NECRA
Wednesday 11 April 2007

Present:

Larry Wilkinson - Chairman
Harold Usherwood - Treasurer
Ken Cameron - WBA
Nigel Robinson - WYC
David Mathews -SYC

Apologies:

Alan Cooper - THYC
Jeremey Watson - RNYC

Previous minutes

Approved.

Matters arising from previous meeting:

Scarborough YC had been contacted and Alan Smith (SYC) has agreed to act as a link.
Neal Hill (CYC) has asked to be kept updated from a CYC perspective.

Registrations update

Alan Cooper has indicated that currently he has had applications for 30 boats (he has had a computer problem so there are 4 boats waiting to be added to the system).
RNYC 8
SYC 4
THYC 12
WBA 1
WYC 5

Registrations deadline
It was agreed that boats wishing to register within 3 days of the start of a race will be required to pay a £5 late entry fee.

Financial position update

Harold presented the annual figures, NECRA continues to remain healthy financially.

As part of the drive to make membership more attractive, the committee decided to present new members with a bottle of wine at the end of their first NECRA race. They also decided that an annual trophy will be awarded for the new member, who in the opinion of the committee, has the best performance over the season.

NERR update

The committee expressed disappointment that the NERR ratings are not yet generally available for 2007. However, Larry had obtained from David Wheldon an unoficial copy to enable a decision on class boundaries to be made.

Class 1 Boats with a NERR rating of 0.935 and above.
Class 2 Boats with a NERR rating between 0.851 and 0.9349.
Class 3 Boats with a NERR rating less than 0.851.
Sportsboat and White Sail (Class 4) will remain 'opt into' classes.

There then followed a discussion about ratings issues with a number of common points emerging. The chairman was asked to write to NERR outlining the points below (See Addendum to minutes):-

It was felt that there is still an issue of lack of transparency in the ratings system - NERR does not seem to communicate what it is doing or has done vis a vis the rule changes and its impacts on boats.
It was felt that there is no formal system whereby NECRA members (or others) can query or instigate a discussion regarding a boats rating. (for example how could we (NECRA) deal with a protest over ratings ).
One suggestion was made. A section of the NERR website might be made available, publicly, as a vehicle for members to submit queries as well as for NERR to post FAQs and answers.
It was felt that members had been promised, for several years now, the facility to investigate/optimise their own boat's rating, but that at the moment this facility was still only available to the NERR representatives.

NESS Update

The NESS proposals had been circulated previously. It was felt that as they stood the NESS regulations were far too complicated, there were too many relaxations/deviations from the internationally recognised standards. It was pointed out that SYC have already published their SI's and are using ISAF category 5 for their bay races. THYC have also indicated that they will be using ISAF category 4 and suggested that NECRA also consider this. Most other racing organisations have moved to using the internationally recognised regulations.

In the discussion that followed, it became clear that moving away from the NESS approach and adopting ISAF regulations 'undiluted' was the preferred option of the committee.

Consequently, for 2007 the Committee unanimously decided to move from NESS and adopt the following safety regulations. Larry was asked to write to the NESS committee informing them of this decision and thanking them for their work in past seasons.

Safety Requirements 2007

Sportsboats class - ISAF Offshore Special Regulations Category 5 with NECRA prescriptions (below)
Other classes - ISAF Offshore Special Regulations Category 4 with NECRA presecriptions (below)

NECRA prescription 1
A propulsion engine shall be provided for all boats.
It shall enable the boat to motor at a minimum speed (in knots) of square root (LWL in feet).
Boats shall carry enough fuel to motor at this speed from the furthest point in the race to a safe harbour, plus fuel for an additional 1 hours motoring.

NECRA prescription 2
In addition to an anchor, chain and warp appropriate to the water in which the boat is racing shall be carried.

A 'checklist' will be provided that all skippers of registered boats will be required to sign and return to NECRA.

Clubs of course have the right, as they see fit, to add to these requirements for particular races (ie Bass Rock, Overnight, North Sea etc). Such additions will be detailed in the Sailing Instructions for the events concerned.

The Notice of Race section of the website will be modified to reflect these changes as soon as possible

Registration/Open meeting

There was only limited support for a meeting before the start of the season.

However, following the decision relating to the safety regulations, a discussion ensued regarding the formation of NESS and NERR and the associated benefits and problems . There was a unanimous view from the committee that the split into three separate, independent organisations (NERR, NESS and NECRA) had not been as beneficial as might have been hoped, and that they would like to investigate the possibility of bringing them closer together again. Naturally, this could only come about with the support of clubs and the agreement of the other organisations, so it was suggested that discussions should be initiated and that this be an item on the agenda for an Open Meeting to be held at the end of the current season.

Next newsletter - content and contributions

Harold has agreed to provide pen portraits of THYC members and their boats for the next newsletter.
Ken and David also agreed to do the same for SYC.

As an incentive for submitting photographs for use on the website and newsletter, it was agreed that there would be a NECRA photograhic competion. A £10 prize will be awarded for the best photograph of NECRA racing activity for each day NECRA racing is held. The rules will appear shortly on the web site.

Timetable for information for the website

Club representatives were reminded that much of the following information is still outstanding.

Provisional start times of races,
Provisional race instructions,
Details of social events/food availability before or after events,
Provisional moorings arrangements,
Launching facilities/arrangements/costs for sportsboats.

It was agreed that this was a priority, and such information is to be provided by the club representatives as soon as possible. Larry is to remind absent reps.

Date of Prizegiving

Following discussion about the venue, Saturday 10 November at SYC was decided upon, subject to availability.

Date of next meeting

Wednesday 16 May, THYC, 7.30pm.

AOB

It was suggested that a card fixture list (similar to the one produced in 2005) be made acvailable and given to all interested parties. Larry agreed to organise this.

The meeting closed at 9.10 pm.

Larry Wilkinson

Addendum to minutes

Copy of e-mail to NRERR Chairman and NERR Committee

Hi David

Thank you for the TCFs. They were most useful for helping make the decision on the class divisions. (I notice the file is called temporary tcfs 2007. Does this mean that there is going to be a further revision?)

Naturally the committee discussed the ratings situation again yesterday evening and had a number of points to raise.

Taking them in no particular order:-

It was felt that there is still an issue of lack of transparency in the ratings system - NERR does not seem to communicate what it is doing or has done vis a vis the rule changes and its impacts on boats.
It was felt that there is no formal system whereby NECRA members (or others) can query or instigate a discussion regarding a boats rating. (for example how could we (NECRA) deal with a protest over ratings ).
One suggestion was made to address a number of these points. A section of the NERR website might be made available, publicly, as a vehicle for people to submit queries as well as for NERR to post FAQs and answers.
The committee also felt that owners had been promised, for several years now, the facility to investigate/optimise their own boat's rating, but that this facility was still only available to the NERR representatives.
In addition there was a unanimous feeling from the NECRA committee that the split into three separate, independent organisations (NERR, NESS and NECRA) had not been as beneficial as might have been hoped, and they would like to investigate the possibility of bringing them closer together again. Naturally, this could only come about with the with the support of clubs and the agreement of the other organisations, so it was suggested that discussions should be initiated and that this be an item on the agenda for an Open Meeting to be held at the end of the current season.

I look forward to receiving NERR's comments in due course.

regards

larry

Copy of the e-mail to the NESS Chairman/Secretary and Committee

Hi Brian

Following the NECRA meeting last night, the committee took the decision to follow the example of SYC, THYC and other organisations and to utilise ISAF safety regulations without modifications as a minimum standard for NECRA races. Clubs of course have the right to add to these requirements for particular races (ie Bass Rock, Overnigh North Sea etc). Such additions will be detailed in the Sailing Instructions for the events concerned.

The decision, as far as NECRA races is concerned is :-

Sportsboat class - ISAF Offshore Special Regulations Category 5 with NECRA prescriptions as below.
Other classes - ISAF Offshore Special Regulations Category 4 with NECRA prescriptions as below.