Melges 24 Annual Meeting: Class rule changes and venues of the future title events decided

by IM24CA 22 Nov 2018 15:00 GMT 10 November 2018

The Annual General Meeting of the International Melges 24 Class Association's (IM24CA) World Council was held in Club Nautic Arenal in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on November 10.

The Annual General Meeting of IM24CA was preceded by the Technical Committee Meeting giving their input and suggestions to the World Council for their discussions on the class rule amendments. Eighteen representatives or observers of the National Melges 24 Classes, Executive Committee and Technical Committee members were participating at the day-long Annual General Meeting either present or online.

Jens Wathne, the Chairman of the IM24CA welcomed all participants and read his annual report thanking the officers of the national classes around the world for their voluntary job and efforts keeping Melges 24 class alive and kicking.

"On a personal level, I will take the opportunity to thank the sailors and those involved in each and every national class for their hard work and efforts laid down in a volunteer basis. We could not have made it without you. Thank you so much," said Chairman Wathne.

The annual reports of the national classes were submitted to the World Council and the financial, marketing and communication, technical and builder's reports about 2018 were presented - all are available at the IM24CA website along with voting results on each Agenda point.

As the first voting Agenda item, there was an election of the IM24CA Executive Officers. The only position up for the elections was Vice Chair Europe, but no nominations submitted. Chairman Jens Wathne was proposing to extend the term of Miles, Michael Good, Member Europe of IM24CA Executive Committee was seconding this proposal. Miles has been elected unanimously to continue with another term as a Vice Chair Europe.

Here is a selection of some major class rule amendment proposals voted in:

• To remove the Class Rule H.3 - Random crew weight check during the regatta (the submissions from US and Italian classes). The crew weight rule amendment proposals have been on the table at the several IM24CA annual meetings and until now none of these proposals have been voted in;

• Amendment to change Class Rule C.11.5 to read: BOAT HANDLING as follows: RRS 42.3 (c) is modified to allow ALL SAILS to be trimmed without restrictions in all conditions. Despite the majority of the meeting participants were not in favour to vote this amendment in and also the opinion of the group of the international judges did not support this proposal, the votes from all around the world were in favour to amend the rule;

• Several proposals to amend Class Rules regards Fittings (Bow Eye, Bowsprit, Cabin), Rear Gate Line, and to use "tennis ball" on front of stanchions - all amendments were voted in.

All class rule amendments which were voted in, will be formulated and submitted by IM24CA to World Sailing for their review and approval to be valid since 2019.

Reports on current situation on the 2019 Melges 24 title events were presented and the decisions on the 2020 and 2021 were made as follows:

• 2019 Melges 24 World Championship in Sardinia, Italy - Venue was changed to be held in Villasimius in Sardinia and dates were changed to October 5-12. Event website has been launched. Hosting club will be - Lega Navale Italiana. Andrea Racchelli, Italian Melges 24 Class President made a presentation about Villasimius as a new venue in Sardinia;

• 2019 Melges 24 North American Championship - Grand Traverse Yacht Club, MI, USA - John Abel, IM24CA Championship Coordinator Western Hemisphere, was commenting the organizational flow and was confirming that the dates of the regatta will be in August. The organization of the event is well on track;

• 2020 Melges 24 World Championship - Charleston, SC, USA - May 1-9 - Charleston will be hosting 2020 Worlds as the only candidate - IM24CA World Council was happy to read thorough bid to host the Worlds by Randy Draftz, founder and organizer of the Charleston Race Week, which under his leadership has evolved to become the largest keelboat regatta in North America;

• 2020 Melges 24 European Championship - Portoroz, Slovenia - provisional dates August 21-28. Branko Parunov, long-time organizer of the international Melges 24 regatta in Portoroz and past president of the Slovenian Melges 24 class presented the bid of Slovenia and Portoroz was accepted as the host of the 2020 Melges 24 title event in Europe. The event will be held in Marina Portoroz;

• 2021 Melges 24 World Championship - Copenhagen, Denmark - Soren Blume, President of the Danish Melges 24 Class, was presenting the bid of the Danish Melges 24 Class prepared by himself and Nicklaus DeWitt Fordham introducing two different venue options for the 2021 Worlds. Very thorough and detailed bid was describing Denmark in general and in detail the potential venues. IM24CA World Council discussed the venue options and was in favour of Royal Danish Yacht Club and Hellerup Sailing Club at Skovshoved Harbour. Copenhagen was accepted as the venue for the 2021 Melges 24 World Championship - dates of the regatta will be confirmed, but the proposal was made for late June or August.

John Abel, IM24CA Championship Coordinator Western Hemisphere, was explaining the amendments made in the IM24CA Regatta Regulations and Championship Rules. The amended documents will be published at IM24CA website soon.