The Chairman, Peter Marchant welcomed 50 Members to the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Apologies for Absence

Apologies were received from 12 Members.

Minutes of the 2005 AGM

The Minutes of the AGM held on 21st June 2005 at Howth Yacht Club (copies of which had been circulated) were approved and signed.

Proposed:        Tony Saltonstall

Seconded:       Andrew Porteous

Matters Arising

Squibble - The Chairman reported that at the 2005 AGM the NSOA needed a new editor for Squibble following John Deane's retirement.  Pete Richards had offered to fill the post at the AGM and the Chairman wanted to thank Pete for doing such an outstanding job.  There was unanimous agreement and applause for Pete.

Accounts for the Year ending 30th April 2006

Copies of the accounts were circulated and Richard Sullivan reported that the bank balance and accumulated reserves were healthy.  The surplus of £828 meant £733 was transferred to the mould replacement fund as was customary practice.  There was £15,000 on deposit and therefore there was no need to increase the subscriptions in 2006.

A question was asked about the mould replacement fund - it was explained that a plug for the mould had already been paid for but Tony Saltonstall said the deck mould needed replacing in the not too distant future.  Parkers have to do alot of finishing work to get the deck perfect as the mould is disintegrating around the edges.  The Technical Committee are still looking at possible changes to the deck mould  - it was agreed to get a quote from Parkers for the cost of making a new mould.

The Accounts of the NSOA for the year ended 30/4/06 were adopted.

Proposed:        David Wines

Seconded:       Sandy Bremner

The Chairman thanked the Hon. Treasurer for his Report.

Subscriptions

It was agreed that the subscriptions for 2006 should remain the same as for 2005.

Proposed:        Tony Saltonstall

Seconded:       Gerard Dyson

Report on the three Resolutions passed at EGM on 1/10/04

Malcolm Blackburn (Chairman of Technical Committee) reported that finally RYA approval had been obtained for the 3 resolutions - as of April 2006 the resolutions were now on the RYA website & in the Squib Rules.  This included the rewrite of the sail rules into ISAF format.  This did not change the sail dimensions but the language was very different.

Malcolm reported that the next challenge for the Technical Committee was to update the rest of the Class Rules to ISAF format.  The RYA had dictated a very short timescale to work to but negotiations were under way to extend the time limit.  It was hoped to be able to sort the Rules issue over the next 12 months.  Malcolm stressed the rewrite would not change the one design rules of the class but it would bring the rules to a standard level.

Booms

A question was raised about the fact the Sailing Instructions for 2006 Nats. had been amended to allow Z spar chamfered booms.  It was reported that Z spar had put a chamfer on the Boom to make it look prettier - it didn't affect the performance but was technically out of class.  The RYA ruled that the shape is a taper and the class rules don't allow for tapered booms.  The Technical Committee felt it was unfair to disqualify the boats with Z spar booms and therefore a dispensation had been agreed for the 2006 Nationals & the Inlands.  The Technical Committee were discussing a solution to the problem.

David White urged for dispensation forever on the booms in circulation as it was unfair on his old company Z spar.  He said it was a trivial matter and ruling against the booms would cause hardship in the class.

Malcolm said he had every sympathy with that view but he was only one member of the Technical Committee and couldn't make a decision without the rest of the Committee.  There was some discussion about the Holt Boom having a tapered fitting but it was pointed out that the difference between the Z spar was that the section was tapered and not the fitting. Pete White said the tapering had been one to protect the aft deck and not for any performance benefits.

The Chairman said that Owners can rest assured that this will be resolved by the Technical Committee but the class rules were there to be complied with and any breach needed to be looked at very carefully.

Election of Officers:

The Chairman explained that under the new rules to encourage more members to take part in the organisation of the NSOA, the Chairman, Treasurer & Secretary had to resign after 3 years.  The Chairman had a further year to run but the Treasurer & Secretary were due to resign in 2006.  Andrew Porteous had kindly offered to take over as Treasurer & Richard Sullivan would swap jobs and become the Hon. Auditor.  Lou Bibby was willing to continue as Acting Secretary with the approval of the Membership (and in the absence of volunteers for the job) until 2007 when she would be eligible to be re-elected for a further 3 years (unless someone else wished to take over). Furthermore, Pete Richards had offered to take over the Hon. Publicity Officer's Role from Mike Barsby as this tied in neatly with being editor of Squibble.  Finally, Adrian Fluker was resigning as Hon. Membership Secretary and Sally Everitt (Royal Victoria Yacht Club) had kindly offered to take over.

Therefore the nominations were as follows:-

Chairman:                                Peter Marchant

Hon. Acting Secretary                        Lou Bibby

Hon. Treasurer:                       Andrew Porteous

Hon. Technical Advisor          Tony Saltonstall

Hon. Publicity Officer                        Pete Richards

Hon. Auditor                          Richard Sullivan

Hon. Membership Sec.            Sally Everitt

There was a unanimous vote in favour of the Officers of the NSOA.  At this point the Chairman thanked the retiring officers Richard Sullivan and Adrian Fluker and a presentation was made to both of them to unanimous applause.

Election of Committee

The following who were elected for a period of two years at the 2004 AGM retire and offer themselves for election for a further two years:

Mike Barsby                                       Rutland Sailing Club Fleet

Louise Bibby                                     Royal Anglesey Yacht Club Fleet

Max Evans                                        Felixstowe Ferry SC Fleet

John Good                                        Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club Fleet

Colin Norman                                     Medway Yacht Club Fleet

David Pearce                                     Waldringfield Sailing Club Fleet

Gillian Guinness                                 Howth Yacht Club Fleet

Fred Campbell                                   Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club Fleet

Peter Horton                                      Lowestoft & Oulton Broad Fleet

Richard Hinsley                                  Burnham Fleet

Chris Pope                                        South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club Fleet

The following who were elected for a period of two years at the 2005 AGM continue in office for a further year.

Steve Warren Smith                            Royal Victoria Yacht Club Fleet

Peter Jackson                                    Weymouth Sailing Club Fleet

David Wines                                      Plymouth Fleet

The following who were elected during the year resign and offer themselves for election for a further two years.

Ed Tolliday                                        Dartmouth Fleet

Robert Marzetti                                  Aldeburgh Yacht Club Fleet

Sandy Bremner                                  Royal Tay Yacht Club Fleet

There was a unanimous vote in favour of the new Committee.

Future Championship Venues

2007 Abersoch

2008 Lowestoft

2009 Weymouth

The Chairman reported that the National Championship Committee had received applications from Belfast & Holyhead for 2010 & 2011 respectively and the applications were being considered together with a couple of other new venues.

Any Other Business

A card was circulated to wish Richard Hinsley a speedy recovery with Best Wishes from all those attending the AGM.

Load Cell

There was some discussion about the fact the Class load cell hadn't been used for weighing the boats at the Nationals. It was explained that the host club had bought their own lode cell from the same suppliers & it was calibrated exactly like the NSOA load cell & Tony Saltonstall said there was a 2 kg difference in his boat's weight between the 2 load cells.  The reason had been the host club boats had been scrutineered & weighed before the overseas visitors arrived to speed up launching.  It was agreed this was done in good faith but in the future the NSOA load cell was to be used with the host club having their load cell as an emergency back up.  The NSOA load cell was therefore to be used at the Inlands at Rutland.  This point was to be included in the Nationals Blueprint prepared by the Championship Committee.

Race Length

The point was raised that in one of the races the length of the first beat had been shorter than the length of the start line and it only took 8 minutes to reach the windward mark - as a result there was too much traffic at the windward mark with resulting mayhem& chaos.  The question was asked whether the Nationals blueprint could specify the length of the first beat.  Following some discussion it was agreed that a distance could be specified for certain wind strengths but the final decision remains with the Race Officer.  It was agreed that if race officers disregard our race format requests it will need reviewing by the NSOA.

Minute of Thanks

Max Evans asked for a formal minute to made thanking Richard Sullivan for all his hard work and support for the last 19 years especially while Max had been Chairman - he further added a thank you to Richard for recruiting Lou as Hon. Secretary.

Dinghy Show - NSOA Squib Stand

The Chairman thanked David West for all his hard work running the stand and following David's retirement from this job a new team were being actively recruited.  Pete White questioned whether it was worth having a stand at the Dinghy Show - how many new members were recruited as a result?  However, if the NSOA were to exhibit a Squib next year Pete offered to run the stand.  The Chairman thanked Peter for his offer and said the topic would be discussed at the next NSOA meeting in November.  It was agreed that it was a good PR exercise attending the Dinghy Show but the cost implications/benefit to the class would be discussed at the November Meeting.

The Chairman said the Class was in a very healthy shape, judging by the attendance of 90 boats at the Royal Victoria YC - there was no doubt it was the leading keel boat class.

Date of next Meeting

The next meeting will take place at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club on Tuesday 26th June 2007.

Gerard Dyson thanked the Committee for all the hard work done on behalf of the Membership and there being no further business the Meeting ended at 1900hrs.

Lou Bibby

Acting Hon. Secretary - 4/8/06