Dear sailors, after a very amazing Formula 18 Worlds in Kiel there was also a formal meeting while you did measurement and registration. The minutes from this Council meeting, held on July 12th, are now online. Lots of things have been discussed so there are many interesting things for all of you.
International Formula 18 Catamaran Association – Council Meeting
12th July 2015. Vaasa Hall, Kieler Yacht Club
Present IF18CA President & Sec Gen, Chairmen and sailor representatives from:
Sweden, GBR, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia, USA, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Australia, Austria, Hungary, Argentina, USA, Italy.
- Welcome by the President
The Council was greeted by the President who stated that this was the largest number of National Class Associations (NCA’s) that had attended a Council meeting. He thanked Ireland for the work that they had done in 2014 producing such a friendly regatta with strong local support. He also thanked the German NCA for all their work and sailors were assured of a first class regatta in 2015. - Apologies
French NCA emailed on 11th July to say that they could not provide a representative. - Approval of minutes of Council Meeting December 2013
The Council approved the minutes with Netherlands proposing and GBR seconding. The meeting was unanimous with the exception of French NCA who emailed to reject. - Approval of Auditors report
The President thanked the auditors for their detailed and thorough work. The approval of the report was proposed by Denmark and seconded by USA and the meeting was unanimous in acceptance. The French NCA rejected the report. - Approval on Constitutional change, following Auditors Report
The change was required following the agreement of Council to accept the Auditors Report. The approval was proposed by Netherlands, supported by Finland. The meeting approved unanimously but the French NCA added an email amendment that was received too late for discussion as many Council members had not received the amendment before the meeting. Therefore the French NCA rejected the Constitutional change. - Notification of Tow Line change
Change to Rule C.5.2.a.1 was approved by electronic voting earlier in the year. - Acknowledgement of work by Thomas Pierlet
The President detailed to long service that Thomas had given to the IF18CA. He presented a bottle of claret to Patrick Demesmaeker (Belgian Chair) to be passed onto Thomas with sincere thanks from the Council. - Approval of F18 Rule consistency
This subject led to a long debate. There was general agreement following on from Netherlands first proposals. Sec General thought that there had been far too much talk of change and that this was deterring further investment by sailors. The builders agreed with his approach. He thought that the “box rule” was still flexible enough for further development. The reasons for consistency were discussed, performance, cost and time scale introduction. It was complex matter but in general Council were supportive of limitations of development staying within the Box Rule, the proposal by Sweden, seconded by Netherlands was passed by all NCA’s present. - Update on Worlds 2015
It was reported that the measurement had gone very smoothly, this had been a cause for concern but due to the efforts of Chief measurer, Pierre-Charles Barraud all matters were handled satisfactorily. He was thanked for his efforts. All members of Council were assured of a first class regatta. - Update on 2016
Cruz Gonzales updated the Council on activity and with efforts from Martin Vanzulli and the Club the prospects looked very good. Sec. General asked again that all NCA’s let him know likely ports for container shipment. - Update on Europeans Brest 2016
The President and Sec. General had a very successful and friendly meeting in Brest in January with the regatta team, being the USAM Club and the Brest City representatives. All arrangements were in line with the required F18 Championship Rules time scale. It was agreed that the Regatta Chairman and the Sec. General would be working on the NoR in the Autumn, so all matters were resolved before Christmas. The President will be working in Brest later in July as Race Officer for EUROSAF Youth regatta and will continue detailed discussions at that time. The Council will be kept informed of all developments. - Decision on Worlds 2017 venue
It was disappointing that there was not a representative from Spain to promote their bid. The details, under BidBooks, had been on the IF18CA website for some time. After discussions with USA and Denmark, the Council voted heavily in favour of Denmark, votes from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Argentina, USA, GBR, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Estonia, Finland and Australia, with just Italy present and voting, Spain and French NCA’s emailed voting for Spain. - Advance notice of Finnish application for Worlds 2018
It was agreed by Finland that the decision to go to Denmark in 2017 would make their bid more difficult, but further discussions would take place over the months to come. - Coaching 2015
Sec General detailed the current position. After earlier discussion in the year, it was agreed that SIX NCA’s would be receiving EUR 300 each. Only French NCA has notified of coaching completion. Monies will be forwarded in due course. - Report on Marketing and Communication
The new website had been very well received, Visits were up, 6000/7000 a month, and the content was good. Facebook had 3000 active followers. Jasper van Staveren again asked for far more support with material from NCA’s. He asked that all details of F18 Nationals are sent to him so he can report. The quest to find more advertising and sponsors continues. The monies that had come from the generous three lead sponsors, Nacra, Dimension Polyant and Contender had been used to promote dinners for the sailors while in Kiel. Discussion continued concerning “cash creating” opportunities. The calendars were well received in the first year achieving a break even, but there were real opportunities to pursue further if photographic content can be aligned more to each nation. Steve Piche, USA, suggested to buy exposure on Facebook and to have messages broadcasted more wide. Steve did this to get more exposure for their Great Texas 300 race 2015. Penny Wyon, Denmark, commented on that suggestion that having a wider audience will not automatically provide more income for the class, but will cost the Class money at this time. More focus on getting sponsors with the current audience and exposure should be the main goal for now. No decisions were taken but a wide ranging and positive discussion took place. - Notice placed on Information Board
2015 Worlds – KYC Schilksee
Notice to F18 World Council Members
World Council Members are kindly reminded a meeting is scheduled on Friday afternoon by 18:00 in Vaasa Hall.On the agenda:
– Discussion on broadening decision making strategy
– AOBInternational Formula 18 Catamaran Association – Council Meeting
17th July 2015. Vaasa Hall, Kieler Yacht ClubPresent: IF18CA President, Chairmen and sailor representatives from:
Sweden, GBR, Netherlands, USA, Ireland, Norway, Germany, Austria.
On a proposal from NED, seconded by IRL, WC wishes to create working groups in order to support Class executive, and to ask NCA chairmen to apply or to nominate representatives to work on:
– Marketing
– Technical
– F18 Rules - The meeting asked that it be minuted that their thanks and those of all F18 sailors was passed to the Executive for the work that they had done for the If18CA.
- As there was no other business, the meeting closed.