Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Irish Multihull Association held on Friday 31 August 2001 at Strangford Lough Yacht Club.

The meeting opened at 21:05 with E Taylor taking the Chair in the absence of I Beshoff, Chairman. P O’Sullivan was also present.

1. CHAIRPERSON’S ADDRESS

With no Chairman present, the Chairperson’s Address was not read.

2. MINUTES OF LAST YEAR’S AGM

The minutes of last year’s AGM held in the Conrad Hilton Hotel, Dublin were read. These were proposed by D Mangan and seconded by J McGuire. Accepted.
APOLOGIES – J Nixey, J Mullan, D Doyle, J O’Halloran, M O’Halloran, J Sheeran and P Kernohan’s late arrival. (He arrived at 2205.) These were accepted.

3. TREASURER’S REPORT

There being no OHP, copies of the Treasurer’s Report were passed around and time given to study them. D Rennie raised an objection about the validity of the membership list and P O’Sullivan agreed to check. D Rennie suggested an alternative to payment of subscription. Some discussion was had but no concrete proposals were made. Area/Club reps are responsible for encouraging subs. New members would not incur a penalty, £20 at any time of year. The Treasurer’s report gave nothing extraordinary with 54 paid up members and subs slow to come in. There were no questions regarding the report, so the report was proposed by D McHugh and seconded by R Doyle.

4. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

4.1 Chairman – D McHugh proposed by G Dunne and seconded by M O’Halloran. Elected and joined the panel.
4.2 Hon Secretary – No nominations, E Taylor agreed to remain and this was accepted.
4.3 Hon Treasurer – P Kernohan was proposed by P McDowell and seconded by J McMinn. P Kernohan put a condition on his nomination - £20 subs if paid on 1 January, £30 if paid at the first event of the season. P O’Sullivan expressed a desire to stand down after 6 years and the members gave appreciation. After some discussion E Taylor proposed the late penalty be applied and P McDowell suggested that a cut off date of 31 March be applied. After 1 April the subs would be increased to £30. N Mangan suggested that the Committee be given the discretion to round the figures up to the nearest Euros after 1 January 2002. N Mangan seconded the proposal. Accepted.
4.4 Training Officer – this vacant post received no nominations. N Mangan questioned the need for a Training Officer and felt that training could be organized at Club level. It was generally agreed that this could be carried out by area reps and invites sent by specific clubs in connection with any training events. This was change of Constitution that the majority voted for and the motion was passed.
4.5 REGIONAL REPS
4.5.1 North Dublin – No nomination, S O’Gormon agreed to stand.
4.5.2 South Dublin – D Doyle proposed by J McGuire, but D Mangan disagreed. E Taylor suggested that the post be left vacant until they could get together to nominate a rep.
4.5.3 North – D Rennie proposed by P Kernohan and seconded by J Mullan. Accepted.
4.5.4 South – No nomination, J Nyham agreed to stand.
4.5.5 West – K O’Byrne proposed by M Henderson and seconded by J Murphy. Accepted.

5. REVIEW OF TRAVELLER’S TROPHY

The list for the Traveller’s Trophy was presented in the August Newsletter of the paid up members at that time. N Mangan was thanked for producing results for the events. The Committee had changed the format at the start of the year to encourage people to attend – six events, no discard. There were in fact only five events this year with the ‘Poly Paddle’ being cancelled. There were problems with Foot and Mouth this year and D Mangan proposed that there be allowed a discard for this year only. D Taylor seconded the motion and it was accepted. Next year there will be five areas and five events with no discard. All these events will be organised by the regional rep and in conjunction with the IMA. There was some confusion around the ‘Open’ event, which D Mangan attempted to explain, but the situation remained confusing. It was suggested to nominate one event as the Open and be rotated provincially, but there were no formal proposals for this. D Taylor suggested that the Committee decide the venue of the Open. S O’Gormon brought up that he felt the scoring of the Traveller’s Trophy was inconsistent. The DNC score be based not on boats who appear at an event but on the total number who have competed at any TT event. A boat must have an IMA member on board to compete in any TT event. There was much discussion around the class of boat sailed in the TT but it was not possible to decide for this year. L Waugh suggested that advice should be sought. D McHugh suggested that the decision is left to the IMA Committee and there was further discussion. D Taylor said there were too many permutations and more confusion. E Taylor suggested for next year that if the skipper changes class mid-year the points are carried forward, with only one change allowed per year. The Committee can decide the finer details it the situation does arise. This was proposed by S O’Gormon and seconded by K O’Byrne and accepted.

6. DATE AND VENUE OF 2002 NATIONALS

Cork has requested the Nationals in 2003. S O’Gormon is to check if Skerries can host the Nationals in 2002. The Committee will finalise.

7. HANDICAP V FLEET RACING

E Taylor put this on the Agenda to be discussed at the Nationals. There was general discussion with a suggestion to have standardised sailing instructions. L Waugh expressed concern over handicapping and finishing places on the water when results are amalgamated. There were no general agreements and the Agenda moved on.

8. TIME LIMIT ON RACING

This was triggered by the Dart 16’s lack of results in Galway. D Mangan suggested a finishing time be set after the first boat in that particular class had finished. This could lead to a long wait for some classes of boats. P McDowell has been asked to look into the problem and work out a formula dependant on the length of race. D Mangan also suggested that, for eg with three races, hold the shortest race first and the longest last which allows the faster boats to go home after the longer race. There is more work to be done in this area.

9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

9.1 Belfast Lough Pursuit Race 2002 – P Waugh asked the IMA to include this race in its calendar. It is aimed at promoting Multihull sailing and will be charity based. All visitors are welcome and it will be approx 25 miles with eight Clubs to be taken in en route. There are no details as yet, but P Waugh will do the groundwork and confirm a date. It was also hoped to encourage RYA Sailability and disabled sailing. There was general agreement for this to be included in the calendar next year.
9.2 Rewording of Constitution – E Taylor explained each of the changes and it was agreed to accept all changes at once rather than individually. Proposed by D Mangan and seconded by P McDowell. All changes accepted and agreed.
9.3 Date of 2002 AGM – two suggestions were made: Friday night at the Nationals or Saturday 6pm at the Nationals (D Mangan) when more would be present. It was voted upon by a show of hands and Friday night won by a majority of 12 votes to 6. D Mangan’s point was noted. A suggestion was made to send a questionnaire out with subscriptions for a venue and time for the AGM for 2003.

The meeting closed at 10.30 pm.

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