Minutes zur Euro-AGM 2002
(Leider nur in Englisch !!!)

European General Meeting of the International Moth Class 
05/07/2002 

1. Opening 
The meeting started at 1830 hours. David chaired the meeting. Hubert made notes. Attendance: 3 AUS, 4 GER, 3 SUI, 2 NED, 1 FRA, 1 DEN, 6 UK. 

2. Voting Rights 
Since this meeting cannot decide over anything except the next venue for the Europeans the voting rights were not to be applied. 

3. Meeting Notes 
Not every country had received meeting notes of the previous meeting in Horsens. It is strongly recommended to send meeting notes and other formal communication to the World Secretary to be posted on the web. See section on communication under AOB. 

4. Constitution and Rules 
Instead of discussing the technicalities of constitution and rules it was proposed that any proposal should be sent to Rohan to be put on the IMCA web site for further resolution. 

5. Hydrofoils 
Rohan remarked that only two responses regarding their interpretation to the IMCA rules were received from the national associations and urgently asked to send in each country’s views.  

6. Freddy and David’s Wings 
The fact that several competitors apppeared with unmeasured equipment was causing some irritation. Mark Thorpe advised measurers to put errors in configurations or measurement certificates forward to the racing committee and let them take further action (eg. Disqualification). Many agreed that owners should not come to events with unmeasured boats or alterations. 

7. Member Report 

Denmark: last years’ Europeans were a great success, although Jan Drost is still the only active Moth Sailor in Denmark. The Danes are very conventional regarding so there was hardly any follow-up. Jan will build a new boat for the Fredericia Boat Show. Horsens are prepared and willing to organising the next Moth Europeans.  

Netherlands: No international racing since the 1999 Sneek Week and the occasional club event. The 2002 24 hours race in Rotterdam is expected to attract boats from Germany and Switzerland (Patrick we are counting on you).  

Switzerland: No big change since Horsens. 5 Active racers, 2 extra from Germany. At the last AGM it was proposed to host a Worlds in Switzerland. Given the vey small number of people to organise the event this will be difficult. Promotion: the Moth was represented at the Boat Show.  

UK: According to Doug Pybus there have been 4-5 new people at the UK Nationals (20 total) which is a good sign. Some people bought boats after the boat show. Attendance at open meetings could be improved. The training attracted 4 sailors. Moth epicenters are Weston with 6-7 Moths racing and Bartley with 4-5 boats. There is a shortage of good second hand boats. The newsgroup on Yahoo is proving a good medium with Andy Patterson giving input on design details. The ‘Try a Moth’ campaign on the web site leads to good response with several people buying boats after their test sail. The Y and Y magazine and website also are a good platform with great articles and news items. Enquiries have been received from Ireland.  

Germany: no changes since Horsens. Some regional changes: South Germany is picking up; the class has attracted new (young) helmsmen in the Berlin area with two meetings at the Muggelsee. Local meetings attract 5-15 entries. Top meetings like the Nationals attract up to 17 boats. The class now has 30 active sailors which is not enough. There is little boat building activity. There is a good website maintained by Andreas Gronarz.  

France: the small group of 3 Moth sailors in 2001 has now grown to 9-10 including 3 naval architecture students building new boats. The class has been registered by the French Sailing Authority (FFV). There was one boat on display at the Paris Boat show, but the response was minimal. Same for the Nantes boat show. V&V magazine has brought out a DVD with a clip of David sailing the Tim Webster skiff. David is trying to attend more open meetings to generate more interest in the class. On the whole it is good for Moth sailing in France to have the Europeans but David is worried about the organisation of the worlds planned for France in 2003.  

9. Worlds 2003 
Contrary to earlier news, the worlds are to move to the last week in August 2003. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the class, something special is needed. The Classic Moths are interested to join the event. The British Moths and American Moths may also be interested to make an appearance. David has contacted a relative of Captain van Sant who founded the class in 1928 in the US and may also appear at the event. There was a general feeling that an alternative should be explored for the proposed venue at Les Sables with Carnac suggested as most viable, and Bordeaux as another opportunity. Both clubs operate on a commercial basis (=more expensive). The assembled sailors did not feel this should be a reason not to work with them provided we get good value for money. Having all facilities (housing/camping and boats) close to each other is important for a good social event. Mark Robinson will also be drafting a Championships document that will outline all the requirements and recommendations for holding a major championships too. 

10. Worlds 2004-2005, Europeans 2004 
Any submissions for the next worlds after the 2003 worlds in France, should be sent to Rohan on email. There is a small possibility of having the Europeans/Worlds in Switzerland in 2004, organising the worlds in 2005 is not possible. Rohan proposes that Black Rock Yacht Club in Melbourne (AUS) is a very good possibility for Januray 2005 or in January 2006 (that is if Switzerland have the Worlds there in mid 2004). It was also agreed that there should be a minimum of 12 months seperating each World Championships, preferably 18 months though. 

11. Moth Logo 
Hubert will try and find description of emblem and send it to the World Sec. Rohan will put the variations of the symbol on the website to be voted on. The deadline for the votes will be end of September. 

12. Marketing 
The website is considered a valuable tool to market the class. Having good country representations will help to attract sailors in your country too. 

13. ICF Plaques 
Germany and UK ordered plaques with the knowledge of the Secretary. UK and Germany are requested to report the numbers of the plaques purchased to IMCA help sort out the administrative side. If any other country needs plaques from now on, please contact Rohan. 

14. Yearbook 
With the exception of the old and decrepit part of the population everyone has access to the web these days. Rather than produce an expensive yearbook, the website is an ideal information exchange at virtually no expense to IMCA. Instead IMCA is looking at producing new Moth stickers and Moth posters to pin up. 

15. Finances 
Rohan detailed the national association fees for each countries: 10 GBP (approx 15 Euro or 30 AUD) for every 10 members. IMCA Sweden is the only unpaid association so far and IMCA is currently cashed up. In future years, IMCA will invoice approximately every 2-3 years to save administration costs and international money transfers to IMCA. 

16. Any Other Business 
During the meeting there was an exchange about communication within the Moth class, which I will present below. There were no other items on the table. The meeting was subsequently closed at app. 2100 hours. 

Communication 
Ian Forsdike highlighted some of the problems to ship the Trophy to the Europeans’ venue. It was recommended to send the trophy to the National Presidents’ home address for the next Europeans.