Minutes of the Annual
General Meeting of the Class held at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, Woolverstone
at 1830 on Saturday
13 June 2009.
Present: R Tate, A R James, D Pearce, C Thomas, K Douglas, J Williams, R
Chenery,
D Kerridge, J Skellorn, R & J Bown, E Stamp, J Pack, D Sharps &
G Sutton (plus other members who joined during the meeting).
The Chairman, Cedric Thomas opened the meeting with a welcome to all
present.
1) Apologies had been received from
Simone Kennett, David Mayne, Charles Rice, Philip Mayhew, Charles Emmett, Ken
Stowe and Alan Williams.
2) Minutes of the 2008 Annual
General Meeting held at St Mawes on Friday 25 July 2008.
These had been circulated
and were approved and signed by the Chairman.
3) Matters arising from the Minutes.
Weighing the South West
Fleet. The Chairman said that it was the intention to weigh all the Fleet as
this became possible at the beginning and end of each season. He would report
further on this later in the meeting.
4) Chairman’s Report.
“On writing this Report, I find it difficult to realise that five years
have passed since Simone Kennett and I were elected Secretary and Chairman of
the Ajax Class. Alas the time has come to hand over these offices to the East
Coast Fleet.
The past year’s
highlight was that of welcoming eight boats from the East Coast Fleet to St
Mawes for the National Championships and Falmouth Week. Both events were
thoroughly enjoyed by all. Only two boats have travelled east for the 2009
Championships but at least we are represented.
The East Coast Fleet are
very keen to get all boats weighed. We have managed to weigh two boats – Athena
(920 kgs) D Liddington and Victory (880 kgs) now owned by Dr Mike Black and
having had quite a lot of work done to her this winter.
Turnouts for racing on
the East Coast seem to be better than in the South West where turnouts are
disappointing considering the number of boats based in St Mawes. We must hope
that this will improve as the season progresses. Roger Wood sailing Amalthea
dominated club racing in 2008 though on the East Coast no one boat seems to
dominate.
Mention should be made
of the acquisition by the East Coast Fleet of a load cell and our thanks for
being able to loan this to the South West Fleet.
I must thank my fellow
officers for their support over the past five years and say how much I have
enjoyed my time as Chairman. I look forward to many more years as part of the
Fleet.”
The meeting welcomed the report with acclamation.
5) Treasurer’s Report.
David
Pearce, on behalf of the Treasurer, said that the funds showed by the attached
accounts were now in excess of £3000. Subscriptions were £1000 and there was a
£50 Premium Bond prize. The decisions for the meeting were as follows:-
a) Should the subscription
rate of £12 be reduced?
b) Should we spend
money on the mould?
c) Should he make a
distribution of the funds to the local fleets?
The Chairman said that there was no demand
for new boats and therefore, in his personal opinion, spending cash on the mould
was unnecessary. Other members agreed. After debate it was proposed by D Sharps
and seconded by R Tate that there should be no change in the rate of
subscription and that funds be allowed to accumulate.
The accounts were approved with a vote of
thanks to David Liddington as Treasurer and to Anthony West as Auditor.
6) Election of Officers.
Chairman: Bob Tate
Secretary : Kelvin
These were proposed by John
Williams, seconded by Gordon Sutton and duly elected.
Treasurer: David Liddington Proposed John Williams, seconded by Tony James and duly
elected.
7) Any other business.
a) A vote of thanks from the membership was
expressed by Bob Tate to Cedric for his Chairmanship, wit and wisdom and to
Simone Kennett for her considerable work as Secretary. Cedric said he could not
have carried out his duties as Chairman without her help.
b) Tony James raised
the question of roller jibs. The meeting was unsure whether these were allowed
by the Rules. The Squibs had adopted them in order to have less wear and tear
to foresails. This gave sails a longer life but there may also be a reduction
in performance. Agreed to consider the Rules again.
c) David Kerridge
having crewed in the middle position that afternoon realised how uncomfortable
the cockpit coaming was for the middle crew member and said that a foam mould
permanently attached to the deck could ease this problem. Agreed
that he would devise a padded mould and that this would be trialled by the East
Coast Fleet on a local class rule basis.
d) Spinnaker chutes. Ewen
Stamp asked were these allowed. As no holes were permitted forward of the mast,
this would tend to exclude them. Tony James said that in the past, a previous
owner of Apollo had successfully used a nylon chute which laid
on the deck. It was likely to wear out spinnakers fairly quickly. No decision
was taken by the meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting
closed at 19.24 hrs.