MINUTES OF THE SEVENTH DBYC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held on 1st May, 2009 at the DBMC, commencing at 1955 hrs.
Committee Members present: Paolo Alvera (PA) Commodore
Peter Forsythe (PF) Vice Commodore
James Fernie (JF) Rear Commodore
Lindsay Pickles (LP) Treasurer
Ken Wiltshire (KW) Racing
St John Cameron (SC) Cruising
Jan Neuhaeusser (JN) Training
Garry Smith (GS) Social
Andy Pickles (AP) Handicapping
Thomas Wiesinger (TW) Web Site
Tatiana Kottek (KT) Merchandise
1. Welcome and Apologies
PA opened the meeting by welcoming over 40 club members to the 7th Annual General Meeting of the Discovery Bay Yacht Club, and presented apologies from Secretary, Andy Küng and Peter Lacoste. Due AK’s absence, the duties of Secretary for the meeting would be undertaken by JF.
2. Previous Minutes
Copies of the minutes of the previous AGM had been circulated prior to the meeting and PA called for a motion that the minutes reflected a true and accurate record of what had been discussed at the previous AGM. The motion was proposed by David Wilson, seconded by Jug Thornton, and passed by a unanimous show of hands.
3. Commodore’s Report
PA presented the Commodore’s Report, noting that lots of new boats had joined the fleet and many members had volunteered to actively participate in the running of events, including:
Race Training Day ("drag-racing") Ken Wiltshire
Tsing Ma Regatta Paolo Alvera
DB Regatta ("booze-cruise") Jim Fernie
Family Picnic Lindsay Pickles
Middle Island Regatta St John Cameron
Stanley Cruise Andy Küng
Soko Rally Richard Winter
Christmas Party Jim Fernie & Paolo Alvera
Training Courses Jan Neuhaeusser & Paolo Alvera
He also acknowledged the contribution of the many other sub-committee members, the Web Site managers Thomas Wiesinger & Jan Neuhaeusser, and Faye Lam for her assistance with Cantonese comms.
In particular, PA thanked Andy Pickles and Jan Neuhaeusser for their efforts on the Handicapping Committee, who have worked with the COA Ratings Committee to update HKPN’s and streamline handicapping procedures. To such an extent that it may be possible to do away with DBPN in the future, allowing a common handicapping platform for inter-club racing.
PA recalled that KW had proposed at the previous AGM that all skippers should participate as Race Officers, and acknowledged that whilst many had assisted with the duty in the past year, more had yet to contribute. He asked all skippers to assist with a proposed formal rostering system (details TBA), noting the value of such participation to both Club and the individuals themselves.
PA mentioned that Club sail training was ongoing, but mostly limited to himself and Jan Neuhaeusser aboard Rosemary and Skellum, with consequent wear & tear on those two boats. He welcomed other skippers’ participation in the training role, noting that Training brings considerable cash into the Club and, more importantly, fresh blood.
Noting that Club finances were very strong, PA suggested that (since a lot of the money was earned from training courses) some cash should be earmarked for training equipment, possibly training boats. This raised comments from the floor, detailed below under Treasurer’s Report.
PA ended his remarks by explaining that his business workload was high and Club business took much of his spare time, so appreciated “all the help he could get” from the Membership.
4. Treasurer’s Report
LP presented the Treasurer’s report, stating the Club’s current cash balance was approx HK$ 116,000 against HK$ 120,385 in 2008. Total income for the year was approx HK$ 170,000 with total expenditure approx HK$ 165,000 which LP broke down as follows:
| Income | Expenditure | ||
| Races | 25% | Races | 30% |
| Membership | 25% | Insurance | 11% |
| Training | 15% | X-Mas Party | 40% |
| X-Mas Party | 30% | Merchandise | 10% |
| Merchandise | 3% | Other | 9% |
| Other | 2% | ||
When asked “why the Club was losing money”, ie operating at a loss, LP explained that, as a non-profit making organization, it was not the intention to book a profit every year, but to maintain prudent operating funds and a healthy balance towards future expenditure. She quoted the Christmas Party as an example where funds were actually returned to the Membership by way of a ticket subsidy, so that the overall bank balance was maintained approximately at present levels. She also noted that Expenditure included a 50% payment in advance for new Club polo shirts, with no receipts booked as yet, having only recently been put on sale.
The cost of Club insurance was queried, and PA explained that this did not duplicate Members own boat insurance but acted as club, race and training liability insurance to protect the officers and members of the Club, should an accident occur during DBYC events.
The question of Training expenditure was raised and discussed at some length. Clarification was sought, in response to a suggestion by PA that some funds were to be set aside to purchase a training yacht or dinghies. After much discussion Sytske Kimman summarised the consensus that, since formal on-water training was not simple to set-up (especially with respect to insurance coverage), the Club should continue with low-key training as presently existed. Ian Cussack proposed that, rather than incur capital expenditure for a new training fleet, the Club should continue to support training through reimbursement of reasonable costs. This proposal was seconded by SK, and passed with all in favour.
PA called for a motion to accept the Accounts as presented. This was proposed by Ian Cussack, seconded by Linda Huggins, and the motion was passed by a unanimous show of hands.
LP finished by reminding the meeting that their annual subscriptions were now due, with subscription levels remaining unchanged from the previous year, at $ 400 for Individual and $ 600 for Family membership.
5. Election of Officers and Committee
David Wilson proposed forming, and volunteered for, the office of Club Bosun, suggesting that costing of any training reimbursement (as discussed under Treasurer’s Report), could be part of the Bosun’s remit. This was seconded by Ian Cussack, and passed with one abstention and all others in favour.
PA noted that Chris Hammond had volunteered for the Racing Sub-committee, and Sytske Kimman would be standing down as the current Social Representative, having volunteered for duty on the Racing Sub-committee instead. As this left the post of Social Rep vacant, GS volunteered to stand.
PA advised that all other Officers had agreed to remain and thus summarised the Executive Committee for the coming year as follows:
Commodore Paolo Alvera
Vice Commodore Peter Forsythe
Rear Commodore James Fernie
Treasurer Lindsay Pickles
Secretary Andy Küng
Racing Representative Ken Wiltshire
Cruising Representative St John Cameron
Social Representative Garry Smith (vice Sytske Kimman)
Training Representative Jan Neuhaeusser (vice Paulo Alvera)
Webmaster Thomas Wiesinger
Merchandise & Sales Tatiana Kottek
Club Bosun David Wilson
PA then called for a motion to elect the Executive Committee as advised. This was proposed by John Karas, seconded by Linda Huggins, and the motion was passed by a unanimous show of hands.
6. Any Other Business
a. Training
Continuing from the discussion during the Treasurer’s Report, SK offered her yacht Miss Salona for use in Club training.
b. Training Expenditure
Continuing the lengthy discussion on training expenditure during the treasurer’s Report, PA stated that whilst he was quite content to offer training without oversight and personally wear the cost, he agreed that any reimbursement should be reasonable and within the bounds of training income. Moreover, no major capital expenditure would be undertaken without a Members’ vote.
c. Race Officer Rostering
After brief discussion, Ian Cussack formally proposed that the Racing Sub-committee roster skippers for each event. This was seconded by PA and passed with all in favour.
They’re being no other business, the meeting closed at 2110 hrs.
