Minutes of the NECRA Committee Meeting
THYC
Wednesday January 9th 2008.
Present:
Larry Wilkinson - Chairman
Harold Usherwood - Treasurer
Nigel Robinson - WYC
Jimmy Carter - SYC
David Wheldon - NERR
1. Apologies
Jeremy Watson RNYCAlan Cooper Hon Sec
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
Approved.
3. Matters arising
It was pointed out that ECSW clashes with the proposed date for the Sunderland- Whitby overnight race! After discussion of the tidal situation it was decided to bring the event forward by 1 week. The new dates are:-Sunderland -Whitby Friday 20 June
Whitby - Hartlepool Sunday 22 June
It was also noted that this year there is a two week gap between Roker Regatta and RNYC Regatta. Unfortunately there was no RNYC representavive available to confirm this is correct. Larry to check.
Negotiations have already begun with Hartlepool Marina over berthing fees for the ATF NECRA Regatta.
RNYC sailing committee meet in 11/2 weeks, SYC next week. Both will discuss proposal for NECRA races on 1 day of their regattas.
After some discussion the scoring system for the Club Championship was agreed.
For 2008, the following scoring shall apply:-
Points awarded to boats competing will be agregated on a club by club basis, over all events. The club with the highest
points total will be the NECRA Club Champion.
Within each class, a boat scores 1 point (for starting) plus 1 point (for finishing) plus 1 point (for every boat that it beats)
For races with less than 5 competitors in a class, the points awarded will be based on 5 boats competing.
4. Update on NERR.
David Wheldon informed the committee that, due to pressure of work, the next meeting to discuss 2008 NERR rating issues will not take place until the end of January. NERR nevertheless hopes to have the 2008 ratings available before the end of February. There are no radical changes expected, although it is hoped to modify the way in which the formula deals with some of the older racing boats. He hopes to attend the next NECRA meeting when the ratings should be available.In answer to a query David outlined the procedure for owners to follow when raising formal ratings queries. He agreed that this would be documented on the web site. However, he also felt that this is seldom necessary as the club ratings officer should be willing to explore a boat's rating on the computer with the owner. This is standard procedure in several clubs.
In response to another query David stated that as far as NERR is concerned, the non-spinnaker rating may, at the dicretion of the race committe, be used for mixed fleet racing.
5. General regulations /NOR 2008.
The changes from the 2007 regulations will concern class boundaries, scoring system, and number of races to count. We should make clear that the points system used is the ISAF RRS Appendix A - Low Points system for each class. It was suggested that we should not publish these instructions until we are sure that there will be no changes.
6. Provisional Race Instructions 2008
As in previous seasons, these will be published on the web as soon as they are available. They have proved to be very popular with the membership and reps are urged to submit them to Larry as soon as they are available. Any associated social event can be publicised at the same time.
7. Dates for future meetings/prizegiving
It was agreed to ask clubs about their social committments for a week or so either side of the beginning of October before finalizing the date for the Prizegiving.It was agreed that the next committee meeting will be 19 March 2008. Further meetings will be scheduled then.
8. Website update
There appear to be no problems with the site at present. It was suggested that a discussion board be re-established, even though the last one did not prove particularly popular.9. AOB
It was pointed out that there were some changes to the Special Regulations that will affect all members.Jimmy Carter agreed to investigate the possibility of producing and supplying a range of NECRA labeled items, including Burgees and Stickers.