2002
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
20th
July 2002, Athens, Greece
Minutes
Present:
Executive Committee: Philippe Rogge, President; Corinne Rolland-McKenzie
(Executive Director); Richard Hart (Chairman Technical Committee); 25
National Association Representatives and approximately 40 other members
of the class.
Apologies: Mark Hermann, Vice President Sailing, Martijn van Muyden,
Treasurer and Rolf Lenhert, Vice-President Masters.
1. NATIONAL CLASS ASSOCIATIONS
Voting
cards were distributed to the National Class Association representatives
based on the 2002 IFA dues received.
2.
MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING
The
minutes of the 2001 AGM were approved
3.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORTS
Verbal
reports were received from the President on behalf of the Vice President
Sailing and the Treasurer.
REPORT
OF
THE
IFA TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Refer to
Appendix A
COMPOSITION OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
In
addition to the existing members, Rodney Cobb from Pata Willetts has
been proposed by Richard Hart and approved by the Council.
4.
ACCOUNTS
(a)
The IFA accounts of 2001 (previously circulated) were approved.
5.
ELECTION OF MEMBERS TO IFA COMMITTEES
(a)
The members of the Executive Committee were unanimously approved
as follows
President Philippe
Rogge
Vice
President (Masters) Rolf Lehnert
Chairman
of Technical Committee Richard Hart
Secretary Corinne
Rolland-McKenzie
Mark
Hermann sent his resignation as Vice President Sailing. Ali Enver Adakan
from Turkey was elected unanimously to the post.
Clifton
Webb from New Zealand was elected unanimously to the position of
Vice-President Development, left vacant by John Callahan.
The
Executive Committee asked the council to include Robert Deaves in the
Executive Committee for his outstanding work and commitments with the
Finn class. His position in the Executive Committee is on an individual
basis.
The
council approved unanimously this decision.
(b)
The members of the technical Committee were unanimously approved
as follows:
Richard
Hart (chairman) Jan Björnberg
John
Driscoll David Howlett
Larry
Lemieux Walter Mai
Andrzej
Ostrowski Juri Saraskin
Miklos
Nemeth Tim Tavinor
Jan van
der Horst Rodney Cobb.
(c)
The Marketing Committee were unanimously approved as follows:
Robert
Deaves (Chairman)
Corinne
Rolland-McKenzie
Gerardo
Seeliger
Marc
Blees
6.
IFA CHAMPIONSHIPS
(a)
Update on preparations for the following IFA Championships:
(i)
2003 European Championship, Maarstrand, Sweden: dates suggested
are from the 5th to the 13th of June. These dates
have been chosen to fit between the Spa regatta and the Scandinavian
Championship.
(ii)
2003 Finn Gold Cup, Cadiz, Spain: dates are between the 13th
to the 24th of September. The executive Committee advised the
Council that this is an ISAF event and that the Finn Major Championship
rules may not be followed in their entirety. The Executive Committee
received permission from Council to deal directly with the ISAF and the
organisers in order to get a Championship as close as possible to the
Finn class rules.
(iii)
2004 Finn Gold Cup, Rio, Brazil: Mauricio Bueno, Brazilian Finn
secretary gave a report on the regatta. The FGC will held in Rio de
Janeiro early February, one week before Carnival. Organisers will
provide special rate for container transportation and housing for some
sailors.
(b)
Bids were received to host the following IFA Championships:
(i)
2004 Europeans
Bids were
received from La Rochelle, France and Balatonfured, Hungary. The council
voted 23 to 7 in favour of La Rochelle.
6.
IFA RULES AND CONSTITUTION
7.
(i)
RRS 42: After extensive discussion, the Council voted to retain
the existing rule allowing free pumping on the downwind legs over 15
knots. TC Chairman was given authority to make minor changes if
necessary, in order to align our rules with possible changes made to RRS
42 at the ISAF November meeting.
(ii)
Mast weight. The Technical Committee and the Executive Committee
recommended that no drastic change should be introduced before the start
of the next Olympiad. The council approved and requested TC to make a
comprehensive review of he mast rules over the next 2 years.
(iii)
Following recent changes in the RR of sailing, IFA would request
that the requirement to carry a protest flag and fitting be deleted from
IFA rules.
(iv)
Conflict of interest: The International Finn Association will
apply in its Championship rule, the ISAF rule forbidding a Jury Chairman
to be of same Nationality than the regatta organising country.
(v)
Ballot: The executive Committee asked for the right to refer to
ballot vote in case of important or urgent issues. Authority was given
by Council.
Appendix A
Technical Committee Chairman’s Report 2002
1. The Rule changes, which IFA Council asked for at the last
AGM, were passed by the ISAF Committee in November 2001:
• In-house measurement to be permitted at manufacturers’
premises for masts, booms, sails and rudders;
• Mast bearing play to be measured using the simple method
developed by Jüri Saraskin;
• Recommended standard dimensions provided for mast and boom
bearings and connection (so new equipment fits automatically);
• Revised Mast Labels; and
• The new pumping rule (when you go downhill in strong winds,
the Race Officer can let you get on with it).
Details
are on the IFA Website, and in the March 2002 Finnfare.
We
deliberately left the pumping flags in square brackets because we think
that it is the prerogative of the Racing Rules Committee or Race
Management Committee to coordinate flag use. They duly came back and
said that they would like us to use a yellow (Q) flag as the pumping
flag, but don’t want to endorse a “Stop unrestricted pumping” flag, on
the grounds of complication. It seems permissible to include a “Stop
pumping” flag in the Sailing Instructions.
2. The racing rules were altered last year so that yachts of
less than 6 metres in length need not display a protest flag. We can, if
we wish, remove the requirement that we have a protest flag and fitting
in the boat.
Approval
needed
to drop
requirement to have a protest flag.
3. Peter Hinrichsen (who measured with Jüri Saraskin for the
Seniors at Marblehead last year) has taken a keen interest in the
Lamboley test over many years. At major championships we use the swing
test apparatus that he constructed. He has made some useful
recommendations to promote uniformity in taking these measurements.
Approval needed to insert requirements about test
details.
4. Tim Tavinor has reported that a number of Devoti boat
customers have asked whether Tacktick electronic compasses can be
fitted. At present they are not allowed, and enquiries that I made last
autumn suggested that Finn sailors (being Finn sailors...) would opt for
the large model used in the Star class. At the moment, this equipment
seems significantly more expensive than the present set-up of spherical
magnetic compass plus electronic starting timer. (If and when this type
of equipment is permitted, the “display heading only” version would be
required, having no other functionality except as a clock).
Endorsement needed
for no
action at present.
5. At present, there does not seem to be wide support for
changing to round booms. (They remain on my “wish list”).
6. Discussions at ISAF last Monday (15/07/02) suggest that
their Racing Rules Committee may be considering substantial changes to
the standard pumping rule. Next year’s Olympic Classes’ World
Championships will need Sailing Instructions that are standardised as
much as possible, which may make it desirable for some rewriting of our
own pumping rule (without changing the basic ideas laid down by IFA
Council (AGM).
Authority sought to make minor alterations, as
required for consistency with ISAF work in November 2002.
7. Masts. Currently we have wing masts, which are
expensive to build because of the very precise positioning required for
the reinforcing fibres. They are also an engineering nightmare, because
the wing shape is not good for resisting torsion.
At the
AGM last year in Marblehead, the Technical Committee were instructed to
look into the possibility of changing the rules to encourage cheaper
masts. In particular, Tim Tavinor told AGM that he had been in touch
with manufacturers who could sell circular section masts at about half
the present price. Any action that we take must be fair to the sailors
who currently own wing masts, and to the manufacturers who have spent
money developing today’s “best sellers”.
There are
three main options:
1. Do nothing.
2. Nominate a standard design from approved manufacturers.
3. Specify tighter restrictions on for-and-aft dimensions, so
that the masts would be somewhere near round. Review requirements for
athwartship dimensions;
Option 1
leaves us committed to masts, which seem un-necessarily expensive.
Option 2
would be very difficult to control, and against the practice of the
class developed over many years.
Option 3
could be worded something like “the fore and aft dimension of the mast
shall not exceed its athwartship dimension by more than 25 mm at any
point along its length”. A way to implement this option would be to
allow the new specification masts a small weight advantage, for example
7ּ5 kg. instead of 8 kg, and to allow the wing masts to continue, but
not for the 2008 Olympics and major qualifying regattas from 2007
onward.
This
year, I have yet again sought opinion on the whole matter, and my chief
conclusion is that opinion is very varied. One potential supplier
suggests that good cheap (round) Finn Masts could be made at 6.5 kg, but
a major manufacturer with a track record of 400+ masts would like the
current weight limit increased to 8.5 kg. Another major supplier
(200+) states that his current (wing) masts weigh 7.0 – 7.5 kg before
correction. Similarly a major supplier of hulls believes that the future
of the class is being jeopardised by the high cost of wing masts, while
a mast supplier writes “I was at the Paris boat show last December and
the interest in the Finn was outstanding. I believe that is because we
have a truly modern looking boat. When I watch people feeling the
contours of the wing mast I realise that this is one of the facets of
the modern Finn. Now that the class has accepted the cost of a wing mast
I still see no reason to make a change; as they say ‘if it ain’t broke
don’t fix it’.” My own conversations with club sailors suggest that they
have not willingly “accepted the cost of a wing mast”.
In the
light of the diverse opinions expressed within TC and the class as a
whole, I recommend that we make no change until after the next Olympics.
I seek support for further investigation of the Option 3 outlined above.
Votes
needed on submission. (Netherlands Finn Association).
The class officials and TC members are very anxious to
consider the views of all members in major decisions of this nature: the
AGM is held at the Finn Gold Cup because this is the best international
forum for all countries’ representatives, but there is concern that the
opinions of “club sailors” or “recreational sailors” may receive
disproportionately less weight than those of sponsored hot shots.
8. The ISAF has now developed a standard class rules (SCR)
format, which can be seen on their website. They are anxious that
Olympic Classes should adopt this format and the Technical Department
very recently sent us a basic draft for our comments. Your Executive had
queries about various matters, including the proposed timescale. I had a
most positive meeting with Simon Forbes (Head of Technical Department)
on 15/07/02 at which all our queries were satisfactorily dealt with.
This
exercise is not intended to introduce rule changes that alter the Finn.
However the thinking behind the ISAF standard class rules is that
un-necessary rules should not be included. We could, for example,
consult with sailmakers and others about whether we actually need the
rules concerning sail reinforcement.
I am
enthusiastic about this project and wish to receive IFA Council
endorsement for its development (by TC working closely with ISAF). The
proposed timescale would make a detailed draft available to the class
next year, and a final draft presented for your approval in Summer 2004,
ready for final submission to ISAF in November 2004, at the start of the
next Olympiad.
Authority
sought
to
progress as outlined.
9. A number of new ideas are being suggested by the sailors at
the Europeans and FGC. Most are related to measurement procedures and
race format. The proposed timescale for the rewrite should allow for
good discussion and agreement about these ideas. One matter directly
concerning all our boats is that a number of sailors (and Jüri Saraskin)
would like us to have a stop at the top of the mast, to make it
impossible to have the sail too high.
10. I would like to pay tribute to the work of our measurers
during the last few years, and particularly to the work of regatta
measurers such as the team at this regatta. Congratulations are due in
particular to Jüri Saraskin, whose leadership in this field continues to
give us the foundation for fair racing in a comparatively painless
manner.
Richard Hart
TC Chairman
2002 ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
Athens, Greece
AGENDA
20th of July, 2002 (TBC)
1. National Class Associations
To receive the list of
National Class Associations and the Treasurer’s statement of the NCA
Representatives’ voting powers, based on the IFA dues received.
2. Minutes from the last meeting
To approve the minutes from the 2001
IFA AGM (previously circulated)
3. Accounts
a.
To approve the summary of the 2001 accounts
b.
To approve the budget for 2002
4. Elections of Members to IFA Committees
a.
To elect the members of the Executive Committee
b.
New members:
a.
VP Sailing (resignation of Mark Hermann, to be replaced by Ali
Enver Adakan, TUR)
b.
VP Development (Clifton Webb, NZL)
c.
To elect the members of the Technical Committee (Rodney Cobb from
PATA as new member)
d.
To elect the members of the Marketing Committee (to elect Robert
Deaves as Vice-President Marketing = change of constitution)
5. Executive Committee Reports
a.
the President
b.
the Vice-President Sailing
c.
the Vice-President Development
d.
the Vice-President Masters
e.
the Treasurer
f.
the Chairman of the Technical Committee
6. IFA Championships
a. To receive an update on preparations
for the following IFA Championships:
(i)
2003 European Championship
(ii)
2003 Finn Gold Cup, Cadiz
(iii)
2004 Finn Gold Cup, Brazil
b. To receive
bids to host the following IFA Championships:
2004 European
Championship: proposals from La Rochelle, France and Lake Balaton,
Hungary
7. IFA rules and Constitution
a.
Racing : to discuss and vote on the following points:
(i)
rule 42 diverse proposals
(ii)
mast weight (proposals by Jan van der Horst )
(iii)
Protest flag
(iv)
ISAF proposal to change IFA rules to suit ISAF rules format
(v)
Enforcing ISAF rule regarding conflict of interest at Major
events: the Jury Chairman cannot be of the same Nationality than the
organising country.
(vi)
Ballot
8. Any other business
To be circulated to: National Finn
Association Secretaries
IFA Executive
Committee
IFA Website
