the 2012 AGM Minutes & Report
by emergency CWA Secretary, Kirk Iredale

...
by
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the CANADIAN WAYFARER ASSOCIATION held at TS&CC on 21 Jan 2012. Attended by Jeff Baker, Marc & Julie Bennett, John & Jane Cawthorne, Mike & Darlene Codd, Philomena Coehlo, Chip & Sky Cunningham, Trudy Davis & Christopher & Daughter-in-law & Nathan Blythe, Annelies Groen, Andrew Haill, Dave & Carol Hansman, Barry Hitchcock, Kirk Iredale, Robert Mosher, Scott Ramsay, Alastair Ryder-Turner, Al & Julia Schonborn, Nick & Mary Seraphinoff,  Bob Stevenson, Kit & Patsy Wallace, John Weakley,  ...

1. Call to order: 6:05 PM

2. Chairman's welcome:
a.    First U.S. boat at Boat Show; thank you, Marc and Julie Bennett
b.    First new UK Boat in North America in many years.
c.    Second AGM without George
d.    Iintroduction of our new Honorary Commodore team: North Bay's Dave and Carol Hansman

e.    Self-introductions around table.
3. January 15, 2011 Minutes accepted: Motion by Mike Codd, 2nd by Bob Stevenson

4. CWA Yearbook DVDs not yet ready; Uncle Al working hard to catch up with coverage of a busier-than-ever sailing year. To save postage, they will probably be delivered at the early regattas this year.

5. Membership: 83 (7 honorary). Thank you, Kit, for all your work.

6. New Hartley MK IV Wayfarers: 5 new Wayfarers. They appear to be fit the "fast as the fastest existing W but no faster" criterion though word from those who know is that the new MK IVs will plane sooner on a reach than most existing Ws. Attitude in England is split whether this boat is a good thing or bad thing for the Association.  It has certainly revitalized the Class which was voted Dinghy Class of 2010 by Yachts & Yachting.

7. 2013 Wayfarer Worlds:
a.    Interim Chair, Rob Wierdsma,  is now the Chair.
b.    2012 North Americans will be a warm-up/practice for the Worlds at the same time and on the same waters.
c.    There is already good interest from Europe and U.S.
8. Class rules update: There was much discussion about possible rules changes proposals from various parts of the Wayfarer world:
a.    Allow floorboards to be as light as possible and still do their job. This is recommended because floorboards are no longer treated as separate in boat weight calculation.
b.   Increase rubrail dimension to make overall beam as wide as the new Hartley boat's.
c.    Whether sail numbers should have to be on spinnakers. General consensus is no.
d.   What and how electronics can be used on board during a race.
e.  Whether Buoyancy Test Cetificate should be self-policing rule rather than Class-enforced; leaving the current Rule as it is could be a liability issue for the Association which really lacks the wherewithal to do an effective job.
Click here for more details. Final drafts of desired Rules changes need to be presented to the WIC before September.

From this discussion came the recommendation that any boats that require measuring for the upcoming Worlds should try to get measured before at local regattas or measuring days to make less work and stress for everybody trying to get a boat measured at the Worlds.

9. Boat Show Report: Many thanks to Marc and Julie for letting us use their new boat at the show. Marc was there all week. With the new interior there was much interest from the age 9 to 14 kids. This show seems busier than in the past.

10. Financial Report Accepted: Moved by Mike Codd, 2nd by Mark Taylor

11. Elections: Fred is stepping down as Secretary due to failing health. Thanks to Fred for all his work! Scott Ramsay nominated himself for Secretary, 2nd Kirk. Passed. Mike moved to keep the rest of the executive as is, 2nd by Mark. Passed.
A recommendation was made to have "members-at-large" from the more distant geographical locations.
Al's note: The Committee has since approved Andrew Haill as a Member-at-Large addition.

12.    Other Business:
a.    It was pointed out that water bottles or something like that would be more useful than handing out flags.
b.    AGM: Thanks to Darlene and Kit for organizing.
c.    Advertising: Thanks to John DeBoer for his hard work.
13. Adjournment: 7:25 PM.


The Awards Party

After dinner and before a pair of interesting AV presentations, Chairman Mike presented the CWA's annual awards:

Alan Asselstine

  • Mike announced Ottawa's Alan Asselstine, our long-time CWA Cruising Secretary as the 2011 winner of the Don Davis Memorial Wayfarer half-model for his long services to the class. 
  • The Red Herring “Wayfarer Spirit” award went to Detroit's Nick Seraphinoff who almost by himself  made our dream of getting Mk IVs in North America a reality - helped in no small way by the fact that neck surgery left him with months of being unable to do much more than talk on the phone.

Chip Cunningham
  • The long-lost Raudaschl Rookie Trophy has been replaced by the re-dedicated Beaver Bowl which used to go to the winning team at our Canadian Nationals but will now be awarded to the year's Most Promising New Wayfarer. Unfortunately its conversion was not completed in time for presentation to 2011 winner Chip Cunningham of Michigan. This turned out to be a rich irony since Chip got up and gave an acceptance speech that is one of the most enjoyable presentations I have ever hear. Luckily for those who missed it or want to re-live it, Chip has let us post a transcript of his remarks.



The Queen City Tray (above) for most improved team of 2011 went to the team of Sue Pilling and Steph Romaniuk.


Gary and Al

The Ted Davis
Memorial was won by Gary Hirsch and Uncle Al for a report of their experiences in successfully completing the Tip of the Mitt Adventure in June 2011.


Some of our Spittoon winners for 2011: (l tor) Nick Seraphinoff, Marc and Julie Bennett, John Cawthorne

The 2011 Landsown-O'Brien Spittoon was awarded to multiple winners for the first time
. The winners are the four North American teams that raced their new MK IVs for the first time in our 2011 North Americans in early September at TS&CC. Without exception, they sailed over their spinnakers until they learned the correct take-down technique from the Hartleys.


Uncle Al with his winning crews, Shannon Shank and Tony Krauss

The Storer Trophy for top place
overall in our four major regattas went to Uncle Al who was very ably assisted by his Michigan crews, Tony Krauss and Shannon Shank.

Participation Certificates: No new winners this year.


The evening concluded with two slide shows: Dave Hansman took us through the complete procedure of building the Hartley MK IV, and Uncle Al narrated a slide show about the Tip of the Mitt Adventure. 
A good sign of how enjoyable the evening was is the fact that many of us were at the festivities until nearly midnight!