Attendees: Vangelis, Desmond

Meeting summary

The meeting addressed key organizational progress for Radio Sailing Ireland association between Chairman Vangelis and Registrar Desmond. Primary focus areas included finalizing the constitution through formal executive committee approval, establishing comprehensive boat registration systems, and planning upcoming events. The team made significant progress on digital infrastructure with website and forum development while working through insurance coverage challenges and membership structure considerations.

Constitution and Governance

The constitution requires formal adoption through an executive committee email approval process. Each committee member will confirm agreement via email to create an official resolution. The treasurer position remains unfilled, with preference for a southern Ireland-based member to handle banking requirements. Discussion centered on implementing differential membership fees to accommodate existing MYA members who already have insurance coverage versus those requiring new coverage (mainly southern sailors).

Boat Registration System

Desmond confirmed readiness to issue sail numbers for all classes through the updated registration system. The spreadsheet and templates have been expanded to include DF-65s and Marbleheads alongside existing IOM registrations. A unified Irish register will be created for all classes, with Desmond handling northern registrations and coordinating with southern boat owners. 

Insurance and Membership

Robin continues pursuing insurance options through multiple brokers in southern Ireland, with limited concrete responses from insurers to date. Insurance coverage is only required for official events abroad or formal organized events with spectators in the country. The team discussed implementing symbolic membership fees to cover insurance, website costs, and Irish Sailing affiliation fees, with different fee structures for members with existing MYA coverage.

Events and Outreach

Christmas regatta planned for December 7th in Lough Ramor, Co. Cavan with hotel accommodation options. Vangelis will coordinate venue availability and logistics. The team emphasized using the upcoming Carrickfergus event for membership discussions and membership fees. 

Decisions

• Constitution will be formally adopted through executive committee email approval process. 
• New unified boat register will be created for all classes in Ireland
• Christmas regatta provisionally scheduled for December 7th in Ramor.
• Differential membership fee structure needed for members with existing MYA coverage versus those without insurance.

Next steps

• Vangelis to send email thread requesting executive committee constitution approval
• Vangelis to contact Ramor hotel and the sailing club about December 7th regatta venue availability
• Vangelis to gather boat owner information for southern Ireland registration
• Desmond to continue research on 10-rater and Marblehead certification processes
• Robin to continue pursuing insurance options through southern brokers

Participants:

Robin Gray

Martin Gray

Gordon Davies

Gilbert Louis

Desmond Howell

Vangelis Simonidis

Agenda - Topics for Discussion:

• RSIA Executive Committee Elections With Keith stepping back from his chairman position and John McCourt stepping down as treasurer, we need to hold new elections.

o Options to discuss: • WhatsApp polls • Vote during this meeting • Mail voting process after identifying candidates

 Constitution Update: Desmond and Gordon to provide an update about their work and current status of the documentation and constitution rewriting (due date: 06/06/2025). Has the constitution been shared with clubs? Do we have any candidates?

Gordon shared an update on the discussion done with Desmond about the constitution: The issue is who should be the member (club or individuals?)

Robin said that there will be confusion if we allow both options. He suggested individual membership as we are small enough to be administered by a club. We can allow individuals to pay a membership to the RSI and also cover insurance needs.

Gilbert explored the insurance coverage under the umbrella of a club and back in the day it was about 50€ per member (10-12 members). A club can still affiliate to RSI. Gilbert suggests keeping it simple.

Desmond talked about the complexity of having 3 different types of membership. We are a small group that just try to have fun, so we should not complicate the status of RSI and keep it simple.

Robin talked about Zurich insurance in the UK and it costs around 1600GBP per year.

Gordon shared an example about the Canadian’s having individual membership only and the association recognised clubs and got them affiliated.

Common ground: We all agreed that we should keep it simple.  Allow individual membership to RSI

Action item: Robin Gray to check with Zurich about insurance options and quotes. Gilbert will try to retrieve past communications and share them with Robin.

The Constitution needs a revision to allow individual membership. Gordon and Des will work together. Once ready, upload it to the forum.

Action item: Gordon paid 110€ in order to be a member of the Irish Sailing. Once we build funds this is going to be our first priority.

Action item: We need to draft duties of each position in the RSI. Vangelis to draft these and share them with Desmond and Gordon.

Election was completed yesterday between the 6 participants of the call. Following positions were appointed based on nominations and votes received.

Committee Positions to be Filled:

• Chairman – Vangelis
• Vice-Chairman – Gilbert
• Secretary – Karl Cassidy (Vangelis to confirm with Karl).
• Treasurer – Vangelis to ask Jeff Kay
• Racing Officer – not needed for now but Gordon Davies to think about in the future.
• Technical Officer –Robin Gray(Official IOM measurer)
• Registrar (Boat and sail numbers) – Desmond Howell
• Class Captains (IOM, RG65, DF65/95, M, A class) not needed for now

• DF65/95: Karl to check with Keith and compile register with Desmond (Status update needed) pending

• IOM NCA administration: Gilbert. Also, A and M classes.

• Centralized Provisional Register: Desmond to lead, coordinating with Jeff and other members to compile sail/boat lists and upload them to the forum.

• Insurance coverage for Irish sailors participating in events abroad: Discussion needed regarding coverage beyond Ramor membership venue limitations.

• Watersports Inclusion Games 2025 July 5^th & 6^th in Malahide Yacht Club

Vangelis to explore new sailing venues that could accommodate people from the North and still be within commuting distance from sailors in the South. Thread created in the forum. Will continue explorations