INTERNATIONAL FINN ASSOCIATION
2016 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Gaeta, Italy

INTERNATIONAL FINN ASSOCIATION
2016 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Gaeta, Italy

MINUTES
7th of May 2016

NOTE: Reports can be found here.

1 National Class Associations
15 countries representing a total of 21 votes and 5 voting members of the Executive Committee were present.

2 Minutes from the last meeting
The minutes from the 2015 IFA AGM (previously circulated on IFA website, secretaries) were approved.

3. Accounts
a. The 2015 accounts are approved.
b. The 2016/2017 budget is approved with the amendment of the event media fee for Aarhus 2018.

4. Executive Committee Reports (see finnclass.org for full texts)
a. the President
b. the Vice-President Sailing
c. the Vice-President Development
d. the Vice-President Masters
e. the Treasurer
f. the Chairman of the Technical Committee
g. Media. Following the report, a meeting was convened later in the week to set a strategy for Marketing and media (see Note A)

5. Elections of Members to IFA Committees
a. The members of the Executive Committee were re-elected. It was discussed to include a representative of the U23 sailors for a two years term.
b. The members of the Technical Committee were re-appointed with a note to check participation.
c. The members of the Marketing Committee were elected following the special meeting organised later in the week. Oliver Tweddell was elected as Vice Chairman.

6. IFA Championships (report)
a. Update on 2017 venues and dates. 2017 FGC, Balatonfoldvar, Hungary 1 – 10 September. Finn Silver Cup Balatonfured, Hungary 18 - 27 August, Open Finn European (combined with RS:X) Marseille, France, 5 – 13 May.
b. Report on future events strategy. Looking for windy venues.
c. Championship manual update. The AGM gives the right to the Executive to amend the document accordingly.
d. European Champion title. Future European championships will award the title of European champion to the first European, with medals presented to the top 3 Europeans and Junior Europeans. The winner of the event will be awarded the trophy as overall winner.
e. FGC and Europeans last day (survey result and recommendation). It is recommended to pursue the test one more year before deciding. Further format testing leading to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games could incur further changes.

7. Development
a. Update on activities
b. Future development initiatives: pursue with clinics and helping sailors through recognised centres.

8. Technical Committee
a. Technical Committee report approved
b. Technical matters arising from the TC Chairman report
- Adoption of the simplification of the boat certification process.
- Agreement to pursue investigations towards hulls provided at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
- Agreement to investigate sail limitations: cloth thickness (longevity), number of sails per year and/or event. Consultation and decisions to be taken before November for a test in 2017.

Any other business.

NOTE A - Marketing Committee Meeting

Members areas of responsibilities:
Chairman: Robert Deaves, (liaison and general communication)
Vice-Chairman : Oli Tweddell, (social media, contents, connectivity, new technologies)
Members: Jonas Høgh-Christensen and Ian Bostock (Commercial and MKG opportunities), Charles Heimler and Miguel Mateo (sailors data research), Ken Dool, Pablo Guitian and Oisin Mcclelland (Format), Brendan McCarty (technical: boat and sail look, weight…)

Class Rules: Look at amendments to enhance the sailing of the boat, branding, data collection equipment such as heart rate monitors, sails and cloth weight… with Rory Barnes and Brendan McCarty

Format And Sport Presentation /Content: more exciting formats suitable for Finns, different format for light winds, new technologies, drones, showcase assets of Finn sailors physiques, life stories and lifestyle… with Ken Dool, Pablo Guitan and Oisin Mcclelland

Internal Marketing / Social Media: data research on sailors and world population, social media boost and targets, engaging sailors fan bases, … with Oli Tweddell & Robert Deaves/data research with Charles Heimler and Miguel Mateo

External Partners: commercial opportunities, product development, branding, increasing profile of sailors and events… With Jonas Høgh-Christensen and Ian Bostock

Financial overview

Income

Expenditure

Assets