International Raceboard Class

Piotr Hlavaty – committee
Fernando Consorte – committee
Ceri Williams – secretary (non-voting)
Marc Cardon – committee, proxy to Ceri Williams
Murat Tuten – committee, email vote
Jean-Francois Reggio – committee, email vote
National Class Association delegates present for:

ALG, ARG, AUS, CZE, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, NED, SVK, TUN

Email vote from ITA

17 votes in the election; 14 votes for any discussion item under AOB.

Paul Leone, class chairman, participated in the meeting via skype.

Ceri Williams chaired the meeting

2. Minutes of the previous meeting were approved; no matters arising.

3. Chairman’s Report none given, Paul Leone gave apologies for his absence in the meeting.

4. Financial Statement

Ceri Williams gave a brief report to the meeting. The 2014 Annual Accounts were not yet available but it was estimated that the class would produce a similar surplus in 2014 to that produced in 2013.

The surplus was after the class contribution to the overall IWA administrative costs.

The accumulated surplus is estimated to be between 5,000 and 6,000 euro.

5. Class Rules - there are no proposals to amend the Class Rules.

6. Class Championship Rules (CCR) – there are no proposals to amend CCR.

7. Future Championships and venues

2016 Worlds. A lengthy discussion took place concerning the event provisionally approved for Brisbane, Queensland, AUS. It was agreed that the event was not a realistic venue without the provision of charter and it was confirmed that several options were being considered. Ceri Williams also confirmed that the absolute deadline for exchanging contracts is be August 1st. Charter would first be made available to overseas competitors and a fair allocation system would be implemented by the class committee. The dates proposed by the organizer are 20th to 26th November.

2016 Europeans. Brest, Brittany, FRA, is confirmed pending contract being finalized. The dates proposed are 15th to 20th August, but could be moved one week either side. Should Australia pull out of hosting the Worlds, the organizer of Europeans will take up this championship, and an alternative organizer found for the Europeans.

2015 Masters Worlds. As a condition for hosting this championship the Cagliari Windsurfing Club required the event to run concurrently with the T293 Worlds. Dates are 24th to 31st October – and a signed contract is pending.

8. Elections

The current committee were unanimously re-elected.

9. Any Other Business - including the following discussion items

(i) Equipment Rules – Production Board Scheme.

Ceri Williams circulated an open letter from Nic Huguet who expressed concern that production board rules were too "strict"; they were reducing the participation of builders and this was detrimental to the development of the class. Although the meeting were not convinced of the need for change it was agreed the committee further review the issue. Ceri Williams confirmed it was impractical to implement any change in time for 2016 competitions.

(ii) Class Rules – Sail Sizes

Surfers Group requested the class to reconsider the 9.5 sail size limitation. Ton considered an increase to 11.0 , for seniors, would increase interest in the proposed R300 class ; and better enable any "hybrid" raceboard to compete in the Raceboard class events.

(iii) The future of R300 Class

Ceri Williams introduced a request from Marc Cardon for the class to reconsider the equipment rules (Class Rules). The lack of entries for this championship did not diminish in his view the absolute need for a "hybrid" class, with simple "box" rules; a class offering cheap, durable and readily available equipment; particularly for youth. The meeting was sceptical about the project, since the current participating brands were focused on their one design classes and most MNA’s (sailing federations) only supported classes on the "Olympic Pathway". R300 was also competing with other options – eg Kona class. Ceri Williams proposed that the class committee review the project in consultation with the industry and MNA’s.

(iv) Youth "longboard" racing

Ceri Williams raised the issue of class rules and youths racing in the senior division- should the youth prize be solely based on age and not age plus 8.5 sail limitation? The general opinion of the meeting was to keep with current policy.

(v) Mistral One Design

Ceri Williams raised the possibility of a joint MOD event within the raceboard championships. They could race with the raceboard fleet in a continental championship as a division, but also have a separate ranking for MOD title. The committee should be asked to review this option and take the appropriate action.

(vi) Masters Age Group – Women

It was proposed that the womens division should adopt the same age divisions as the men. Lissa Mcmillan agreed to canvas the opinion of the women competitors at these championships.

Meeting closed at 22:30.

Minutes in pdf