Morning all!

DAC is racing on Saturdays and we're trying to get more Wallies - see
you there at 2 pm. Everyone welcome from beginners to experienced
sailors.

Thanks to Tim, Lloydie and Roger for their dates; a national calendar
is just about ready.

Up here in NSW, we need to get an association going. The YA insurance
that sailing club members hold does not cover third-party liability.
At the moment if anyone who is not insured with the Aust Windsurfing
Association runs over a kid in the shallows, the race organisers
could be liable, and I've had enough of having my house on the line
even though the chances of anything going wrong are minute. Without
an association we also have no cash and no structure. With an
association, if we pay $150 to a state windsurfing association we can
become an affiliated class and then everyone can get cheap public
liability insurance through the Australian Windsurfing Association
scheme ($18 per person p.a).

These days, it's not worth having an incorporated body and the AWA
does not require one. I think we if we do it right, we can also use
their corporate identity as a bit of a hidey-hole if some legal
problems such as abrogation arise, too. In the future we can also use
YA insurance for the class officers, too, but at the moment they can
be covered by the AWA's insurance.

So I've prepared a constitution (attached, with comments in italics).
It doesn't seem sensible to restrict to NSW and the AWA president
wants it to be national, so it's out there for comments from other
states. An association could be a big help in the smaller states like
SA, too. The structure I've designed needs work but it's designed to
make sure that it's a democratic class.

The plan at the moment is to have a meeting, possibly this Saturday
afternoon, to form the association. It may be a bit later but it
would be good to get it up and running before the season gets too old
and like the calendar, it was something I've not had time to get
around to earlier, because of issues like a new job.

As you'll see, cost for people who just want to sail in a local fleet
or do one regatta is minimal - $20 to make sure that you are covered
if your rig blows away and hits someone, etc.

So.....please provide any feedback and indicate your opinion. Please
put yourself forward if you are interested in a position; we'll hold
meetings with Skype or something.

For those in NSW, is a meeting at our place in Leichhardt on Saturday
evening okay? Any preferred options?