Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Dinghy Section held at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, 21 November 2007 in the Quay Lounge, Cardiff Bay Yacht Club.

Present: Colin Farr (Chair & Principal Race Officer), Mike Joynson (Secretary), John Gallacher (Treasurer), Kevin Rolfe (Commodore), Steve Cooper (Sailing Secretary) and 16 members of the Dinghy Section.

1 Minutes of the meeting held 8 November 2006

AGREED that the Minutes be confirmed.

2 Matters arising from the Minutes

NOTED that there were none.

3 Chair’s Report

3.1 Dinghy Compound

NOTED

· that the new ‘Use it or lose it’ policy had been successfully introduced and sufficient spaces released to accommodate the boats of all new members;

· that boat usage would continue to be closely monitored;

· that consideration would be given by the Club to the concreting of the Flying Fifteen area.

3.2 Racing Programme

NOTED

· that the Dinghy Open and the Two Islands Race had been cancelled and that there had been very disappointing support from the adult members of the Dinghy Section for the Welsh Sailing Games held in October;

· the possibility of changing the racing format e.g. different start time to encourage participation;

· that the Club would be prepared to offer support e.g. provision of training courses, better prizes if this would help improve the turn-out;

· the view that the introduction of a selective admissions policy for the boats for new members e.g. based on specified handicap ranges, would promote competitive racing in the longer term;

· that a majority of those present and voting supported the adoption of such a policy but that, as the proposal had not been included formally on the Agenda, no binding decision could be taken at this stage.

AGREED

· that members be informed of the possible introduction of a selective policy to govern the admission of new members' boats and comments be invited prior to convening an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Dinghy Section to formally discuss the proposal;

· that the Dinghy Committee be asked to give further thought to ways of increasing participation.

4 Principal Race Officer’s Report

NOTED that generally the turn-out had been disappointing and that, owing to the very limited numbers in the Slow Handicap fleet, its races had been cancelled.

5 Financial Report

Received a copy of the accounts for the period up to October 2007.

NOTED

· that, as at 1 October 2007, a balance of £276.89 was available to the Section;

· that this included an incorrect charge of £122.44 for materials for the dinghy compound but excluded a a notional payment of £250 to the Sailing School to cover the fuel costs for the safety boats;

· that with the current charging arrangements, a minimum entry of 13 boats was required to make each series financially viable and that all bar one of the series had met this condition. (See also M. 8.2 below.)

4 Election of Officers

NOTED

· that the following officers had indicated that they would be prepared to stand again:

Principal Race Officer Colin Farr

Secretary Mike Joynson

Treasurer John Gallacher

· that Idris Dibble had been nominated as Chair.

AGREED that all the above be appointed and

NOTED that Idris's top priorities were to inject enthusiasm into the Section and to promote fleet racing.

7 Membership of Dinghy Committee

NOTED

· that Nick Sawyer had indicated that he would be prepared to stand again;

· that Helen Phillips had been nominated to fill the position previously held by Idris.

AGREED that both of the above be appointed.

8 Items submitted by members in advance of the meeting

8.1 Health & Safety policy & Procedures for the Dinghy Section

NOTED

· that responsibility for Health & Safety issues on the water rested with the Principal Race Officer;

· that safety boat operators were required to hold a PB2 qualification with Safety Boat endorsement;

· that the O-boats were not currently properly equipped;

· that the safety procedures already adopted by the Sailing School could be easily modified into a simple and concise form for use by the Dinghy Section;

· that the Club would be prepared to fund any necessary training in return for a commitment from members to undertake a specified number of safety duties.

AGREED that health and safety operating procedures for the Dinghy Section be in place by December 2007 and training programmes by April 2008.

8.2 Racing Arrangements

Received a list of suggestions from Ian Horton.

AGREED, after a full discussion,

· that further consideration be given to the possible introduction of a one-off annual charge together with a 'pay-as-you-go' system for occasional racers;

· that no changes be made to the number of discards.