MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF THE NSOA HELD ON MONDAY 12TH MAY 2008 AT 5 PM AT THE NAVAL CLUB, LONDON.
Present: David Wines - Chairman
Lou Bibby - Secretary
Andrew Porteous - Treasurer
David West - Publicity Officer
Pete Richards - Editor of Squibble
Malcolm Blackburn - Chairman Technical subcommittee
Jill Flemming - Irish Forum
Mike Barsby - Chairman Marketing subcommittee
Peter Jackson
Colin Norman
David Pearce
Richard Hinsley
Apologies: Max Evans, Gerard Dyson, Sean Clarkson, Steve Warren Smith, Sally Everitt, Chris Pope
Minutes of the last meeting held on Sunday 2nd March 2008 at the RYA Dinghy Show:
The Minutes were unanimously approved and duly signed by the Chairman.
Matters arising
Sailmakers
Jill Fleming reported that the Irish Forum on behalf of all the Irish Fleets were happy with the existing 3 sail makers at present but because of the historical Irish requirement for their own sail maker wished to keep the situation under review.
Deck Mould
The Chairman undertook to write to Parkers confirming the authorisation to build a new deck mould, the price not to exceed £5,000 plus VAT.
Andrew Porteous confirmed that the NSOA own all the moulds and the NSOA interest is registered on the insurance policy held by Parkers.
National Championship Sub-Committee’s Report
Max Evans gave his apologies. It was reported that the Championship sub-committee would be meeting at the Lowestoft Nationals to confirm the venue for the 2011 Championship.
Lowestoft Nationals 2008 Update
David West reported that thanks to Jenny Riley the Championships were fully prepared and awaiting a few more entries.
The Chairman expressed concern that the Burnham 40th Anniversary Regatta in June was detracting from the numbers attending Lowestoft. It was very disappointing in the 40th Anniversary Year of the class that the entry for the Nationals looked unlikely to reach the maximum of 60.
David West was concerned there would be no mid-fleet club!
It was unanimously agreed to authorise the expenditure to purchase a new 40th Anniversary Trophy for third place overall as historically the City of Plymouth trophy had been awarded for this when in fact, as the engraving on it showed, it was for the highest place boat that had not won another trophy. This was corrected in 2007 and therefore a new trophy will be found for third place overall. The Chairman said that he might be able to find a spare trophy which could be used.
Post meeting note: Regrettably the trophy the Chairman had in mind proved to be too heavily engraved, however, Jenny Riley has found a superb trophy at WOBYC which will be used.
Treasurer’s Report
Andrew Porteous said the year end had not been changed to 31st December so there was still the usual deadline of 30th April with the Notice of AGM to follow 3 weeks later.
The Membership numbers were healthy pending receipt of the subscriptions from Ireland. 8 new boats had been built which boosted the hull fee income.
Presenting the annual accounts he noted that the costs for Squibble, the Handbook and the postage were gradually increasing. There would also be an extra cost of the Website this year to ensure the Membership could update their own details and to enable the Forum to run smoothly. Sean Clarkson had been awarded an Honorium and the NSOA were very grateful for all the work he had carried out on the database and the Website.
In view of the fact all the moulds need replacing at some stage, and the increased costs of advertising, the NSOA publications and the website, it was unanimously agreed to recommend an increase in Subscriptions to £25 - full members and £20 associate members (and the Euro equivalent). This would be put to the Membership at the June AGM and subject to approval implemented in January 2009.
It was noted that many other organisations have a much higher cost of subscription without the benefit of the work the NSOA carries out.
Hon Membership Secretary’s Report
Sally Everitt gave her apologies but reported that there were 703 members - £1,400 was still owing in unpaid subscriptions. It was agreed it was important for Jill Fleming to know which Irish Fleets had not paid so she could chase them up and check that they had paid before they entered any Irish events.
Sally Everitt should hopefully have this information to hand on the database so that Fleet Captains can be emailed lists of unpaid members.
Marketing Sub-committee’s Report
David West was congratulated on the Y&Y advertising campaign. Lou happened to have a copy of the latest magazine to circulate to the committee!
David West requested all Fleet Captains to send him results as they happened so that he could then put them on the Y&Y website or turn them into newspaper copy with photographs to keep sending the message out that the Squib is an active and popular class.
Mike Barsby agreed to become Chairman of the Marketing sub-committee and liaise with David West and Pete Richards to organise further advertising/PR campaigns.
It was agreed Pete Richards would publish the details of who is on the various sub-committees in Squibble so the Membership could clearly see who was working hard behind the scenes on behalf of the NSOA. The Chairmen of the Sub-committees were already listed in the Squib Handbook.
(The Technical sub-committee is chaired by Malcolm Blackburn and consists of Tony Saltonstall, Mike Barsby, Bryan Riley & Pete Marchant)
(The Championship sub-committee is chaired by Max Evans, and consists of Fran Blackburn (blueprint creator), Jenny Riley, Lou, Chris Hogan and a member from the next Nationals Host Club - a Weymouth representative for 2009).
It was agreed it was important to confirm who was on the sub-committees each year so the Membership could see who was working on behalf of the NSOA.
New Car Sticker
Mike Barsby had worked hard to produce an excellent and altogether more eye catching new design and it was agreed to authorise expenditure of up to £600 inc. VAT so all Members would receive a new Car sticker (either when they enter the Nationals, Inlands or with the next edition of Squibble).
Pete Richards will devote a page to this in Squibble - extra stickers will be available to be purchased at £1 each.
RYA Dinghy Show
It was unanimously agreed that providing a volunteer workforce and overall leader could be found to man the NSOA stand - it was a good PR exercise to attend the show. It was agreed that the value could not be quantified but if Toby Taylor could be persuaded to mastermind attendance for 2009 then the Committee would approve expenditure to attend the show. The Chairman reported that he was still awaiting a quote for some lightweight steps in lieu of the heavy ones Lou was storing in Anglesey.
Peter Jackson undertook to investigate also attending the Southampton Boat show where prospective purchasers could be taken for a sail.
Squibble
Pete Richards reported that once again there was a dearth of copy for Squibble and it would be a very thin publication. There was a very poor response for reports from the Fleets and very few photos. The Committee considered the future of Squibble as without any copy there could be no magazine. It was agreed that it would be timely for the Marketing sub-committee to re-examine printing costs, and the pros and cons of changing to an A4 format. Squibble currently costs £2,700 per edition.
Squib Website
Sean Clarkson’s report was circulated to the Committee and is attached to these Minutes.
The invoice from 'E' was authorised and they would continue to host the Squib website, the on-line membership system and to manage the domain name.
The Committee thanked Sean Clarkson for all his hard work and excellent results on the database and the Website.
Technical sub-committee’s Report
Malcolm Blackburn reported that the committee had been working hard behind the scenes since the Inlands at Rutland.
The rewrite of the Class rules into the ISAF format had been completed and were now available on the RYA website for the Squib Class and would be on the Squib website shortly.
Malcolm Blackburn explained that the Technical sub-committee were concerned that the keel thickness tolerances were currently too large. He explained the historical reasons behind this (see attached report) and it was unanimously agreed that the relevant rule should be amended to protect the one design nature of the class. The amendment would need to be authorised by the Membership before seeking RYA approval and therefore it was proposed to present a new resolution at the AGM (see attached Notice of AGM). The Chairman would call a Poll so proxy votes could be sent in order to get the requisite two thirds majority to implement the rule change.
The jib trials were continuing and a progress report would be published in Squibble. As discussed at the last meeting, Malcolm Blackburn confirmed that Jib-furling trials were also planned.
It was agreed to add VHF equipment as optional equipment under the Class Rules - however, as a minor amendment this would not need Membership approval before the RYA accepted the change.
AGM 2008
See attached Notice.
Irish Forum
Jill Fleming was thanked for making the effort to fly over and attend the meeting and report on behalf of the Irish Forum.
Any Other Business
Mike Barsby said that Rutland were hoping to host the Special Olympics in July 2009 and if they were successful they would need to borrow approximately 30 Squibs.
Colin Norman was hoping for a good attendance for the East Coast Championships over the Bank Holiday w/e - a lot of hard work and preparation had been put in by the Medway Club.
It was agreed that the Notice of AGM needed to be received by the Membership 28 days before the AGM which meant there would have to be a separate mailshot. It was agreed to investigate using the Website to satisfy the Notice period in future to reduce the additional mailing costs.
It was agreed future Meetings would be held at The Naval Club, Hill Street, Mayfair - not only was it considerably cheaper but it was also a more convenient location.
Next meeting to be held on Monday 10th November, 5 pm.
There being no further business the Meeting ended at 2000 hours.
Lou Bibby
Hon Secretary 18th May 2008