The Minutes of the 2015 International Melges 24 Class Association World Council AGM published now

December 3, 2015 - IM24CA - The following is a summary of the 2015 International Melges 24 Class Association World Council Annual General Meeting which was held on November 21 in Copenhagen, Denmark. More detailed information in the Minutes of the AGM. View PDF of the Minutes.

Chairman’s report – Jens Wathne thanked all the National Class Administrators for their commitment to carry on Melges 24 development in their countries. Major step made lately was approving the new improved IM24CA’s Constitution according to the ISAF template by the IM24CA Extraordinary General Meeting in the beginning of November. ISAF ratified the new Constitution just before the AGM. Read more from the Minutes.

Jens welcomed the new members of the Executive Committee: Brian Hutchinson as interim Vice Chairman US; Michael Good as Member Europe; Duncan Stamper North America. Also he welcomed the new members of the World Council: Marc Wain Pedersen from Denmark, Michael Tarabocchia from Germany, Steven Boho from USA.

National Class Reports – Jens highlighted the fact that the decreasing of membership numbers has been stopped and seeing also new class members (more than 20) from Chile is great. Also it’s great to highlight that membership numbers are picking in USa and there's a new start for the UK, where they have 10 boats. All reports received by IM24CA have been uploaded to the AGM Minutes and can be read from there.

Financial report and budget 2016 – Good lift up in incomes comparing to many past years. Number of members in 2015 vs 2014 (paid full members) has increased from 251 in 2014 to 272 in 2015.

International number up 8%, Scandinavia up 7%, Sweden up 50%. By paid members USA is back again as the greatest nation (last time in 2009), Germany second, Norway third, Denmark fourth and Italy the fifth. Sail royalties sold per loft - North Sails’ is a market leader with 69.9%. The overall decrease in expenditures is -16% vs 2014.

It was voted in favour of increasing full membership fee by 5 Euros (from 95 to 100), increasing Sail Royalty’s price by 5 Euros (from 85 to 90) per label to secure our budget and freezing these fees for at least two years now. See the report and 2016 budget.

Marketing and Communications – IM24CA has been very active on all media platforms: website and social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram). As the world is using more and more mobile phones and other mobile devices, a strong need to update IM24CA’s website was declared. The visitors’ numbers in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts are growing steadily and the peaks are during the events, especially during the Worlds 2015. For YouTube statistics we have summed the total number of IM24CA videos and sportsXstream, who provided LiveStream and tracking at the Worlds in Denmark. All in all - 364,076 minutes watched +263% vs 2014! = 76,767 views in total (+32,900 views 2015 vs 2014). These numbers are remarkable! Our superb footage has been done by the best professionals in the Worlds i.e. Zerogradinord, sportsXstream and the best photos taken by Pierrick Contin. See the Media Report.

Melges 24 class has all assets by numbers and platforms to attract the sponsors to our platforms.

Jens initiated a working group who would create a marketing and sponsorship strategy and packages for IM24CA – Michael Schineis (AUT), Miles Quinton (GBR), Tomi Hakola (FIN) and Brian Hutchinson (USA) were ready to start to volunteer into this. 

Election of Officers  
Miles Quinton (GBR) was elected to stand in to the post of the Vice Chairman. AGM was thanking Michael Schineis (AUT) for the great years (2012-2015) and his effort in the IM24CA’s Executive Committee – always being professional and the person having the big perspective outside the group with lot of contribution to the management of the class. Michael was awarded with a special Thank-You-gift – a piece of glass art by Agnes Torm / Klaasdisain.ee (EST). 
Kevin Nixon (AUS) was elected to stand in to the post of the Member Asia Pacific. Warwick Rooklyn is stepping down after his two years term in the Executive Committee and was awarded with a special Thank-You-gift. 
Tomi Hakola (FIN) will stand for another year in the office as Treasurer (new title per new Constitution). Without any nominations for this position IM24CA would have been in a difficult position, but EGM gave as the possibility to continue of having the service of Tomi Hakola. 
Peter Göckel (GER) - has been serving as the Technical Committee Chair for two terms and Executive Committee has nominated him to continue. 
See the list of Executive Committee

Technical Report – Peter Göckel made a summary about 2015 saying that all rule changes made in 2014 went smoothly and no negative feedback on this. Gudgeon’ issue has been on the table for the years and was one of the main topics discussed both during the Technical Committee meeting and at the AGM. Read more from the Minutes.

Builder’s Report - Luisa Bambozzi from Melges Europe gave a short overview according to the Builder’s report created by Andy Burdick, President of the MPS, mentioning that 2015 was a successful year with ten new Melges24 boats built, many used boats have been dressed up and placed back on the water and the Melges 24 event attendance around the world has increased in numbers. The World Championship in Europe was outstanding and it brought a lot of attention to the boat and the class. 

National Class Association Submissions and Rule Changes – Minor changes were made in the wording of the Class Rule C.2.2 and C.5. The last one was discussed related to the USMCA’s proposal to amend Class Rule H.3 by describing Crew Weigh-In process. USMCA’s proposal was discussed but rejected. Although C.2.2 was amended to make clear on which regattas H.3 will apply. 

The major discussion was held on Norwegian motion about gudgeons.  All present AGM representatives found that the problem with the gudgeons this is a common ground of the class and needs a proper and long-term solution. Jens proposed a redefined motion to have an updated drawing of H.1 on page 29 in the Class Rules showing two optional designs/versions of the gudgeon which was approved unanimously. A working group including Duncan Stamper (CAN), Kristian Nergaard NOR400 and Peter Göckel as the Tech Comm Chair was created to work on the drawings. After the drawings will be made, IM24CA will go to the MPS to have the proper solution on manufacturing the certificated gudgeons. Read more from the Minutes.

Future Events & Current Situation

Europeans 2016 in Hyeres, France - Report by Regis Berenguier – head of organization authority, COYCH. Jens went through the report by Regis announcing that event’s website http://melges24.com/europeans2016/ has been launched and online entry is open. Currently 15 boats have been entered. Organizing  process is in full swing.

Worlds 2016 in Miami, USA - Report by Petey Crawford – head of organization authority, Miami Yacht Club  Jens made a short summary of Petey’s report. Webpage is launched using the registering through the Yachtscoring, currently 85 teams have been registered already. 

IM24CA needs to move forward in finding new Championship Coordinators (US&EUR) to step into the Hank Stuart’s big shoes, who decided to retire after ten years in the class. The class needs to support the organizers of the title events. Executive Committee will discuss this topic on their December' meeting.

Worlds 2017 in Helsinki, Finland – Tomi Hakola made a brief summary on the process of the organizing while still two years to go. The organizers have got a deal with FinnLines making ferry trip from Travemünde much cheaper. City of Helsinki will be a partner as well securing transportation between downtown and harbour (3km). Everything is in full swing and well under the control. Two years before the event the Jury has been confirmed and so is PRO. 

2016 European Sailing Series  (ESS 2016) -  The bidding process of the 2016 European Sailing Series was launched in June 2015. IM24CA received 10 (ten) bids to host an event. The list of bids received.

The following events were confirmed for the 2016 European Sailing Series

1.            April 1-3 – Portoroz, Slovenia 
2.            May 26-29? – Kammersee Segelclub, Attersee, Austria (Michael Schineis will check a chance to move the event one week later). 
3.            June 23-26 – Kiel Week, Germany 
4.            July 15-17 – Riva del Garda, Italy 
5.            Sept 2-9 – Melges 24 Europeans in Hyeres, France 
6.            October 7-9 – Luino, Italy
More information soon at melges24.com/europeansailingseries and read more about the decision process from the AGM Minutes.

Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2016

2017 North Americans - Proposal to host the event was made by Columbia Gorge Racing Association, USA (BID) only and it was approved by AGM. 

2018 Worlds – Duncan Stamper presented Canadian bid highlighting all good points in favour of the venue and the club - Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Canada (BID). Dates have been chosen carefully not to clash with the large events in the area - May 31 – June 8 TBD. USMCA is supporting this bid strongly and they won’t come up with another bid for the event. The bid was approved by AGM. 

2018 Europeans - Two bids received – Riva del Garda, Italy & Kiel, Germany 
Felix Weidling from Kieler Yacht Club presented the bid to host Melges 24 Europeans 2018. Andrea Rachelli presented the bid on behalf of the club Fraglia Vela Riva in Riva del Garda. After presentations a vote was called and Riva del Garda got the rights to host the Europeans 2018 with 40 votes out of 73. Jan Inge Hellesmark (NOR) made a motion to Kiel to present a bid of the Worlds 2019 at the next year’ AGM. 

Melges 24 future title events

Any Other Business
Jens introduced Diogo Dinze, Key Account Manager at the GAC Pindar. The company has made a shipping proposal for the 2016 Miami Worlds to ship the boats from all around the world. This proposal has been published on the IM24CA webpage. For the IM24CA the idea is to have an entrusted partner for the future with a chance to negotiate the sponsorship options as well. Diogo mentioned that the prices in this proposal are not final. Every single request will be responded separately with the relevant price offer. The price will change if there are more boats together to be shipped and transported. To contact Diogo Dinze for the additional questions please contact Diogo.diniz@gac.com ; Skype diogo_diniz-papillon

David Fleischer, CEO of the sportsXstream summarized the co-operation during the Worlds 2015. Tomi mentioned the numbers presented in the Marketing report which summed up the statistics of the watched minutes of LiveStream, tracking and videos including the minutes of sportsXstream. David introduced their way and package of working including tracking, livestream with commentaries, aerial footages etc which is their concept – all in one. sportsXstream is very much interested to negotiate a proposal for the 2016 Europeans in Hyeres to be a partner to provide the content with IM24CA’s media team for the event. Negotiations to cover the future events of the class together with IM24CA’s media group will continue to work out the best solution for that. 

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.