2017 - World Championships skippers meeting
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:51 pm
Club Nautic S'Arenal - Tuesday 30th May
Note - the skippers meeting is a general forum for open discussion of those present on the class. The annual sailor survey continues to be the classes method of receiving data.
Points arising
Alastair Singh (Commodore of Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron) in association with the AUS class association will be making a presentation to competitors on Friday evening ahead of their World Championships. There is a pre-event video on the class website and further information will become available regarding shipping etc.
Iver has confirmed that Kieler Wocher would be happy to host the class in 2018. They require a minimum of 40 boats and the class would have its own race area. Ideally the dates would be set so as to reduce / limit the time off work.
Iver to report back regarding dates.
2019 Medemblik World Championships 8th - 13th July event planning is well under way and advanced information will be available later in 2017.
The Dutch team are progressing with their regatta plans and Paul manning will continue to liaise with them.
2020 World Championships. Possible venues are Como, Garda (general preference for Riva) and Germany.
2021 World Championships. The class has an offer from Lyme Regis Sailing Club. This is one of the top venues in the U.K.
The international committee need to approve / reject this offer at their meeting in Palma.
Note - the subsequent international committee meeting has approved Lyme Regis as the venue for 2021.
Mast update. Rick recapped the timeline for the mast. Explained the issues around a small number of members vocal objections.
The class has a mandate and ask Ovington Boats to produce a sample alternative supply mast and sail (from the current supplier).
Tim Hill re-affirmed the AUS fleets 100% support of this process.
The main issues continue to be:
Track failure is an irritation
Top section breaking is a real issue
Supply of spars is a real issue
The class chairman considers that it would be most beneficial to the class to fix the issues without major changes.
A question was asked of the fleet present what the general opinion was of the members.
Does the class want a new rig (mast & sail)?
14 in favour
6 against
7 no opinion (38 people present)
It is essential that the class has certainty on a timeline for a new rig (mast & sail). Note, a sail has already been designed and is awaiting the go ahead.
Class rules - there were no questions arising on the recently published 2017 class rules.
The class members thanked David Rickard for the diligent work he had put in producing the revised set of rules.
A discussion was had regarding boat weight and the relevance of carrying out mandatory pre-event weighing as part of equipment inspection. Rob Taylor (class chief measurer) indicated that the entire inspection process took 10 minutes per boat and that this was a similar time to other classes such as the 49er.
Should the class consider carrying out random weighing, rather than compulsory pre-event weighing of boats finishing races in the top 10.
Following are the votes of the members present.
All boats checked - 6
Spot checks - 13
No check at all - 6
The class technical committee will discuss this further and report back.
There was a general feeling that the new 1 day pre-Worlds is a better format.
John McAfee (Ovington Boats) stated that the company continue to be very happy to receive any suggestions on product improvement for new boats. This will continue to be a question in the annual survey and the class are very happy with the support provided by Ovington Boats.
Note - the skippers meeting is a general forum for open discussion of those present on the class. The annual sailor survey continues to be the classes method of receiving data.
Points arising
Alastair Singh (Commodore of Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron) in association with the AUS class association will be making a presentation to competitors on Friday evening ahead of their World Championships. There is a pre-event video on the class website and further information will become available regarding shipping etc.
Iver has confirmed that Kieler Wocher would be happy to host the class in 2018. They require a minimum of 40 boats and the class would have its own race area. Ideally the dates would be set so as to reduce / limit the time off work.
Iver to report back regarding dates.
2019 Medemblik World Championships 8th - 13th July event planning is well under way and advanced information will be available later in 2017.
The Dutch team are progressing with their regatta plans and Paul manning will continue to liaise with them.
2020 World Championships. Possible venues are Como, Garda (general preference for Riva) and Germany.
2021 World Championships. The class has an offer from Lyme Regis Sailing Club. This is one of the top venues in the U.K.
The international committee need to approve / reject this offer at their meeting in Palma.
Note - the subsequent international committee meeting has approved Lyme Regis as the venue for 2021.
Mast update. Rick recapped the timeline for the mast. Explained the issues around a small number of members vocal objections.
The class has a mandate and ask Ovington Boats to produce a sample alternative supply mast and sail (from the current supplier).
Tim Hill re-affirmed the AUS fleets 100% support of this process.
The main issues continue to be:
Track failure is an irritation
Top section breaking is a real issue
Supply of spars is a real issue
The class chairman considers that it would be most beneficial to the class to fix the issues without major changes.
A question was asked of the fleet present what the general opinion was of the members.
Does the class want a new rig (mast & sail)?
14 in favour
6 against
7 no opinion (38 people present)
It is essential that the class has certainty on a timeline for a new rig (mast & sail). Note, a sail has already been designed and is awaiting the go ahead.
Class rules - there were no questions arising on the recently published 2017 class rules.
The class members thanked David Rickard for the diligent work he had put in producing the revised set of rules.
A discussion was had regarding boat weight and the relevance of carrying out mandatory pre-event weighing as part of equipment inspection. Rob Taylor (class chief measurer) indicated that the entire inspection process took 10 minutes per boat and that this was a similar time to other classes such as the 49er.
Should the class consider carrying out random weighing, rather than compulsory pre-event weighing of boats finishing races in the top 10.
Following are the votes of the members present.
All boats checked - 6
Spot checks - 13
No check at all - 6
The class technical committee will discuss this further and report back.
There was a general feeling that the new 1 day pre-Worlds is a better format.
John McAfee (Ovington Boats) stated that the company continue to be very happy to receive any suggestions on product improvement for new boats. This will continue to be a question in the annual survey and the class are very happy with the support provided by Ovington Boats.