F18. IF18CA Newsletter, March 2015

IF18CA Newsletter sent by Don Findlay, Gral Sec- Check your country quota for 2015 Kiel Worlds, limit day to use the total assigned will be March 15th.
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Council Members,
F18 Worlds July 2015.
Can I please remind all NCA’s of the Notice of Race and especially Paragraph 4.7 , detailed below, can ALL countries please check to make sure that they understand their quotas. The quotas are all detailed on the Worlds website. ACTION PLEASE.

4.7. If the number of entries of any country does not reach the maximum nation quota until March 15th 2015 all empty spots will change into wild cards and the Organizing Authority is allowed to invite other boats.

Electronic Voting.
Thank you all for the great response. The system worked, not ideal, but a good start. There are areas that I act upon.

• a.) Financial Report. Following electronic voting, there are emails relating to detailed financial figures ongoing. I will notify Council as soon as there are conclusions. We thank the Auditing Team for their thoroughness in these matters.
• b.) The Cloth List was passed with one major objection, Germany. I will write to ISAF and ask them to place the Cloth List as voted for on the ISAF website.
• c.) The Constitutional change was passed , with one vote against, Austria, who have a close relationship with the Hobie Cat Class Association, clearly not being able to commit them to a change. I will discuss with Austria if there are any dangers that there is conflict on this matter. I will write to ISAF and ask for the Constitutional change, as it was close to unanimous, I can’t see the necessity of details to go to their Constitutional Committee, but I will inform ISAF.
• d.) The voting on the tow line (Rule C.5.2.a 1) was clear, and the proposal was passed, but many NoR’s have already been written for 2015 racing and so I propose to notify ISAF of this change for 1st January 2016
• e.) All other results on proposals have been notified to Council.

Coaching.
As I wrote last time “I have had criticism on my comments about financial support for coaching on a “first come – first served” basis. I am persuaded by the comments received and think that we should ask for all requests, then analyse, and not give monies to those NCA’s that applied first with requests.”

I apologise to the NCA’s that have replied and requested coaching support, but can I have those AGAIN. I suggest all details to me by end of March, then we can analyse the requests, ensuring that ALL budgeted monies are spent on this important area of our work.

NCA’s to provide:
Dates of planned coaching.
Venue.
Simple outline of programme.
Number of sailors attending.
Name of lead coach

Website changes.
We are in final stages of moving our website from BlogSpot to WordPress. These matters are well beyond my capabilities and experience, so I have to respond to those who understand these matters. Netherlands and Germany have already changed to WordPress and we will have a complete website shortly and then decide the final change. We thank Sanyi for all his work in getting our BlogSpot website started again last year, and Jasper for his work in this matter. For further details, please refer to the F18 Marketing as sent out last time to all Council members. We have already received substantial money from Nacra and Dimension Polyant for advertising for the following year on the website. We thank both companies.

Sailors Dinner.
We have been asked to support another meal for all sailors at the F18 Worlds in July. I am suggesting that the monies we receive for advertising will go to support that event, rather than just go to cover marketing expenses. Hungry sailors come first !!!

F18 Marketing.
Clothing. Spring Collection.

Clothing samples were well received in Belgium recently and Jasper took photographs. More will be taken in Holland very soon and then we will launch. I detailed all the advantages in the last Newsletter.

Calendars.2016.
Plans are laid for another calendar for 2016. The photographs will be based upon the F18 Worlds and we look forward to a much larger uptake than last year. We just managed to break even last year, with effort we can make a considerable cash contribution, but we need support from all NCA’s.

New ideas.
We seek ideas from all sources. I can assure you that Jasper and I have many plans to develop the Class and provide further income. More details to come !!

NCA regattas for website.
This year the response has been far better and thanks to all the NCA’s that have supplied information, we look forward to more information coming in as NCA’s complete their 2015 regatta programmes. As you see on our website, with our Italian friends, we need details of ALL Nationals and then Jasper can give full coverage !

F18 Flags.
A little while ago, I asked NCA’s about F18 flags. Believe it or not, I am still chasing to find the stock that we have. Those NCA’s that asked for some flags have not been forgotten, I will get answers as soon as I receive the information on stock levels.

F18 Rules.
We have received a long and thoughtful email regarding In House Certification. It has been a long and difficult subject for F18. This suggestion is for a maximum sail size, so that it fits the various mast side areas. It will NOT be an effective rule change but certainly different wording in the F18 Rules. At the moment, the general mood, if I read it right, is that we do not want any changes, or as few as possible for a set period of time, say three to five years. Can all NCA officers talk through with their members and we can get a consensus in July.

Don Findlay. Sec. Gen. IF18CA.