General Assembly 2014
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General Assembly 2014

This section lists actions taken in connection with the GA and also provides a summary of the GA.
01/06/2014 The Minutes of the GA have been sent to all Members by email today.  They have also been published in the Documents tab.
09/05/2014
20:00 hrs GMT		 The new 2014 Constitution document has now been published in the main Documents / Administration page.
09/05/2014
19:30 hrs GMT		 The General Assembly has now finished

The General Assembly was closed with the following statement from outgoing Chairman Des Fairbank.

We have now come to the end of the 2014 General Assembly of the International Radio Sailing Association.  After all the hype during the lead up to the meeting the General Assembly went off well, albeit without much discussion or interaction from the representatives.  This could possibly be attributed to the fact that the hotly contested nominee vote and the vote on the constitution were handled via a ballot paper prior to the General Assembly.

I would like to thank those that supported me over the last two years including members of the EC and an additional thanks to Secretary/Treasurer Richard Rowan for all the work he has done in setting up the General Assembly.  Thanks to those Members who supported me during the General Assembly but unfortunately it was not to be and I feel I have let you down.  To those of the old guard who have been re-elected congratulations and I am sure you will do your best to keep IRSA moving along the path created over the past four years.

In conclusion I wish the new executive under the chairmanship of Lester Gilbert everything of the best.

Des Fairbank

09/05/2014
18:50 hrs GMT		 Day 6 of the General Assembly – the new Executive Committee

 • The outcome of the pre-meeting ballot to elect the officers is as follows:

  Officer   Votes cast For Against
 •  Chairman Lester Gilbert (GBR) 19 10 9
 •  Vice Chairman Federico Breuer Moreno (ARG) 18 10 8
 •  Secretary / Treasurer Richard Rowan (IRL) 19 12 7
 •  Racing Rules Chairman Roy Granich (NZL) 19 10 9
 •  Technical Chairman Graham Bantock (GBR) 19 10 9
 •  OP Chairman Terry Rensch (GBR) 19 10 9
 •  Publicity Officer Robert Hobbs (GBR) 19 11 8
 •  RO Americas Jim Atkinson (USA) 19 11 8
 •  RO Europe Matteo Longhi (ITA) 19 11 8
 •  RO Oceania Selywn Holland (AUS) 19 11 8
           
09/05/2014
18:10 hrs GMT		 Day 6 of the General Assembly

 • The voting on the motion submitted by CAN under Agenda item (10) is now complete and the outcome is as follows:

    Votes cast For Against Abstentions
 •  Agenda Item (10) – Motion submitted by CAN to direct the EC to prepare a revision to Clause 7.3 of Constitution 10 8 1 1
  The motion is approved.        
           
08/05/2014
10:45 hrs GMT		 Day 5 of the General Assembly – update 1

 • The poll on the motion submitted by CAN under Agenda item (10) is now open.
 • The outcome of the pre-meeting vote for the single motion being considered under Agenda Item (9) is as follows:

    Votes cast For Against Abstentions
 •  Agenda Item (9) – Motion to Approve the Revisions to the Constitution – primary motion 18 14 1 3
  The motion is approved by 77.7% of the votes cast.        
           
08/05/2014
09:15 hrs GMT		 Day 5 of the General Assembly

 • 31 delegates have now recorded their attendance.
 • There has been no discussion on Agenda item (5) – Matters arising from the Minutes of the last GA.
 • The voting on Agenda Items (4) and (7) is now complete.  The outcome is as follows:

    Votes cast For Against Abstentions
 •  Agenda Item (4) – Approval of the Minutes of the last GA 11 9 0 2
 •  Agenda Item (7) – Receive the Audited Accounts 12 10 0 2
           
07/05/2014
11:30 hrs GMT		 Day 4 of the General Assembly

The voting on Agenda Items (3), (6) and (8) is now complete.  The outcome is as follows:

    Votes cast For Against Abstentions
 •  Agenda Item (3) – Appoint Jon Napier of ISAF as Scutineer. 13 13  0 0
 •  Agenda Item (6) – Receive Officer Reports:        
    – Chairman’s report 10 9 0 1
    – Secretary’s report 9 9 0 0
    – Treasurer’s report 9 9 0 0
    – Racing Rules Chairman’s report 9 9 0 0
    – Technical Chairperson’s report 8 7 0 1
    – OP Chaiman’s report 6 5 0 1
    – Publicity Officer’s report 6 5 1 0
 •  Agenda Item (8) – Set the Subscriptions. 13 13  0 0
           
06/05/2014
20:00 hrs GMT		 Day 3 of the General Assembly

The meeting has continued to be relatively quiet today. There has been very little debate on any of the open Agenda items.  However,  voting has been going along steadily.

 • No further delegates have recorded their attendance.
 • Voting on Agenda Items (3), (6) and (8) will close at 09:00hrs GMT tomorrow.
 • Voting on Agenda Items (4) and (7) is expected to close at 09:00hrs GMT on Thursday 8th May.
05/05/2014
20:15 hrs GMT		 Day 2 of the General Assembly

The meeting has been relatively quiet today. Accordingly the Chairman is now starting to push the meeting along a bit faster.

 • 30 delegates have now recorded their attendance.
 • Agenda Item (4) – The Motion to Approve the Minutes of the last GA is now open for voting.
 • Agenda item (6) – The Secretary has brought the biennial survey to the attention of the meeting.
 • Agenda item (10) – Any other urgent business – CAN has proposed the following Motion:

That the new executive prepares a change to the Constitution as follows:

That clause 7.3 should be amended to additionally state:
(i)  Only a member/resident of a country within a region should be eligible for the position of Regional Office for that Region;
(ii)  The nomination for the position of Regional Officer may only come from a member country of that region;
(iii)  The voting for the position be restricted to member countries within the region. 
05/05/2014
08:45 hrs GMT		 Biennial Survey
In the last few months,  National Members have been asked to the complete a Survey about Radio Sailing activity in their country.  At 02/05/2014 returns had been received from 20 Members.  A two page preliminary analysis of these returns has now been published in the Documents tab under Officer’s reports.  With thanks to those Members who have taken the time and trouble to prepare a return.
04/05/2014
20:10 hrs GMT		 Day 1 of the General Assembly

 • 24 delegates have recorded their attendance.
 • Agenda Item (2) – The outcome of the pre-meeting vote was – Number of votes cast 17, for 15, against 0, abstentions 2.
   Motion carried.
 • Agenda Item (3) – The Motion to Appoint Jon Napier of ISAF as Scutineer is now open for voting.
 • Agenda Item (6) – Receive Officer Reports – The polls for all the officer’s reports are now open for voting.
 • Agenda Item (7) – The Motion to receive the Audited Accounts is now open for voting.
 • Agenda Item (8) – The Motion to Set the Subscriptions is now open for voting. The EC have proposed that the annual
   subscription for the next two years for all subscription categories shall be zero.

04/05/2014
08:15 hrs GMT		 The General Assembly is now under way

The General Assembly was opened a little early this morning and is now underway.

The Chairman has welcomed delegates with the following message:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the 30 Member representatives, IOMICA, 10 officer nominees, ISAF Observer Jon Napier and members of the Executive to the International Radio Sailing Association’s 2014 General Assembly.

The build up to this GA must go down in history as having the most aggressive election campaign resulting in there being two nominee’s for every Executive Officer position.

The Executive also hopes that the proposed changes to the constitution are accepted paving the way for IRSA to progress with many other issues which have been reliant on an established constitution.

The behind the scenes work to make this all happen has taken much time and discussion and we hope that it enables you to have a successful and productive General Assembly.

Des Fairbank

Chairman
04/05/2014 Reports from the General Assembly
These will be provided by the Secretary
01/05/2014 23:30hrs GMT The pre-meeting voting has now closed
The voting on the two motions and on the officer ballots has now closed.  19 National Members have returned ballot papers.   The analysis of the votes will now be submitted to ISAF for verification.
01/05/2014 Notification to all delegates of their Forum logon and other details
Over the course of today,  all National Members, Officer nominees and the ISAF representative received notification of their user names and passwords for logging onto the on-line forum that will be used to host the GA.  If any delegate has not received their logon details or they are having any problem with logging on,  they should contact the General Secretary.

A new document has been added to the Documents tab – Notes for Delegates.  This document sets out a number of details cocerning the running of the GA.  All delegates are asked to read this document before the start of the GA.
30/04/2014 Voting rights for IOMICA
Barry Fox (Secretary IOMICA) submitted a question regarding whether IOMICA could vote on any of the matters tabled for the GA.   After consideration, the EC replied as follows:

The Executive Committee have considered your question concerning voting rights at the GA and have interpreted that Clause 6.11 of the Constitution ie “Associate Members may only vote on matters directly related to their class” effectively means that IOMICA as an Associate Member may only vote on matters which specifically relate to the IOM class.

Accordingly, IOMICA will not have the right to vote in any of the matters that are currently set out for consideration at this GA.

25/04/2014 Scrutineer
The EC is very pleased to announce that Jon Napier,  Competitions Manager for ISAF,  has agreed to act as Scrutineer for the GA.
22/04/2014 Revised agenda and ballot papers
The above documents were sent by email at approximatly 15:40hrs GMT today to all Members in good standing.

Noting that completed ballot papers must be returned by the Member representative not later than 23:00hrs GMT on 1st May 2014.
22/04/2014 Revision to the Agenda
It has been decided that the agenda item dealing with the election of the officers should be moved to the end of the Agenda and that item (2) – Approve the Agenda will be balloted prior to the start of the GA. 

The Members were advised of this change by email on 20/04/2014 and no objections have been recorded.

Accordingly,  Revision 1 of the Agenda and updated Procedures and Notes applying to the GA have been published in the Documents tab.
15/04/2014 A new tab entitled “Status” has been added to hold status reports.  Today the page shows the status for the following:
– Confirmed Member representatives for the GA.
– Completed biennial surveys received.
– Members currently suspended.
23/03/2014 Update to the GA 2014 page  
You will see a significant update to the overall GA 2014 page today.  Apart from reordering the tabs,  a new tab entitled “Documents” has been added.

Documents for the GA
This will hold all documents pertaining to the GA.  The document setting out the Agenda (as sent to Members yesterday) is now available in that section.  Also published are various other important documents including “Procedures and Notes applying to the GA”,  Officer reports and the Statement of the Accounts.  Members are asked to note that some of these documents may be revised and new ones added in the period prior to the commencement of the GA.
 
Procedures and Notes applying to the GA  
Key points from this document are:
 • As per the constitution, Members are required to notify the General Secretary of the name of their representative
   prior to the start of the meeting.
 • Non incumbent nominees for officer posts will be provided with individual “observer” level logons to the DNM forum.
 • Interested members of the Radio Sailing fraternity will also be provided with “observer” level logons to the DNM forum –
   anyone requiring a logon will require to be validated via their National Member.
 • A number of the required votes at the GA will now be carried out using ballot papers which will be sent out to each Member
   about 2 weeks before the start of the GA and which will require to be completed and returned just before the GA gets underway.
 • An independent scrutineer will be appointed to validate the counting of the votes.
 • Ballot papers will only be taken into account for Agenda items (9) and (10) if the Member representative properly
   records their attendance at the GA.

22/03/2014 Notification of Agenda – update   Update regarding the email message that should have gone yesterday – due to a technical oversight,  the email didn’t go out until 21:40GMT today.
21/03/2014 Notification of Agenda   An email message notifying Members of the Agenda was sent to all Members at approximately 17:00GMT today.  Also attached to the message was a document setting out Procedures and Notes applying to the GA. Members were advised that this section of the website would be updated in the next 24 to 48 hours to include a GA Documents tab,  this tab being the location where all documents relating to the GA will be published.
11/03/2014 Notification of Amendments to the Motions   An email message was sent to all Members at approximately 09:30GMT today notifying that no amendments to the motions were received by the due date of 8th March.
08/02/2014 Notification of Motions   An email message notifying Members of the motions to be taken at the GA was sent to all Members at approximately 20:00GMT today.  Members are asked to acknowledge receipt of the email.  If any Member doesn’t receive the email,  could they please contact me at secretary@radiosailing.org
06/02/2014 Welcome to the start of the General Assembly 2014  An email message was sent to all Members at approximately 16:00GMT today advising that the process of sending out notifications and carrying out other actions pertaining to the GA is now commencing.
28/01/2014 Verification of Member’s email addresses now substantially complete.
25/01/2014 No motions have been submitted by Members.
19/10/2013 Formal notice of General Assembly sent out by email to all Members
Member representatives confirmed  
at 28/04/2014 (20:30hrs GMT)

Number of Members in good standing = 31
Number who have nominated representatives = 29
ARG Frederico Breuer Moreno
AUS Mark Harris
BAR Peter Allen
BEL Eric Van der Kindere
BRA Paulo Krinke
CAN John Ball
CHI Rolf Köster
CRO Zoran Grubisa
CZE Ladislav Jareš
DEN Søren Andresen
ESP Miguel Salvador
FRA Bernard Merlaud
GBR Rob Walsh
GER Nigel Winkley
IOMICA Barry Fox
IRL Desmond Dwyer
ITA Matteo Longhi
ISR Nir Shental
MLT Pete Williams
NED Chris Vaes
NOR Torvald Klem
NZL Carl Smith
POL Andrzej Mielicki
POR José Cardoso
RSA Roy Reynolds
SWE Claus Lindström
SUI Thomas Blatter
TUR Levend Gurkan
USA Ray Seta
Members unable to take part in the GA
because no representative nominated  
FIN
JPN
Completed biennial surveys received  
at 23/05/2014   count = 21

ARG,  AUS,  BEL,  CAN,  CHI,  CRO,  CZE,  DEN,  ESP,  FRA,  GBR,  GER,  ISR,  MLT,  NOR,  NZL,  POR,  RSA,  SWE,  TUR,  USA
Members currently suspended
at 07/04/2014

AUT Reason : Not satisfying membership requirements.
GRE Reason : Not satisfying membership requirements. Subscription arrears outstanding from 2006.
SAM Reason : Not satisfying membership requirements. Subscription arrears outstanding from 2006.
SLO Reason:  Unable to make email contact with designated representative.
{phocadownload view=category|id=17|text=Documents|target=s}
As per the Constitution, all Officers retire at the GA.  The last date for receiving nominations was 22nd March 2014.

Nominations received at 22nd March 2014 

Chairman
 • Received from NZL on 11/11/2013 – nomination : Des Fairbank (RSA)  
 • Received from GBR on 22/01/2014 – nomination : Lester Gilbert (GBR)  
Vice Chairman
 • Received from USA on 24/02/2014 – nomination : Federico Breuer Moreno (ARG)  
 • Received from BEL on 21/03/2014 – nomination : Eric Van der Kindere (BEL)  
General Secretary / Treasurer
 • Received from IRL on 05/12/2013 – nomination : Richard Rowan (IRL)  
 • Received from GER on 27/02/2014 – nomination : Henning Faas (GER)  
Racing Committe Chairman
 • Received from NZL on 30/10/2013 – nomination : Roy Granich (NZL)  
 • Received from GBR on 22/01/2014 – nomination : Nigel Winkley (GER)  
Technical Committee Chairman
 • Received from GBR on 21/01/2014 – nomination : Graham Bantock (GBR)  
   Nomination also received from GER on 26/01/2014
  
 • Received from GBR on 10/02/2014 – nomination : David Alston (GBR)  
Organisation & Policy Committee Chairman
 • Received from GBR on 19/03/2014 – nomination : Terry Rensch (GBR)  
 • Received from GBR on 20/03/2014 – nomination : Christopher Durant (GBR)  
Publicity Officer
 • Received from GBR on 22/01/2014 – nomination : Robert Hobbs (GBR)  
 • Received from ESP on 11/02/2014 – nomination : Pedro Egea (ESP)  
Regional Officer Americas
 • Received from USA on 07/02/2014 – nomination : Jim Atkinson (USA)  
 • Received from FRA on 18/03/2014 – nomination : Patrice Montero (FRA)  
Regional Officer Europe
 • Received from ITA on 04/02/2014 – nomination : Matteo Longhi (ITA)  
 • Received from FRA on 02/03/2014 – nomination : Bernard Merlaud (FRA)  
Regional Officer Oceania
 • Received from AUS on 11/03/2014 – nomination : Ken Dobbie (AUS)  
 • Received from AUS on 11/03/2014 – nomination : Selywn Holland (AUS)  
10/05/2014 As reported on the main News page,  the radiosailing.org email addresses associated with the new members of the Executive Committee are now operational.
07/04/2014 As reported on the main News page, the EC have resolved to suspend the membership for the following Members : AUT, GRE, SAM and SLO.  These Members will not be able to take part in the General Assembly.  In addition,  the membership of YUG has been cancelled and that nation no longer appears on the Member list.
22/03/2014 Update regarding the Survey Excel spreadhseet.  As noted below this should have been sent out on the 19th.  Unfortunately,  due to a technical oversight,  the email didn’t go out until 21:40GMT today.
21/03/2014 Received from BEL – nomination as Vice Chairman: Eric Van der Kindere (BEL)
20/03/2014 Received from GBR – nomination as OP Chairman: Chris Durant (GBR)
19/03/2014 From the General Secretary    An Excel spreadsheet holding a Survey which is intended to establish the extent of Radio Sailing Activity in each Member country was emailed to all Member representatives at approximately 22:00 today.  Members have been asked to return the survey document to me by 14th April 2014.  The results of the survey will be announced at the General Assembly.  If any Member has not received this message,  they should contact me to request the email to be resent.
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Biennial survey about Radio Sailing activity in your country

1 file(s) 6.53K
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to view a pdf version of the survey.
19/03/2014 Received from GBR – nomination as OP Chairman: Terry Rensch (GBR)
18/03/2014 Received from FRA – nomination as RO Americas: Patrice Montero (FRA)
11/03/2014 Received from AUS – two nominations for RO Oceania:   (1) Ken Dobbie (AUS),   (2) Selwyn Holland (AUS).
07/03/2014 The Executive Committee have agreed to a request from Nigel Winkley (Chairman GER) to show that GER also nominated Graham Bantock as Technical Chairman.  The nominations tab has been updated accordingly.
02/03/2014 Received from FRA – nomination as RO Europe: Bernaud Merlaud (FRA)
25/02/2014 From the General Secretary    A communiqué responding to CEEFIE’s recent newsletters was sent to all IRSA Members by email on 22nd February.  If any Member has not received this message,  they should contact me to request the email to be resent. 
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IRSA EC COMMUNIQUE

1 file(s) 52.21K
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to read the communiqué.
24/02/2014 Received from USA – nomination as Vice Chairman: Federico Breuer Moreno (ARG)
23/02/2014 Received from GER – nomination as Secretary: Henning Faas (GER)
22/02/2014 In order to assist the IRSA National Members in making an informed decision when voting in the elections for the Executive committee,   the EC has today called for all Officer nominees to provide a personal statement.  The personal statement should provide information about who the candidate is,  their experience in sailing,  their administrative experience in radio sailing and finally what they would like to achieve if elected.
11/02/2014 Received from ESP – nomination as Publicity Officer: Pedro Egea (ESP)
10/02/2014 Received from GBR – nomination as Technical Chairman: David Alston (GBR)
07/02/2014 Received from USA – nomination as RO Americas: Jim Atkinson (USA)
05/02/2014 A nomination was received from GBR on 21st January nominating Graham Bantock for Technical Chairman. This nomination has now been accepted and has been published on the nominations page today.

However,  the EC has decided that the following statement should be displayed alongside the nomination:

The IRSA EC have considered the nomination of Graham Bantock for Technical Chairman of IRSA very carefully.  Noting that the EC respects the integrity of Graham Bantock at all times.

However we are concerned that Graham,  while he remains heavily involved with his business SAILSetc,  would regularly find himself having to withdraw from the deliberations of the Technical Committee under IRSA Regulations 6.2.3 and 6.3.2(c) because of potential conflict of commercial interest.  It is not enough for Graham to assert that he would not let commercial considerations affect his judgement;  rather that,  as a member of the Executive Committee of the most senior administrative body in the world of radio sailing,  it should be absolutely clear and transparent that there would be no possibility of any conflict of interest at any time.

Correction issued 05/02/2014 (evening) – clause 6.2.3 above was originally shown as clause 6.2.4
04/02/2014 Received from ITA – nomination as RO Europe: Matteo Longhi (ITA)
28/01/2014 From the General Secretary   
The Delegated National Member (DNM) list has now been updated.
As reported in the General News section, we have now published an updated Member list.  The list is drawn from an online database facility, the development of which was initiated by our Chairman shortly after I was co-opted to the EC.  The benefit of this online database is that we will now be able to update membership information more quickly and more easily than before. 

A total of 36 Members are now listed.    

This new list shows 6 members with invalid membership status:
•  We have no contact details for Greece or Samosa;
•  Yugoslavia no longer exists – we will be removing that member record shortly;
•  We have been unable to make contact by email with Poland or Slovenia;
•  We are in discussion with Sweden concerning their membership status.

The members listed above will not be able to take part in the General Assembly until their membership issues are resolved.
22/01/2014 Received from GBR – nomination as Chairman: Lester Gilbert (GBR)
Received from GBR – nomination as Publicity Officer: Robert Hobbs (GBR)
Received from GBR – nomination as Racing Chairman: Nigel Winkley (GER)
21/01/2014 From the General Secretary
Just a short reminder that any motions that Members wish to be to considered at the GA must be in my hands not later than midnight GMT on Saturday 25th January.   That is now only 5 days away.
21/01/2014 From the General Secretary
The EC has been working very hard in advance of the forthcoming GA in establishing good lines of communication with the DNMs.  As of today we have verified the email addresses for approximately 3/4 of our Member representatives.  A more detailed report will provided shortly.   (Also posted in the main news section.)
07/01/2014 A posting has been added by Richard Rowan to a thread entitled “IRSA elections, candidates” in the Class Associations and Class Management board of the IOMICA forum.      Click here to read the thread
18/12/2013 In response to the following question from Lester Gilbert:

There is one point which we would like to raise with you as IRSA Secretary, and I guess with the IRSA Exec, concerning access to DNM discussions about candidates, policies, and so on, and the ability to respond to such discussion.   External candidates for IRSA office have no means of engaging DNMs in discussion and explanation (apart from individual e-mails), while our understanding is that existing IRSA officers, and thus “internal” candidates (if any), have access to an IRSA DNM Forum where this can take place.   How might external candidates obtain access to the electors, please ?

Answer:

– The DNM forum is used primarily for the purposes of holding electronic meetings with the members of IRSA.
– It is the EC’s intention that only business relating to the GA2014 agenda will be discussed on the DNM forum. Noting that
  Members of IRSA are entitled to raise other topics on the forum.
– The DNM forum will not be opened to public view.
– In the run up to the GA2014, progress and information will be made available via the 2014 GA button on the IRSA website.
07/12/2013 The form for nominating officers has been updated  (download from Officer Nominations tab).
05/12/2013 Received from IRL – nomination as Secretary / Treasurer : Richard Rowan (IRL)
11/11/2013 Received from NZL – nomination as Chairman: Des Fairbank (RSA)
30/10/2013 Received from NZL – nomination as Racing Rules Chairman: Roy Granich (NZL)
19/10/2013 Notice of GA sent by email to all IRSA Members.
Notice of
2014 General Assembly 		The General Assembly of IRSA will be held via the Delegated National Member (DNM) Forum during the week of 4th to 10th May 2014 (all dates based on GMT +0).  

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Formal Notice of General Assembly

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    Sent out by email to all Members on 19th October 2013.

Notes:
If any Member has not received the Notice directly by email,  they should contact the Chairman immediately by way of email.

Several changes to the General Assembly timeline were voted in at the 2012 GA in an attempt to reduce the overall length of the notice period. Unfortunately this resulted in no time being available for members to consider any submitted motions and return any amendments. The Notice period and deadline for submissions of motions as published in the notice are more than the required number of weeks prior to the GA as required by the Constitution. All other deadlines are as per the constitution. This timeline will be one of several changes being proposed as motions for the 2014 GA based on feedback from the 2012 GA and resulting discussions with ISAF.

(for the current list of DNMs – click here)

by 25th January 2014 Motions should be submitted to the General Secretary under the signature of a Senior Officer of the Member.
by 8th February 2014 Motions will be circulated to all Members.
by 8th March 2014 Any Amendments to Motions should be submitted to the General Secretary.
by 22nd March 2014 The Agenda will be sent out to Members.

Nominations for Officers should reach the General Secretary by this date.  See the Officer Nominations tab for more information.
4th May 2014 GA commences on-line.