2021 AGM

Combined Comet Class Association (CCCA) Annual General Meeting

Via Zoom on Tuesday 28 Sep 21 at 19:30

Chairman Adrian Padro

Agenda

  1. Explanation of Procedure
    1. Proposal – ‘The CCCA AGM 2021 should be conducted in accordance with the procedure published on the CCCA website’ Proposed by CCCA Committee.
  2. Apologies
  3. Acceptance of the minutes of the 2020 AGM. 
    1. Proposal – ‘The minutes of the CCCA AGM 2020 held by correspondence are accepted as a true record of that meeting.’ Proposed by CCCA Committee.
  4. Reports:
    1. Association officers:
      1. Treasurer: (Caroline McAusland)
      2. Secretary: (Bob Horlock)
      3. Chairman: (Adrian Padro)
    2. Builder’s 
      1. Versa, Zero and Duo (Andy Simmons)
      2. Trio (Glyn Rawson)
  5. Adoption of Accounts
    1. Proposal – ‘The statement of accounts presented by the Treasurer at Item 4ai should be accepted as a true record of the CCCA accounts.’  Proposed by the CCCA Committee.
  6. Election of officers and committee:
    1. Chairman (Adrian Padro)
    2. Secretary Vacant (Bob Horlock is standing down and a volunteer is required to fill this role)
    3. Cruising Secretary (Steve White)
    4. Treasurer Vacant (Caroline McAusland is standing down a volunteer is required to fill this role)
    5. Communications Officer (Tracie Padro)
    6. Trio Mk1 Representative (Stephen Sharp)
    7. Versa Captain (Richard Salliss)
    8. Duo Captain (Stephen Linton)
    9. Webmaster (Steve White)
  7. Venues for Inlands, National Championships, and Open meetings for 2020/2021.
    1. CCCA Inlands 2021 Llangorse 16/17 October 21
    2. Nationals
      1. Trios
        1. 2022 – 5 – 7th Aug Exe SC
        2. 2023 CCCA Committee to seek sea venue away from Exe SC 
      2. Duos Cransley S.C
      3. Versas, Zeros
    3. Open Meetings – Offers invited from clubs willing to stage an open mtg in 2022.

Procedures for Running 2021 CCCA AGM by ZOOM

Sign in to Zoom using the invitation sent to you, please do not share this invitation on social media.

The meeting will start as close to 19:30 as possible, please do not be late.

The meeting will be hosted by our webmaster, Steve White and Chaired by Adrian Padro.

The Agenda is published on the CCCA website, no additional motions were received within the time limit and there will be no AOB. 

All attendees will be muted. If you wish to speak at the meeting please raise your hand and Steve will unmute you at the appropriate point and invite you to speak. 

Voting on the motions is via a voting survey, accessed from the CCCA website which can be completed at any time from 21 Sep until the vote on that motion is called for during the AGM.

Reports for 2021 CCCA AGM

Chairman’s Report

Firstly, as Bob and Caroline stand down from the committee,  I want to thank them both personally and on behalf of the association for all of their efforts over the past years, we have all benefited massively from their time on the committee – Thank you both and to the rest of the committee for the amazing work they do in the background. If you would like to join us, then please let me know.


As we all know, it’s been a different year to other years but despite this we had a brilliant turn out for the Trio nationals at Exe sailing club, the closest finish in both classes that I’ve seen in a long time. Exe S.C were the perfect hosts and we were able to enjoy both the great racing and social aspect of the championships.


It was great to see so many familiar and new faces in the fleet and some great news – the Trio nationals are back in Exmouth for 2022, I’ve already booked our accommodation!

The Comet Duo’s also enjoyed a great event at Cransley with plenty of fun and entertainment.


Some more good news, our boat builder – Glyn (Peak Dinghies), has been busy and a new Trio is on it’s way to the Cotswolds and there have been some more enquiries for new boats, so hopefully more in the pipeline. Since the launch of North produced MK1 sail, there have been several orders taken, please see the builders report for further details.
Looking forward to the rest of this year, we still have the Trio Inlands to enjoy, based in the fabulous setting of Llangorse, and the Shustoke sailing club Trio Open Meeting, i hope to see you there. Future events for 2022 will be announced soon once finalised.


We still continue to use email, Facebook and our CCCA website as the main communication and promotion of the classes and it’s great to see the reports of events on-line, via Yachts and Yachting, keep the posts and pictures coming please.


Finally, a big thank you to all of you involved with the association that makes it great to be part of, including the committee, sailors, our sponsors (Noble Marine) and Glyn our builder.

Adrian Padro

Secretary’s Report

The 2020 AGM was held by correspondence on Saturday 25 July 2020.  The minutes were published on the CCC website in Aug 2020.  Actions arising from the AGM:

Trio Rules:  The Trio Rules proposed at the 2020 AGM were rejected by the membership.  Discussions between Peak Dinghies and North Sails lead to an agreement that North Sails would produce a Mk1 white dacron mainsail.  A small working group was set up that agreed that, together with the existing North jib and the Code Zero spinnaker this would provide a suit of sails that closely match the original Mk1 sails produced by Rowsells enabling Mk1 owners to continue to race their Trios in a Mk1 fleet.  A revised set of Trio rules were put to the Trio owning membership and were ratified on 9th Jan 2021.

When I took over the role of Secretary from Guy Farrant 6 years ago, I’m sure he said something along the lines of “it’s easy, you won’t have much to do!” Well, the membership register is consolidated, we have a new builder for the Trio, a new rig for the Trio has been introduced, a new set of Mk1 Trio sails have been approved, the Trio rules have been changed to keep pace with these developments and new trophies have been sourced for the same reason.  Dave Talbot, who had been Chairman for 18 years, stood down due to a life changing illness and sadly passed away in Dec 2018.  Thankfully Adrian stepped up to the task and has guided us through the uncertainties of the Covid 19 pandemic.  So, I feel I can say to my successor, “Most of the work has been done, just the constitution to revise and then it’s down to the routine annual tasks of arranging the Nationals, Inlands and the AGM etc.”  If anyone feels they would like to take this on please contact myself or Adrian.

The CCCA Inlands, due to have been held in May were postponed due the pandemic and, as advised in an e-mail to all members on 5 Aug, will now be held on 16/17th Oct at Llangorse.  Details are available on the CCCA website under the events tab.

The 22nd Trio Nationals sponsored by Noble Marine were held at Exe SC on 31st July to 1st August 21. 23 Trios participated split between 13 Mk1s and 10 Mk2s.  Friday racing was cancelled due to strong winds but after 4 races on the Saturday the leader board in both fleets was tightly packed with no one dominant in either fleet.  Sunday dawned with little wind and a postponement but eventually sufficient breeze on the race course allowed the fleets to be released and 2 races to be sailed in light and shifty conditions.  Richard Salliss and Carole Williams headed the Mk1 fleet chased by Chris and Ben Biglin whilst in the Mk2 fleet Adrian and Tracie Padro beat Andrew and Caroline McAusland in the last race to win the event with both teams being level on 7 points.

The Duo ‘Worlds’ was held at Cransley on the 17th July 21, 12 Duos took part and further details are covered in the Duo Rep’s report.

I would like to say thank you for the generous gift given to me at the Trio Nationals to mark the end of my time as Secretary and to Adrian and the rest of the Committee for their help and support during my tenure, particularly Steve White who has updated the CCCA Website since the last AGM, has helped me start to understand how to edit the content and has facilitated committee meetings and this AGM via ZOOM.

Bob Horlock

CCCA Accounts

CCCA Income & Expenditure Year Ending 2020

 Dec 16Dec 17Dec 18Dec 19Dec 20
INCOME     
Bank Interest112444
Noble Marine500500440440400
National’s surplus   84 
Donation    250
Total Income £511502444528654
      
EXPENSES     
Dinghy Show5680000
Internet-website domain name31548489393
Donation   300
RYA affiliation fee125125125130see note 1
Trophies231275519449see note 2
TOTAL EXPENSES123944869270293
      
SURPLUS/ DEFICIT (£)-72854-248-174561

Notes:

Note 1 RYA affiliation fee payment delayed until April 2021 due to Covid

Note 2 Due to Covid no official class events & therefore no expenditure on trophies.

Balance in Nationwide account on 29/01/2021 £5035

Comet Duo Report

About 180 Duos were built, and we know that some of the earliest are still being sailed enthusiastically in clubs around the country.   But few owners are now willing to travel to our annual Championships.   So we hold the event each year at Cransley SC, where there are about 15 Duos being sailed in club events.   This year 12 took part with just one from elsewhere, but a good day of sailing was enjoyed by all.   The event was won (again!) by Nigel Austin (Duo 103) with his young crew, Polly.   Here is Nigel’s report: 

This event was designed to bring together as many of the 180 odd Comet Duos (ever built by Andy Simmons) in a fun and entertaining event and it achieved that again – although we would love to get more visitors, our water is perfect for them, so please if you have one get in touch for next year!  It was also the aim to give our youngsters and less confident adults a chance to race in an event that whilst competitive was also friendly and with lots of banter.  This year young Polly (8 years old) is able to go into school with the trophy on “Show and Tell” and tell her classmates of the day she won the “Worlds”! – creating memories like this is what sailing is all about in my mind!

The creation of a forum on the CCCA website has begun to do what it was intended to do:  to get people to ask questions and share answers.   Please make use of it!

Stephen Linton

Peak Dinghy Builders Report for the Combined Comet Class Association 2021 AGM

I hope that you are all keeping safe and well and that you have been able to sail more this year. It’s been a very challenging time for all of us, but with the removal of restrictions things are starting to move back to something like normal.

The shortages of products in the wider market place has also been an issue for us. Thankfully customers have realised that such delays are outside of our control and I would just like to say thank you for your patience and understanding.

It’s great that there are now new sails available for both the Mk I and Mk II rigs and good to see a reasonable turnout of both at the Nationals.

The sale of new Trios continues with a new boat to be handed over soon, another ordered and a third in the wings, it’s good to see the steady increase in the number of Trios out there.

Whilst racing is a key part of many peoples sailing, a great many others don’t race and with those people in mind we are looking at producing a set of Cruising Sails. The thinking is that these will be the same cut as the MK I Main, but using Tan cloth and with two sets of reefing points.

I also want to produce a rigging guide so that people have a much clearer idea of how to set up their new Trio. Along with this North will be putting together a tunning guide, so that people can get the best out of their Trio. Both are scheduled as autumn projects.

Some of you may have heard that Peak Dinghy has taken over production of the Solution from Ovington. For those of you who have not seen a Solution, the best way to describe it is a mini Phantom.

The addition of this new class has drawn my attention to the Peak Dinghy website and that is about to go through a complete refresh. The focus will be on the new boats that we sell; Trio, Solution and Enterprise and all the spares and accessories will be there too. Not only will this make life a little easier for you, but it will also help people outside of the Class to gain a full understanding of the boats.

It’s usually the norm for a classes AGM to be held at the Nationals and for me to say, have a great Nationals. I am not sure it works as well when I close by saying “have a great Zoom meeting, hope to see you there”.

Glyn Rawson