J24 NATIONAL COMMITTEE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING– 5 JANUARY 2017
MINUTES
- ATTENDEES
Ron Thomson, Hugo Ottaway, Simon Grain, Warren Campbell, Arthur Crothers, Dale Sharp, John Crawford, Ken Roebuck, Stephen Wright, Brendan Lee, Doug Watson, Jared Macquart, Rhonda Wodzinski, Tony Landers, Fiona Campbell, Janbar Simr, Leigh McLeod, Joe Pearson, Bruce Alexander, Robert Richardson, Dave McKay
- APOLOGIES
Janet Dean, Mick Reynolds
- WELCOME
Welcome address from Ron Thomson (RT). Establishing structure of meeting, timescales and agenda topics
- PRESIDIENT’S REPORT
It is a pleasure to be at Cronulla Sailing Club with a fleet of 25 boats for the 2017 National Championships. This year has seen the departure of our current National Champions David Suda and Hershel Landes selling their boat “Pacemaker” to Warren Campbell from Sandringham. I want to thank both David and Hershel for their outstanding contribution to the class at both National and State level and they will be missed at Sandringham.
We have seen large fleets in both the Victorian and NSW Championships and an increase in the numbers contesting the South Australian titles, all of which helps to improve the profile of J24s in Australia. It is encouraging to see new blood buying J24s in all age groups from Generation Y to Baby Boomers. I acknowledge the success of the Youth Boats in Sandringham and the enthusiasm of the Cronulla fleet in attracting new members. If you take a look around the fleet and participants you see a large number of females involved and many young sailors enjoying sailing a competitive but friendly one design class. It is interesting to note the many successes J24 sailors have enjoyed in various women’s keelboat regatta.
This year the National body has made two new expenditure items being:
- The promotional video that achieved over 22K hits on U-tube. If you have not had a chance to review this video, please do so searching on the J24 Australian website. Any ideas or suggestions on how we can best use this video would be helpful.
- Souvenir Brochure of each boat entered into the National Championships something suggesting at last year’s AGM. This brochure has been well received and I wish to thank the efforts of Simon Grain (SG) for producing the brochure in a very short period over the Xmas/New year period. A copy has been made available for each boat however additional copies can be requested at a cost of $12 per person.
Overall, the National Body has approx. $3K in the bank account taking into account all current expenditure items. It should be noted the international fees have increased due to the falling $A something we need to keep an eye on during 2017.
The 2018 National Championships will be held at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia and later Jim Townsend will update us on its status. This will again be a four-day regatta, the same as this year ‘s event that has proved to be very successful.
In closing on a personal note, I wish to thank SG and Hugo Ottaway (HO) for their great assistance this year, which allowed me to gently ease into this role.
- TREASURER’S REPORT
The current bank balance is $2961. There has been the following expenditures:
- Video $900
- Brochure $411
- International fees – to Dec 2016 $5,720
- LIFE MEMBERSHIPS
SG proposed the following members to be made Life Members of the J24 Association for their contribution to the class over many years:
- Arthur Crothers
- Hugo Ottaway
- John Crawford
These nominations were agreed unanimously by a vote of members.
- PROPOSED NEW COMMITTEE
The following people were nominated, seconded and agreed by majority vote to form the new National Committee:
- President Ron Thomson
- Committee Member Stephen Wright
- Committee Member Janet Dean
- Measurer Hugo Ottaway
- Media Simon Grain
- Records Peter Stevens
- 2018 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jim Townsend updated the meeting on the status of the 2018 event to be held at Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia. The dates have yet to be finalised but will be around the same week in January. Once finalised the dates will be published on the J24 Australia website. HO advised the notice of race for next year’s event should be published early allowing for competitors to plan for accommodation and travelling times.
A discussion took place on the National regatta being a 10 or 12 race event. SG advised the last few years the titles have been held over 10 races. The view of members was taken at the meeting by a show of hands and the majority voted to continue as a 10 race event.
- PROPOSAL TO CONSIDER MOVING FROM STATE ASSOCIATIONS TO FLEET ASSOCIATIONS
A proposal has been put forward, by Mick Reynolds, to the National Committee to consider moving from State Associations to Fleet Associations. A copy of the proposal document is attached to these minutes. Fiona Campbell spoke to the meeting on the benefits of this proposal.
The National Committee has recommended establishing a working party consisting of selected representatives from each fleet with an independent chair to consider the proposal and to report to the National committee in suitable time frame (potentially 6 months). This recommendation was accepted unanimously by a show of hands at the meeting.
- GENERAL BUSINESS
The requirement of all crew requiring YA memberships was raised by Brendan Lee who spoke briefly to the meeting on the benefits and costs of this requirement. The Committee believes this may be an Australian Sailing (previously Yachting Australia) requirement. The matter will be reviewed and the Committee will report back, via the J24 website, with its findings and conclusions.
The meeting closed with Ron Thomson thanking all members for their participation and wishing them luck in the regatta. The minutes of this meeting will be available on the J24 Australia website towards the end of January.