16th October 2015 Paul Rayner Regional Secretary 26 Asquith Close Christchurch Dorset BH23 3DX Tel: 01202 929890 Email: secretary@ryasr. The Agenda and Reports for this year s AGM are attached. This AGM is particularly important as there are proposals to make major changes to the Region and its boundaries, which will be discussed and reviewed over the next six months. This is the opportunity for all clubs to consider and discuss the proposals and make their views known before decisions are taken. All clubs are therefore urged to attend. The 2015 Annual General Meeting of the RYA Southern Region will be held on Wednesday 21st October 2014 at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, Admirals Way, Ocean Village, Southampton at 6.00 pm. AGENDA 1. Apologies 2. To receive and approve the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Monday 20 th October 2014 3. Matters arising from the Minutes 4. To receive the Chairman's Report. RYA Southern Region 2015 AGM Chairman s Report The RYA Southern Region Committee has continued to promote and protect the
interests of leisure boating in the South, primarily by working directly with clubs and area associations between Chichester to Swanage and up to Newbury. The main initiatives during the year have been: Taking part in a Review of the RYA Regions to develop a more integrated team approach with RYA staff. The primary aim was to provide better service to and improved communications with affiliated clubs and personal members. A joint staff / regional conference for clubs will be held on 21 st November at Oxford Sailing Club to help raise awareness of the wide range of services available to clubs and to understand the major issues clubs are facing at present. As part of the Regional Review it was decided that the number of RYA English Regions would be reduced from ten to seven. This will give an opportunity to remove overlaps of operational staffing and enable closer working with regional volunteers to deliver the RYA s services to its members. Whilst this project is being implemented in part, there are outstanding issues to be addressed for the boundaries of the Southern, South West, South East and London and Thames Valley Regions which should be resolved before end March 2016. Continuing to provide development and training support to clubs, with the objective of increasing boating participation. Protecting the interests of leisure boating by identifying, analysing and commenting on planning, environmental and harbour development issues that might have an impact on boating in the South. On this latter point, RYA Southern Region volunteers have been active on the following major projects: Marine Conservation Zones Tranche 2: The Needles site was the only possible Marine Conservation Zone put forward for Public Consultation in our Region where boating activity is significant. The RYA commissioned an independent study on the level and location of boating activity within this possible site and its socioeconomic impact on the Isle of Wight. Regional volunteers and a number of
Solent clubs were instrumental in helping the consultants in their research. The consultant s report was submitted to DEFRA as part of RYA s response to the public consultation. Decisions on this and other sites should be made public later this year or early next year. Navitus Bay: The RYA has welcomed the decision of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to refuse planning consent for the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Park, which would have been located off the Dorset and Isle of Wight coasts. The RYA, including RYA Southern Region volunteers, has worked closely with the promoter of the proposed Navitus Bay Wind Park from the project s inception in an effort to ensure that, if built, the project would not have an unacceptable impact on recreational boating activities The RYA had made clear to the Planning Inspectorate that they remained concerned that the loss of amenity caused by the development in this particular area to leisure boaters and the potential risk to the many local businesses dependent on them were disproportionate to the relatively small benefits of the development in terms of generating capacity and economic opportunity for the local community. Marine Management Organisation (MMO) 20 year South Marine Plan: During the year there have been a number of meetings to discuss the proposed South Marine Plan. There has been a strong presence from Southern Region who have had considerable input to the workshop sessions. Original drafts missed out detail of the importance of leisure sailing which has now been corrected. Regional volunteers provided input to the RYA s comment document on the final draft plan. It is believed the final version of the plan will be available for public consultation in the first half of 2016. I would like to thank the RYA staff who work with the Region and the many regional volunteers for their considerable guidance and support throughout my period as RYA Southern Region Chair. John Pockett RYA Southern Region Chairman 5 th October 2015 5. To elect Representative from Unattached clubs.
6. Treasurers Report We have an operating account, which RYA Hamble keep topped up within budget. We report to Hamble via a quarterly cash sheet, and for the six months to the end of September 2015 have Expenditure as shown below. There has been no Income in the period. Room Hire90.00 Travel Exp93.60 Solent Forum213.00 Newsletter1080.00 (6 editions) SCRA Membership250.00 The above includes 195.00 of VAT Also attached the Accounts report for the year end 31/3/2015, previously noted by the Regional Committee. (Note there is no requirement to have the Accounts Inspected/Audited as they form part of RYA Hamble Accounts). Southern Region Accounts Statement Year End 31 st March 2015 Reserve Account B/F 1 Apr 2014 16,167.06 Expenditure - 6,000.00 Contribution to Sports Development Balance carried forward 10,167.06 Income/Expenditure Opening Balance 1 Apr 2014 0.00 Income from RYA Hamble 5,167.06 Less Expenditure (Note 1) 4,200.19 of 434.47 includes VAT
Balance carried forward 966.87 Funds at Bank Current Account Bank Statement 31/03/15 1,146.87 Less cheques issued but not presented by 31/03 180.00 Balance 966.87 Note 1 Expenditure Newsletter & Website 2,100.00 Travel Expenses 1,442.19 Room Hire 450.00 Solent Forum subscription 208.00 Total 4,200.19 Note 2 These accounts are passed to RYA Hamble quarterly in the form of a cash book, and as we spend from the current account RYA Hamble top up the account (usually 1000 at a time) within our budget. They get incorporated into RYA Hamble Annual Accounts, and as a Region we do not require a separate Inspection/Audit. JHR Selby - Treasurer 8/4/2015 7. Reports i. Race Management Co-ordinator There have been a number of Club Race Officer Courses held in the region, including Hurst Castle and Keyhaven, Hardway and Weston Sailing Clubs. Club Mark layers courses have also been organised around the region. The 2016 Regional Conference will be held at the Royal Yacht Squadron on Sunday January 24 th, the theme for the day is Club Racing. We are looking
forward to an interactive day with topics covering everything from course setting to handicapping for keelboats and dinghies. Currently there are no Regional Race Officer seminars booked, there will be a regional Mark Layers Seminar in the New Year at the Royal Corinthian, dates to be announced. If there are any Clubs interested in hosting a RRO Seminar please contact Jacqui Roberts at the RYA. There are RRO Seminars being held in West Mersea and Weymouth in November 2015, and Dean Valley in January 2016. For further information please contact either Stephen Parry at stephen.parry19@btinternet.com or Tim Johnson at tim.johnson19@btinternet.com ii. High Performance Manager RYA Zone Squads The South and combined South & South West selections series are now complete. We have finalised our selections for each squad and the invites have been issued. The squad training will start on the weekend of 7 & 8 of November with the RYA land days. The 2015 16 winter squads are starting to be selected with the RYA Zone Championships being held at WPNSA on 26 th and 27 th September. Regional Zone Boundaries As you will be aware, earlier this year the RYA Racing Zones were reviewed and, as a result, the North and West Zones were realigned to the North and Midlands Zones. In the secondary phase of the review, all RYA Zones have been aligned, to provide consistency amongst RYA programmes, squads and RYA staff working within each
Zone. The key changes are; Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes will be included as part of the South Zone East Berkshire will be included as the South East Zone (West Berkshire will remain in the South Zone) Poole Harbour will be included as the South West Zone RYA Champion Clubs will be aligned to these new RYA Zones and to the relevant High Performance Manager. These changes took effect on 1st September 2015 and the 2015-16 RYA Zone Squad selection will reflect this. To accommodate these changes for sailors who are in East Dorset, we are allowing them to choose which Zone to apply. (South or South West). In addition, it was agreed that we should merge the RYA south and SW Zone Championships, which were held at Weymouth. This was to assist sailors and parents with their Zone selections. Should your sailors and parents have any questions about the Selection Policy, please advise them to ring you Duncan West or Chris Atherton, for advice. 2015 RYA Zone Championships 26 th and 27 th September Region Venue Classes South and South Topper, Optimist, Windsurfers, RS Feva & WPNSA West Regatta Fleets This proved to be very successful, attracting the following numbers in each class. Optimist 91 Topper 68
Windsurfers 19 RS Feva 20 Regatta 31 The event was run over four courses within Portland harbour. Level 2 Coaching Courses These are still extremely popular and courses are filling up very quickly once they are announced. We have a course at RLymYC in October. Any club wishing to hold a course needs to get it in their programme as soon as possible; there is a 3 mouth setup time so we are starting to look at courses for the spring. http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/coachestrainersinstructors/racecoaches/pag es/default.aspx Paralympic Pathway The RYA Para Programme is still looking for more young sailors to join the 2.4 squads training at the three RYA High Performance Clubs; Rutland, Queen Mary and Leigh on Lowton Sailing Club. There are two sailors from Bristol attending the Queen Mary HPC training. Team15 We have come to the end of the regional Team15 Interclub competitions with events held in Poole and at Axbridge, BCYC. The season was concluded with the annual Team15 Champions Cup which was held this year held at Grafham Water SC on 19 th and 20 th September as part of the National Windsurfing Championships. The current T15 Academy Structure and operation is due to be reviewed as part of a consultation between now and the end of this year. John Merricks Trust Commencing from 2013, the John Merricks Sailing Trust has agreed to donate up to 50 single-handed pathway boats/boards over the next 5 years (normally up to 10 per annum) to the clubs/centres of promising young sailors who may not normally have the financial backing or opportunity to progress within the sport. Last year, sailors from St Mawes and Chew received boats.
Upon selection, the RYA will donate the boat/board to the club/centre, which the young sailor represents within the regatta/windsurf fleet at the relevant RYA Zone/Home Country Championships, on the proviso that the club/centre will insure the equipment and make a free loan to the selected sailor for their primary usage for a period of two years, at which point the custody of the boat/board will revert to the club/centre in order for them to use as part of their club fleet to get additional young sailors afloat and developing their skills. KEY DATES RYA Southern Affiliated Club Conference and Club Development Workshop Oxford SC Saturday 21 st November. 8. Election of Chairman 9. Election of Deputy Chairman 10. Regional Review and proposals for boundary changes. Report from the Chairman on the Council meeting of 30 September, followed by discussion. Representatives will be invited to consider and make their views known on the following motions: East Dorset 1. East Dorset clubs should continue to be served by the RYA Southern Region Committee. 2. This meeting believes that the present justifications for moving East Dorset to South West Region for operational staff purposes are insufficient to justify the move and recommend this decision be reviewed. Possible merger with London & Thames Valley Region: 3. Recognising that RYA staff are implementing a change from 10 to 7 Regions, this meeting instructs the RYA Southern Regional Committee to enter into detailed
negotiations with London and Thames Regional Committee on the options to merge the two regions, including merging most of the London and Thames clubs into a single Southern and Thames Regi 11. Any Other Business