Welcome from the SSAA committee – with less than 4 weeks until the nationals in Adelaide.
It’s been a busy time for the national committee – and it’s great to be able to change the focus in terms of what we are writing about. So first new news – we have a new (acting) President of the SSAA – being Qld president Alan Wilson. Alan has a long sailing background in dinghies – particularly the Contender class – and is now a keen Sabre sailor. Once ratified at the AGM in a month – it is the intention that we’ll move away from the ‘rotating’ president model that we’ve long used and instead look to keep a president in place for several years. We’re also hoping to bolster the committee with additional new blood in the form of our WA and SA Presidents Pete Coop and Graeme McLeay. Charlotte Coop (WA Secretary) will also be providing additional secretarial and website support.
We’re also going to be establishing a measurement sub-committee to substantially bolster our resourcing in this critical area. This will mean that we can have some people focussing on the operational side of measurement – getting the 40 or so new Sabres each year processed – whilst others are focussed on our key strategic areas like updating measurement rules, introducing FRP builder licencing, and the preparation of standardised templates.
We’ve also adopted web-based video conferencing to permit the committee to have online meetings monthly – a huge advance on anything we’ve had previously. With the big agenda we’ve set for 2015 – this will prove to be a major positive.
So – hope your 2014/15 season is going well – and for those heading to Adelaide – we’ll see you soon.
On behalf of the SSAA 3 December 2014