Minutes of 2024 AGM Date: Friday 7 June 2024 at 18.00 hours Venue: Spinnakers Suite : Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
Present for the Committee : Ed Tuite Dalton : Chair George Love : Vice Chair/Acting Membership Secretary Jenny Ball : Events Secretary David Ball : Training Rep. Nigel James : Treasurer Liam Thom : Webmaster Angus Cook : Ctte. Member Yvonne Pike : Magazine Editor Present representing Windsport: Tom Phipps Also present: Approx. 37 active members Apologies for absence were received from ctte members: Liam Bunclark Andrew Berisford : (Membership Secretary in absentia)
MATTERS DISCUSSED
The meeting commenced with a ‘Welcome’ to all attendees from Chairman Ed and thanks for attending the AGM in the 46th year of the Class.
1.00 Minutes of 2023 AGM held at TBYC on 15 July 2023 1.01 The minutes of the 2023 AGM had been previously published on the website for all members to review. 1.02 All in attendance accepted them as a true record of matters discussed. The motion to accept was proposed by Mark Aldridge and seconded by John Pearce. The motion was carried nemcon.
2.00 Matters Arising from 2023 AGM 2.01 Ed noted that there were two matters arising, namely: -the use of alternative fibrefoam battens -a proposal to introduce a “Classic Boat’ trophy. On the former, Ed advised the meeting that the ctte. had, in conjunction with Tom from Windsport, carried out an extensive investigative review of the use of such battens. The outcome of this was not to progress their use for a variety of technical, supply and cost reasons. A full report of the review would be published in the next magazine for information to all members. ETD thanked Tom for his considerable and detailed input into the review. On the latter, Ed confirmed that the ctte. had, by a majority vote, agreed to award new trophies at the Nationals and Sport Nationals for the first ‘Classic’ boat. A ‘Classic’ boat to be defined as one with a sail number below 2015.
3.00 Chairman’s Report 3.01 Ed noted with pleasure the full calendar of events that had taken place over the last twelve months with good attendances at both summer and winter events. The present attendance of 45 boats at this weekend’s nationals was a superb turnout and it was very good to see a number of competitors attending their first nationals. 3.02 Ed offered a vote of thanks for the support received in the past year from: - George in the role of Acting Secretary (whilst Andrew is away on the RTW Clipper Race) and for arranging the class’s exhibition stand at the RYA Dinghy Show. -Yvonne as our superb wordsmith and the production 2 informative and artistic magazines. -Webmaster Liam for managing a website the envy of many sailing associations. -Events Secretary, Jenny, for the tireless hard work in organizing superb events at great venues with brilliant management and all the associated publicity via social media and regular e-newsletters. -Treasurer, Nigel, for keeping the finances in great order and providing spare parts support at events to keep sailors on the water. -Angus who had joined the committee and provided invaluable help and expertise on technical matters. -David for organizing class training days which had been well attended and proved beneficial to new and more experienced sailors alike. 3.03 Ed noted the Dartfest event that had taken place and had been organized by Windsport in May, the purpose of which was to bring Dart sailors (both 15s and 18s) together for more fun and social sailing and to include those outside of the racing sphere. 3.04 Ed confirmed that a ‘Young Guns’ Nationals trophy for the first 19-25 year old sailor had been instigated, the first to be awarded at this event.
4.00 Secretary’s Report 4.01 George outlined the work he had been carrying out from a list that Andrew had left him to follow up in his absence. This included: -35 plus members still paying into the wrong bank account. This had now been reduced to only 3 and for whom the association had no up to date contact details. - updating paying date for subs by Standing Order on or around the beginning of January. -following up lapsed members to ask them to rejoin. -administration of new members. -management of the online Members’ Database. 4.02 George offered his thanks to those with whom he had been in contact for expeditiously addressing their membership matters. He also noted the interesting and lovely conversations he had had with members on the telephone and in emails. 4.03 The current membership details were summarized: - 179 Active members (paid up to date) -10 Inactive members (recently lapsed and not rejoined -30 new members in last 12 months -14 members left (sadly including 1 death) 4.04 Clubs. Class members are spread over 42 UK sailing clubs. The top 5 clubs by membership were: -Marconi (22) -Shanklin(20) -NDYC (17) -TBYC (13) -Draycote (11) There are a further: -5 clubs with 6-9 members -6 clubs with 4-5 members -5 clubs with 2-3 members -20 clubs with 1 member 4.05 George expressed special thanks to treasurer, Nigel, for his help in tracking subscription payments.
5.00 Treasurer’s Report 5.01 Nigel presented a summarized table of accounts and confirmed that the Association was in excellent financial health to the tune of £19500.00. This represented an approx. increase over 2023 of £2000 but noted that some 2024 expenses (a further magazine edition) had yet to be accounted for. However, the increase in membership numbers and reduced cost of Dinghy Show had contributed to an increased balance. 5.02 Nigel advised that, in view of the current status of membership subscriptions, he would be taking steps to close two redundant bank accounts (TSB & Santander) and assimilate all funds into the present live NatWest account. 5.03 The overall position represented a stable financial year in difficult times and confidence in the future financial viability of the association. 5.04 It was not necessary to consider any increase in membership subscriptions from the current £20 per annum.
6.00 Election of Officers and Committee 6.01 All current serving members had proposed to restand for election. A show of hands from members present unanimously carried the proposal. 6.02 The committee members re-elected were as follows: -Chair : Ed Tuite Dalton -Vice Chair/Acting Membership Secretary : George Love (noting that Andrew Berisford had indicated his wish to resume his Secretary role on returning to UK) -Treasurer : Nigel James -Technical Rep. : Fraser Manning -Webmaster : Liam Thom -Magazine Editor : Yvonne Pike -Events Secretary : Jenny Ball -Training Rep. : David Ball -Historian & Archivist : Bob Carter -Ctte. Member 1 : Angus Cook -Ctte. Member 2 : Liam Bunclark 6.03 Ed indicated his wish to step down in the coming year after 7 years as chair and asked if anyone would like to take on the role to make contact. 6.04 Nigel indicated that he would be happy to step down as treasurer if anyone would like to take over the role.
7.00 Windsport Update 7.01 Tom Phipps advised that Windsport were in a good business position to maintain support to the class in terms of new boats and spare parts. This was largely as a result of developing new business streams. 7.02 Sales of new boats were currently slow with only one new boat this year with one further boat in production. A 6 week lead time was currently needed for production of a new boat. 7.03 A new sales website has been launched with promo video to reach out to sailors outside the racing community. 7.04 A number of supply chain issues around low volume items were being resolved to maintain Windsport expectations for new parts, notably spars and masts. 7.05 The ‘Dartfest’ week had been a great success and it was hoped to make this an annual event with a bit more notice for future years to encourage more boats to take part. 7.06 In response to a question from the floor, Tom undertook to investigate initiatives that might allow more boat sales enblock.
8.00 Proposals to the Association 8.01 None tabled
9.00 Events Secretary’s Report 9.01 Jenny offered thanks to all clubs that had hosted events throughout the year and expressed a wish that said clubs encourage more home sailors to take part. 9.02 All TT events through to March 2025 had been agreed with host clubs. 9.03 The 2025 Nationals would take place at RYYC at Bridlington from 11th -13 July. 9.04 Venues for 2026 & 2027 Nationals had yet to be confirmed. It was planned to return to Windsport for the 2028 Nationals which would celebrate 50 years of the class.
10.00 Any Other Business 10.01 In response to a question from the floor, George advised that members could request details from him on fellow club members who were paid up members of the association. 10.01 Yvonne made a plea for more magazine articles on any aspect of Dart 15 sailing from club members. 10.03 Derek James kindly proposed a vote of thanks to all the ctte. members which was met with applause from all those present.
Meeting closed 19.00 hours
Distribution: -Dart 15 Committee Members -All members via website publication -Tom Phipps : Windsport
Ref: GL/18-06-24 |
