation not a limit and should leave the decision to hold racing at the discretion of the Race Officer dependent on safety cover and other factors. He asked the meeting if the 20 knot recommendation should be changed.

Strong opinion from the floor identified that too many of the older sailors are disadvantaged when sailing occurs in over 20 knots, but many sailors were more concerned about the cold than the strength of the wind. It was felt that Legends and GGM sailors are the main ones affected by feeling they have to sail as was seen on the three race day in Sopot. Howard Sellars (GBR77) and Jake Gunther (AUS 3) proposed the following wording for consideration by the Masters Committee for inclusion into future sailing instructions

At the discretion of the PRO, in conditions where the wind exceeds 20 knots across the course, sailors classified as GGM, Legends and Super Legend may retire form racing and be awarded a score that is an average of their points.

10.         Country Representatives

The president asked all sailors in all countries, competing in the WFM events, to ensure they have a country representative who is identified to the committee. This ensures there is a point of contact in each country. Sailors are asked to check the contacts section of the website and update any out of date or missing information, 19 countries are still to identify a representative.

11.        Presentation from Hayling Island Sailing Club to host the WFM in 2018

Martin Hughes gave a short presentation on behalf of Hayling Island Sailing Club on the South Coast of England, offering to hold the WFM in 2018. The venue is one of the top sailing venues in the UK and is within easy reach of all of the cross channel ferries. Hayling Island Sailing Club have a very experienced race team and the capacity to manage fleets of in excess of 250 boats.

12.         Update on the 2016 WFM event at Torbole

The president assured the meeting that everything is now on track for the next WFM event at Tobole on Lake Garda. Final commitment has been received from the key personnel at the host club. Lessons learnt from Kavala will now be shared with the organisers at Torbole.

13.        Any other business

No further business had been received in writing by the committee prior to commencement of the meeting.

14.        Date and time of next meeting

10:00 on Wednesday May 18th, 2016 at the World Finn Masters Event in Torbole.

The President declared the meeting closed at 11:40

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