Present:
President: Andy Denison
Secretary: Robert Deaves
Committee: Marc Allain des Beauvais, Rolf Elsässer, Philip Baum.
Over 100 Finn sailors and a few other supporters
The President welcomed everybody to the meeting.
1. Minutes of last AGM
The minutes were approved.
2. Matters Arising
None
3. President's Report
The President reported that after three years of organisation and sorting out containers we had finally arrived in Barbados with more entries than initially expected. The President alluded to the rum punch induced decision by competitors to choose Barbados and a naivety in assessing the logistical problems that would be posed.
Container Organisation
The President thanked Ray New for organising the containers, a task that massively exceeded what was envisaged. There was large spontaneous applause for Ray and the President presented Ray with a framed montage of photos of Finn sailing.
Finn World Masters Events
The President mentioned that 355 Finns went to the FWM at Garda in 2016. In 2018 in El Balis there will also be two course areas and he asked competitors to be patient with the problems associated with attracting such large fleets.
Commenting on the unfortunate clash with the Euro Cup event this year, which is not under the control of the IFA, the President recommended that the Finn Masters adopt a European Championship.
As regards future events outside Europe, the President indicated that there had been interest from Queensland, Australia and elsewhere and that for 2019 he and Robert Deaves had visited Denmark and Malta although Malta has since withdrawn their bid. The President also indicated that most of the visiting costs were now absorbed by the potential candidate club.
Finn Masters
The President welcomed the many new faces to the Finn World Masters and mentioned the sad demise of some, two of whom had been commemorated by the British Team and other sailing friends earlier in the week on the beach.
FWM Magazine
The President proposed a huge vote of thanks to Robert Deaves (to much applause) for the superb job that he has been doing promoting the class and producing the FWM Magazine. He asked that sailors contribute editorial and alert potential advertisers.
Website
The website has been upgraded and the President asked people to refer to it for information about the Masters. It was now hosted in USA in the same place as the IFA website. He thanked Jan Kingma, from the Netherlands, for providing the graphics for the FWM Entry Lists.
4. Election of Officers
Marc Alain des Beauvais and Andy Denison terms of office had now come to an end and both were willing to be re-elected. Both were re-elected to much applause.
5. Masters Fee
The President stated that it was necessary to increase the Fee for attending a FWM event from the €20 which was agreed in 2014 to €30. The only income is a £1,800 contribution from IFA and the Masters Fee although this year a small profit was made on the Torbole Triumph book. The main cost is the magazine (€3,500). The extra money is needed to enable Robert Deaves to maintain the high standard of promotional work. Also the class lost money on the Torbole FWM event as the Club had not paid some of the Masters fees and there is little sponsorship income. The cost of visits to bid clubs is shared with the bid club.
Will Patten queried whether €30 would be enough and asked that rather than keep coming back and asking for more the fee be set at €40.
In response to a question about one off costs, the President indicated that this year two half models were needed instead of the normal one and in 2020 more medals would be needed. The President also said that it was difficult to fix a budget as the fixed costs were the magazine and other costs were fluid. Also the income is unknown and is dependent on entries.
The meeting approved the increase to €40 without any dissent.
6. FWMC Contract
The President stated that a lot of work had been carried out on enhancing the contract, which is signed by the host club which is based on trust that they will deliver as promised.
No problems are expected at El Balis and the plan is to collect the Masters Fee in advance of the event.
7. Masters European Championship
The President indicated that in the past he had not wanted to dilute the FWM but it was now time to embrace a FWM European Championship and build on the Euro Cup hosted in Hungary. It is proposed to hold the Europeans after 1 September each year with bids to be received and voted on at the AGM along with the FWM events. A sailor suggested that the vote for a Europeans should not be held at the same time as the vote for the WC. This suggestion did not find much support. Final details will be worked out throughout the year.
In response to Howard Sellars’ question as to whether a Europeans would lead to more FWMs outside Europe, the President indicated that a lot more work needed to be undertaken on the container issue and that the majority of FWM events would continue to be in Europe. Europeans would be held naturally in Europe. A bid has been received from Split for a FWM Europeans and strong interest has been received from Australia and Thailand for a FWM.
On a show of hands the meeting voted in favour of the adoption of an annual FWM EC.
8. Financial Report
The accounts are prepared for each calendar year, none were presented at the AGM as the year end had been changed to fall in line with the IFA accounting year.. The President indicated that as of that day there was €7989 in the account including the FWM Fees for Barbados but seven sailors had not yet paid their fees. A total of €1500 was owed from Circlo vela Torbole and despite the best efforts of the FWM and IFA to recover this, nothing had been forthcoming and so the Finns will not be returning there until the fee is paid. The FWM is also owed €740 by advertisers which is expected to be recovered without difficulty.
9. Website & Magazine
It remains the plan to keep the FWM Magazine separate from Finnfare and to use the website as the prime source of information and to allow Robert Deaves to continue to use his creativity to promote the class.
10. Southern Hemisphere
The President reported that Australia is very keen to host a FWM but he had asked for a full feasibility study to be carried out including container costs from around the World. The President allowed David Bull from the Royal Queensland YC to make a short presentation about the sailing conditions and infrastructure at Brisbane during which he indicated there was a world class facility and RQYC had been voted as Australian Club of the year. Winds would be in the 15-20 knot range. There is a container port and international airport nearby. He suggested an event in February so that boats could return to Europe for their season although May would be very good with lighter winds.
Competitors suggested other venues including Dubai and Thailand.
The FWM Committee will investigate the feasibility of events in the Southern Hemisphere and it was suggested that the committee view any proposals prior to them taking the floor for a bid.
11. Bids for 2019
Full details of the bids had been previously published on the FWM website and the President requested that presentations be very brief.
Masala, Sicily, Italy
There were no representatives of the bid club present. The President presented the slides from Masala with additional comments from Lanfranco Cirillo who was asked about the wine - very good - and recovery of fees from Torbole - will assist.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars Hall and Otto Strandvig from the Royal Danish Yacht Club made a brief presentation and answered competitors’ questions about likelihood of fog - zero, whether Maersk (largest shipping company in the world based in Denmark) would be able to provide sponsored containers? - not yet asked but hopefully yes’ Water temperature? - 16-18°C.
On a show of hands which were counted by several people the vote was
Masala - 47
Copenhagen - 55
The President declared the result and asked if there were any objections with the show of hands vote - one objection who suggested there should be a different voting process.
The President asked if the meeting approved the vote.
There was general approval that the vote was as stated so the 2019 FWM will be at Copenhagen
12. AOB (raised more than 24 hours before the meeting)
Ladies Programme
The President reported that Liz Burrell has offered to run a Ladies Programme at future FWM. Her offer was greeted with applause and approved.
Collection
The President introduced Susan Burgess and requested that competitors made a contribution into the bucket she would be taking around during the event for a donation to the beach party that has worked tirelessly during the OK Worlds and the FWM launching and recovering boats. The Finn contribution will be combined with that from the OKs and presented at the Prizegiving.
Container Loading - Friday
Ray New explained in detail the arrangements for loading containers and Customs so that the majority of the containers can be sealed before the Closing Ceremony and Prizegiving at 1930 on Friday, with those seeking specific approval being sealed by 10am on Saturday.
13. Date of Next Meeting
The next AGM will be held on Wednesday, 23 May 2018 at Club Náutio El Balis, Spain.
14. Close
The President declared the meeting closed at 11.00
