IM24CA World Council - Annual General Meeting 2023 - summary and voting results

November 21, 2023 - The World Council of the International Melges 24 Class Association held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually on November 11. Here’s a short overview of the voting results and decisions made. 

2023 IM24CA World Council AGM website
Minutes of the meeting

The following IM24CA World Council members and Executive Committee members were present:

1. Laura Grondin – Chair, proxy for Australia and Slovenia
2. Chelsea Simms – Vice Chair, Americas
3. Piero Andolina – Vice Chairman, Europe
4. Michael Tarabochia - Member Europe, representing Germany; proxies for Austria and Switzerland 
5. Scot Zimmerman – Member Americas, proxy for United States
6. Miles Quinton - Treasurer, proxy for Great Britain
7. Dan Berezin - representing Canada
8. Ivo Matic – representing Croatia with proxy
9. Soren Blume Svendsen - representing Denmark; proxy for Denmark
10. Marcello Caldonazzo Arvedi - representing Italy
11. Alan Mahne Kalin – representing Slovenia 

Non-voting participants:

1. Duncan Stamper – Technical Committee member
2. Branko Parunov - Chief Measurer and Technical Advisor, Technical Committee member
3. Arto Kiiski – Advisor and Technical Committee member
4. Carol Ewing, Championship Coordinator, North America
5. David Bartol, Championship Coordinator, Europe
6. Piret Salmistu - Administrator, Media Coordinator
7. Marko Mišura – Observer, Croatia
8. Soren Laugesen – Observer, Denmark
9. Giulia Grosselli – Observer, Italy
10. Marianna Matteotti – Observer, Italy 

The number of votes were counted according to the membership numbers of 2023. Here is a link to the number of votes by countries and voting results.

The meeting started with Chair Laura Grondin welcoming everyone. 

Reports 

Media and Communications Report 
IM24CA’s website, launched in February 2020, continues to show remarkable growth in activity.  Website visits remain the main source of class information. Social media engagement increased in Instagram and Facebook, and a high level reach up of reels (videos shown off the account followers), videos and images were reported.  Our figures were essentially equal to the prior year both in terms of number of people and number of new users.

Financial Report and Budgets  
Melges 24 Financials 2022 final 2023 estimated & 2024 budget  
IM24CA’s income was down compared to prior years mainly due to the reduction in sail royalties of 34%.  Membership fees were up due to more members and a 10 euro increase in the fee per member.  What helped to balance the budget was a reduction in the photo/video spend principally by using more local event photographers. The organization plans to reach out to the sail makers to see if there is an opportunity to increase sales of sails.

A serious effort to generate ad revenue is needed.  As well, the organization will investigate an option to have IMCA collect class funds and to collect fees earlier in the year which would allow the organization to make bigger investments in photos and videos that are popular amongst the members.

The 2024 budget shows flat memberships and increased sail royalties as well as increased revenues from new boats.  The class anticipates additional expenses for Class Manager and Championship Coordinator for 2024 Worlds in SF, an increase in spend on photos and videos and the expense of providing staff clothing.

Technical Report & Builders Reports  
Technical Committee report & Open meeting summary  
Technical Committee Chair's Comments on the Rule Changes 
Builder’s Report

The report was very favorable with new boats and masts being available and sold both in the US and in Europe.  The boats and spars are reportedly competitive without creating an advantage.  The availability of spare parts has improved and can be ordered from Zenda until the European supply lines are fully in place.

Chair’s report 
Link to the document 
Chair Laura Grondin reviewed the performance of 2023 goals and set goals for 2024, some of which included continuing uncompleted objectives from 2023: 

• Host a World championship in San Francisco, CA with at least 40 boats
• Host a Europeans in Croatia with at least 60 boats
• Solicit and receive/approve a North Americans for 2025 and Worlds in North America in 2026 (will require an EGM) by June 2024
• Complete the 2025 plan for the ESS by August 2024
• Create a photo/video plan for 2024 that includes a broader spectrum of photos for participants – develop a mechanism for measuring
• Find 2,000 euros or more in sponsorship or ad revenue
• Outfit our class representatives with appropriate logo/apparel
• Review job descriptions and approvals for all roles
• Share the Boat spreadsheet and identify the location of 60% of boats or at least 535; continue efforts to encourage more boats to race and become members
• Create a plan for promoting sustainability specifically for providing a mechanism for recycling sails
• Achieve the figures and goals set in the budget for 2024

Round Table Class Reports & Updates  
All national class representatives had the opportunity to comment on their status.  Highlights included:
Canada: North Americans was an excellent event despite low turnout by US boats; an urgent need to find a new location for Canadian nationals resulted in only one shortened race in two days and a decision to make these events 3 days; seeing new boat owners in Nova Scotia and Ontario
Croatia: class is doing well and will add 4 to 5 new boats by year-end;  class goal is to host a World Championship; offering storage between events has been critical to attendance
Denmark: Formula for success has been a weekend of racing followed by a weekend off followed by another weekend of racing in the same place; these are 2-day events
Germany: We have maintained some members and lost others; we will continue our efforts to have more members!
Annual class reports are available at the AGM website under the tab “Country reports”. 

Melges 24 recent events, reports & Future events, the current situation

2024 European Sailing Series and Ranking: List of events was presented and discussed;  Limit of 2 events per country; we will consider adding another event in Croatia in 2025;  thanks to the committee for working hard to get this completed

2023 North Americans in Toronto, Canada: Overall, the event was well run and excellent;  the only problem was the low attendance; recommendations were to be careful about how many events would be attended in late fall and to keep events far enough apart: one-month minimum.

2023 Melges 24 Worlds – Middelfart, Denmark – June 24 – July 1 

Søren Laugesen, the manager of GoSail in Middelfart, joined the call to thank the class for supporting the events.

2024 Melges 24 Worlds – San Francisco, CA, USA – August 17-24

Carol Ewing gave a report indicating that the planning for the SF is well underway, including the development of a logo and registration materials, and that she will be working with the class on the many details.  Boats to the charter will be very helpful in encouraging European attendance; one Italian boat and two Croatian boats are planning to attend.  We will continue using SailTi. 

2024 Europeans – Split, Croatia – September 27 - October 4

The organizing committee is working on the organization as well as obtaining local governmental approvals and designing the logo. Officers visited and liked the location for measurement.  The website will get going soon to supply accommodation and registration information.

All agreed that encouraging early registrations for Worlds and Europeans will help build excitement and attendance.

Bids are open and needed for the 2025 North Americans (needed soon!), 2026 Worlds in North America and 2027 Worlds in Europe.

Annual approval of the appointment of the Technical Committee Chair

The World Council unanimously re-appointed Mike Gozzard from Canada to continue in the position of the Technical Committee Chair.

Proposed Class Rule Changes 

The following Class Rule Change proposals were accepted by the AGM, and will be sent to World Sailing for their review and ratification: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CHANGES CAN NOT TAKE EFFECT UNTIL APPROVED BY WORLD SAILING.

All documents are available on AGM website under the Tab “Submissions – Class Rules”, along with the comments from the Technical Committee.

Rule Change Proposals from the National Classes:

• USA 1 – Weight rule elimination (C.2.2): Approved
• Changes to Rule C.2.1: Approved
• USA 2 – Pros must be associate members: Approved (will require a constitution change to be submitted to the World Council for voting)

Rule Change Proposals from the Technical Committee – housekeeping changes:

• 2023-TechComm-Rule-Change-Proposal-INTRODUCTION-Rev1-housekeping.pdf
• 2023-TechComm-RuleChangeProposal-C.10.2-LIMITATIONS-Rev3-housekeeping.pdf   
• 2023-TechComm-RuleChangeProposal-C.11.3-Rev2-housekeeping.pdf     

Any Other Business

2024 AGM: Overall, the World Council was in favor of an in-person meeting.  Two options include New York City on November 2-3, 2024, or immediately following the Europeans in Croatia, October 4-5, 2024.  The Executive Committee shall discuss at its next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:45 pm ET.