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President's Report
I'd like to welcome you all to the Annual General Meeting of the
Canadian Shark Class Association. Copies of the Agenda have been handed
out, however, if you don't have a copy raise your hand and one will be
delivered to you.
[Introduce Head Table]
My first year as President of the Canadian Shark Class Association
has been interesting to say the least. Thanks Jeff, appreciate the
nomination, really.
More sincerely, I would like to thank Bill Henderson
for all of his work on Sharkbytes without whom the process of
communication among all of the members would be much more difficult and
likely would seem to be almost non-existent in comparison. It was not
until I took on the role of president that I realized how much he has
done for the class over the years and how much he continues to do. His
hard work and dedication should be appreciated by all of us. Bill
continues to look for assistance in maintaining, updating and eventually
taking over the work associated with Sharkbytes. Recognition should also
be given to Ivan Amery who has taken on some work and assists with
Sharkbytes. Unfortunately, Bill has recently indicated to me that he
intends to impose mandatory retirement on the class when he reaches age
75 which I believe occurs this June. What was originally a request for
assistance, last year became a plea and is now a demand. His
participation will be greatly missed as I, for one, found him to be one
of my greatest assets. It is imperative that someone step forward to
assist with Sharkbytes with a long term goal of taking it over if
Sharkbytes is to continue to be a leading One-Design class website. If
you have any interest I urge you to please speak to Bill.
I think overall the class is very healthy as evidenced by the record
number of boats, 68 in total, which attended the 2002 Worlds at Mimico
Cruising Club. To the regatta organizers of that event, if any of you
are present, again my congratulations for an excellent event, one which
Ottawa is clearly trying hard to outdo. The counter series for Shark of
the Year consisted of 9 regattas which took place in 6 separate regions
in Ontario and Quebec showing the growth of the fleet in a number of
areas outside of Toronto. Later on in the meeting we will be discussing
the Fleet Development Fund and how it may be used to continue with this
trend.
Recently many of you will have become aware of measurement issues
surrounding Shark 430 and the correspondence between Steve Ellwood and
the Class Association which appears to have created a great deal of
controversy. Although this controversy has somewhat subsided with the
withdrawal of the open letter we should take to heart the comments and
issues which have arisen as a result and ensure that we use this recent
experience to improve the overall health of the class, both its racing
aspects and for its other members.
Measurement issues have come to the forefront of this
recent debate which has, in general, met with a response of preserving
the one-design nature of the class. The concerns outlined in the open
letter to the class are not to be ignored notwithstanding that the
solutions proposed may not have been satisfactory. We should use the
interest created by the controversy to to increase members awareness of
the rules and their individual responsibility to comply with same.
Hopefully we can involve more members in the careful clarification of
any rules issues and prevent these problems in future.
Financially the class is relatively healthy as you will see from the
Treasurer's Report to be presented hereafter.
Unfortunately Jinnie Gordon, the class secretary, was
unexpectedly unable to attend today so there will be no formal
secretary's report. Membership, however, has increased slightly from the
year 2001 partially as a result of the interest at the Mimico Worlds. As
a result, when we get to the open discussion, you will have to speak
slowly and use small words so I can record the comments.
Last year we had a transition problem with the new members of the
executive ( for example Julian and I didn't know what we were supposed
to be doing) and a problem with the forwarding of the mail. Consequently
we experienced a great delay in the issuance of membership cards and
stickers. We are hopeful our current system will rectify that
problem although the position of secretary is somewhat labour intensive
and we ask that you all bear with her while she endeavours to get things
out to people as quickly as possible. We could always use more
volunteers if someone would like to assist in this task.
This coming year promises to be a productive and active year as
Vince, our V-P of Racing, has co-ordinated a full schedule of events,
some of which you will hear more about later.
All in all we had a great year and 2003 should be no different.
I would now like to call upon Julian Aziz to deliver the Treasurer's
Report.
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