2013 IMCA World Council AGM Minutes Published

The Minutes of the 2013 International Melges 24 Class Association World Council AGM are now published online.  With 28 delegates attending the meeting in Budapest Hungary, it was one of the best attended AGMs ever.  

The most significant decision to be confirmed by the meeting was the introduction of the new shorter stanchions, which had already been approved in outline at the 2012 AGM.  Following testing by both the Technical Committee, individual sailors and the builder during 2013 the dimensions for the new stanchions and hiking line deflection were confirmed. Melges Performance Sailboats reported that new height stanchions and low cost retro-fit kits for adapting existing stanchions are in stock ready for shipping.  It was also confirmed that, in order to preserve the one design status of the class all boats would be required to use the new stanchion height with effect from 1 January 2014.  The new rule wording can be found in the Rule Changes section of the Minutes.  The other rule changes approved were all relatively minor, mainly bringing rule wordings up to date with current practise.  The proposed rule changes regarding seated hiking, crew weight limits and mainsheet bridals were all deferred at the current time.

Several revisions to the Championship Regatta Regulations were also discussed and changes to be implimented for the 2013 season include a modification to state that On The Water Judging will be optional not mandatory, conditional on the availability of appropriately experienced umpires/judges.  It was also confirmed that the Coach/Support Boat Appendix will be revised to state that boats shall not be towed either out from or home to the dock on racing days (currently it prohibits towing from the dock but towing home is allowed). Further info is available in the National Class Submissions section of the Minutes.

Middlefart, Denmark, was confirmed as the venue for the 2015 Melges 24 World Championship (date to be confirmed but likely to be June/July).  No other new events were confirmed.  Reports on progress for events already in planning were received from Geelong Worlds 2014, Lake Balaton Europeans 2014, Miami North Americans 2015, Key West Worlds 2016.  The events for the European, North American and Australian Sailing Series were also reviewed. Details of all can be found in the Events sections of the Minutes.

Vice Chairman Michael Schineis and Technical Committee Chairman Peter Goeckel were both reelected to a second two year term in office.  Secretary/Treasurer Tomi Hakola was reelected to serve an additional one year in office.

Our photograph above shows IMCA Chairman Riccardo Simoneschi (L) and Italian Melges 24 Class Delegate Franco Rossini toasting their joint commitment to rebuilding the Italian Class with glasses of Palinka, a traditional Hungarian liquor, that had been made by the grandfather of Arkos Riko, the Hungarian Class representative.

Thanks go to all the delegates who attended the meeting for volunteering their valuable free time and for their commitment to ensuring the future success of the Melges 24 Class.