Minutes of the NECRA Committee Meeting
THYC
Wednesday March 19th 2008.

Present:

Larry Wilkinson - Chairman
Harold Usherwood - Treasurer
Jimmy Carter - SYC

1. Apologies

Nigel Robinson WYC
Alan Cooper Hon Sec

2. Minutes of the previous meeting

Approved.

3. Matters arising

RNYC confirmed with Larry that there is a two week gap between Roker Regatta and RNYC Regatta.

Free berthing in Hartlepool Marina for the duration of the ATF NECRA Regatta will be available to NECRA members who register their intention to compete.

RNYC Sailing Committee declined to run a NECRA bay race on the Saturday of their regatta. After some discussion, SYC agreed that NECRA could use their Sunday regatta races as part of the NECRA programme.

THYC has no social events in October that will clash with the NECRA prizegiving. SYC are without caterers at the moment and awaiting a decision as to when their prizegiving will take place. To date there is no information from WYC or RNYC.

Jimmy reported that he is still in discussions with suppliers about burgees and stickers.

4. Changes to ISAF regulations for 2008.

There have been some changes to ISAF for 2008. The committee confirmed that they still wished to continue with ISAF category 4, together with the NECRA prescriptions used last season.

Some significant changes noted from last season are:-

A handheld VHF is mandatory,
Crotch straps and lifejacket lights are mandatory on lifejackets.
Parachute rockets are no longer mandatory (but recommended by NECRA)
A waterproof spotlight (in addition to a torch) is mandatory.

5. Update on NERR.

David Wheldon provided the Chairman with a list of the latest NERR TCFs. He noted that there has been some changes to keel identification so some TCFs will come down slightly. This naturally led on to discussions about class boundaries.

Having looked at the 2008 ratings provided, it was decided in the first instance to try to keep boats in the same class as last season, as attempting to include Sigma 33's into class 1 also causes a number of other class 2 boats to move into class 1. The lower limit for class 1 was therefore suggested at 0.925. However, there was some concern expressed that this may lead to low numbers of boats competing in class 1.

The class 2/3 boundary was even more contentious as there are groups of the same class of boats with quite wide spread ratings (eg GK 24's and Hustler 25.5) and wherever the boundary is chosen, some are in class 2 and some in class 3. Eventually, the lower limit for class 2 was agreed at 0.845.

These figures will remain provisional until the final 2008 NERR ratings become available.

6. Registrations update 2008

To date there are 11 registrations,

2 from RNYC,
3 from SYC,
3 from THYC,
3 from WYC.

7. Notification of intention to race

Whilst for many years boats have simply registered, turned up and raced, it is becomming increasingly difficult for clubs to cater adequately for indeterminate numbers of visitors, in terms of food and moorings. This season all boats will be asked to register their intention to race in events, prior to the event. Whilst this will not be compulsory, it is hoped that whenever possible members will comply. By doing so it can only encourage other boats to also declare their intention. There will be a section on the website for on-line registering of intent to race.

For the ATF NECRA regatta, free moorings in Hartlepool Marina will be available for boats that signify their intention to race 5 days prior to the event.

8. Sailing Instructions for the website

It was agreeed that the Provisional Sailing Instructions should be made available for posting on the website at least 21 days before an event.

The current practice of the club finishing the race being responsible for the instructions is to be changed this season to make both the start and finishing clubs jointly responsible for the instructions. Hopefully, this will both share the workload and produce better documentation.

9. Website discussion board

This has been implemented, although there is no activity so far.

10. Dates for prizegiving and future meetings

Next meeting - Tuesday 6 May (avoiding a clash with sailing on Wednesday).
Other meetings during season as necessary.
End of season meeting - Wednesday 17 September.

AGM - provisionally 4 October.
Prizegiving - provisionally 25 October.

11. AOB

Larry anounced that he would be retiring as Chairman at the next AGM and that if clubs wished NECRA to continue they should be actively seeking a replacement.

There was some discussion about different club's involvement in and committment to NECRA.

Meeting closed at 9.40pm