World Tasar Class Association
Minutes of the World Council Meeting, Hanana-ko, Japan, held at the Mikkabi Youth Centre, September 22, 1999 at 6:30 PM.
Present:

World Council Members

Observers

1. Introductions. Past President Rob Gilpin accepted the chair and asked those present to introduce themselves. The President of the World Council, Takumi Ozawa, introduced Takao Otani, an international judge and a builder and the Tasar dealer in Japan. Takao would be acting as translator.
2. Minutes. The minutes from the World Council Meeting at Melbourne, January 1998, have been available on the web at www.tasar.org.
Moved Ian Guanaria/Seconded Todd Blumel, that the minutes be approved. Carried.
3. Report of the President of the World Tasar Council (Takumi Ozawa, President)
During the past twenty months since January, 1998 in Melbourne, there were three major issues:
(i) Rule 22, the mast length, has been suspended by the votes of the world council members. Ian Gunaria will be discussing this issue later in the meeting.
(ii) There was the vote for an amendment to the crew weight rule, 29 (b), which was amended just before the world championship in Hamana-ko, with 9 out of 10 districts supporting the change.
(iii) There was the motion by the Australian Tasar Association to apply for ISAF recognized status. The motion was approved by a vote of the world council members. This issue is on the agenda and will be discussed later.
Last, but not least, I would like to talk about my honest feeling after this precious experience of being the president of the world championship for the past twenty months. I thought that it was really, really tough to be the president. Especially, I wish I could have communicated better and more often with each region and district to exchange ideas. I would like to ask for your patience and understanding to wait a little bit more until a president of JTA can overcome the language problem and communicate very well with all of you. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank Richard and Rob for your good and valuable advice given to me. Without it, I could not have carried out my responsibility.
A vote of thanks to Takumi and the Japan Tasar Association, on behalf of Tasar members around the world, for organizing the International Regatta and bringing Tasar sailors together from around the world, was carried unanimously.
4. Regional Reports.
Japanese Tasar Association (Takumi Ozawa, President JTA). I could say JTA is really in good shape. A lot of new members have joined, especially, the family members, which is very rare in Japan, even though it would be very common in your region. Also, A lot of people have still continued to be members. Mr. Yasuhara, 73 years old, bought a new boat last year. At this moment, we have about 100 members. We have a unique system for the member registration. We have been encouraging not only boat owners but also crews to become members, in order to make the membership fee cheaper and to attract more interest in our activity from members. All the crews are not registered yet, but we have more registered members than registered boats, which is considered to be equal to 75 boats.
There are 8 active fleets within 600 kilometers from the Kanto area (eastern part of Japan) and the Kansai area (western part of Japan). Annually, we have 6 major regattas. About 40 to 45 teams are participating in the national championship.
The members of the JTA committee are changed every two years. The current committee will be changed to new members from next year. Taking this opportunity, I would like to introduce the new president of JTA from next year, which was just elected on September 18th. This is Mr. Yasuzawa.
Thank you.
European Tasar Council (from John Rischmiller, President of the European region, presented by Constantine Udo). The Tasar has improved its position in the UK over the last year. There have been some notable improvements:
* Membership of the UK association has grown. * More old boats have been sold to new and hopefully active members. There is now a significant second-hand market which is important to the class's survival. * The racing programme has been expanded with several new venues added. * We had our largest Nationals fleet (46 boats) for many years. * More new boats are being built than in previous years.
In the rest of Europe things are a little quieter, though the Netherlands again staged the Europeans, attracting almost 20 boats. The German fleet has had little activity so far.
We're grateful for the commonsense approach to grandfathering non-stiffened top-masts, and note that all new European top masts since July 1977 have had stiffeners fitted. We also appreciate the suspension of the mast length rule pending one that doesn't invalidate the majority of legal boats.
Fibre-glass foils have been introduced and the wooden ones phased out. The weight and profile of the glass foils is very similar to the wooden ones, and the moulds used are the officially approved ones.
The Tasar still faces significant competition in Europe from the 3 main manufacturers, Topper, RS and Laser, with each continuing to add new designs into a crowded marketplace, and organising sponsored racing circuits. The RS400 is proving very successful, with the smaller RS200 and its asymmetric attracting a lot of attention. Laser has introduced the Laser 2000 and 3000 (based on a modified Laser 2 hull) while Topper seems to have recovered from financial problems at the beginning of 1999, and is aggressively marketing again with a wide range of boats.
Part of counteracting this competition is to address the Tasar's strengths: light weight, simplicity, appeal to husband/wife teams, and the friendly nature of the class. Experimenting with changes to crew weight rules and asymmetrics should made cautiously to ensure we don't damage the niche appeal of the Tasar.
I'm certain you will have an excellent championship and I wish you all success.
North American Tasar Association. (from Cathy Sherwood, President of NATA, presented by Todd Blumel) Greetings from North America. I am sorry to be missing the Japan Tasar Internationals. I am sure it will be a wonderful event.
1999 has been a good year for the Tasar class in North America. There were eight new boats sold this year and lots of new interest. We now have five active fleets: Vancouver and Victoria, Canada; and Seattle, Portland and Hood River in the USA. Hood River is out newest fleet, started this year through the efforts of Trevor and Tina Baylis (also of the 49'er class). Victoria another fairly recent addition to our fleets, has gained 11 boats this year. Both Seattle and Vancouver appear to be having an upswing of interest and participation in the class, with large turnouts for all the major regattas. Currently NATA has approximately seventy members, which is up 10% over the previous two years.
The 1999 North American championships were held the weekend of August 7 and 8 at Cascade Locks, Oregon. At thirty- five boats, it was our largest fleet ever other than the pre-worlds North Americans, and the World Championships. This year's North Americans had an impressive and well rounded competitive fleet, including three former world champions, as well as a number of other world class sailors.
Our philosophy in North America continues to be to enjoy our sailing events both on and off the water. The majority of the fleet members participates in the traveling regattas, and has a good time socializing together. In spite of all the socializing, the popularity of the boat continues to be the strict one design principle where the ultimate results are dictated by the skill of the sailors. Another draw of the boat is that couples can sail together and be competitive. Our greatest asset in North America is the level of competition at our events due to the many outstanding sailors we are privileged to sail against.
I would like to make a short comment on the minimum crew weight issue. North America has been sailing without the minimum weight rule for the last four years. Generally this rule affects a small percentage of our fleet. There has not been a noticeable change in the regatta results. In reviewing our regatta results, it is obvious that the same sailors still win even though there are crews racing at 40 to 50 lb below the weight minimum. Most of the winning crews are in the 290 to 320 lb range regardless of the sailing conditions. At the 1999 North Americans, which were sailed in drifting to 15 knot conditions, the top five crews all weighed over 290 lb, with four of the five weighing over 300 lbs.
NATA thanks all the Japanese Tasar sailors who have worked so hard to organize the International Regatta. I hope you all enjoy the 1999 Tasar Internationals and wish everyone the best of luck!
Australian Tasar Council (Rob Gilpin, President ATC). Very little has changed since Melbourne. Although there is about a 25% turnover in membership each year, overall membership numbers have remained fairly static. Membership in Western Australia grew with the National titles being held there last year. The next titles will be in Sydney. About 80 to 100 boats are expected and this should generate more interest in NSW. The Navy has privatized their sail training activities, and their Tasars are not being used in the same way that they were in the past. The ATC hopes to have a web site up within the next 12 months.
5. Executive Secretary's Report (Richard Spencer). There have been two rule changes since the Melbourne regatta: the suspension of the mast height provision in rule 22 and the reduction in the minimum crew weight ballast required by rule 29 (b), from 15 kg to 12 kg. It took a long time to get votes from all the regions on the change to 29 (b) and the change was not official until shortly before the regatta.
The World Council voted to apply for ISAF recognized status (on the agenda as a separate item). Richard would like to restart the practice of getting position statements from each region on a regular basis. There was a consensus that this is worth doing. These will be requested three times per year. The web site at www.tasar.org is now the official World Tasar Class Association web site. Information on the web site is assumed to be accessible to all Tasar members.
Richard thanked Takumi Ozawa for doing an outstanding job as President of the World Council.
6. Designer's Report (Frank Bethwaite). Frank presented a written report - "The Unfolding Dream". Frank believes there is an opening for a lightweight boat for mature men and women, with a deeper cockpit than the 29er, and higher performance downwind than the present Tasar. Frank plans to see if this need could be met by developing an asymmetric spinnaker for the Tasar. Frank asked if the World Tasar Class Association was interested in getting regular reports on the progress of these developments. All present said they were interested in these reports.
Frank explained that he is considering two possible approaches. First, he will see if a kit that would allow an asymmetric spinnaker, with a retractable pole, could be retrofitted to the Tasar. If this turns out to be really good, that is all he would do. If the technical limitations of the present hull are too great (e.g. beam that is too narrow for the hiking required, a drag curve that has a "hump" in it) Frank would recommend to the class that there should be no changes to the present Tasar. He would then work on developing a new boat.
It was emphasized that if the first approach is successful, any change in the class rules will have to be approved by the members using the normal procedure before being adopted (see class rule 34).
Moved R. Spencer/Seconded John Erikson: The World Tasar Class Association would welcome regular reports from the designer on any developments and experiments that he undertakes. Carried unanimously.
7. Measurer's Report (Ian Guanaria). The Measurer's meeting was held on Monday, September 20, at the Mikkabi Youth Centre. Present:

Issues raised:
a) Measurement at top of jib. Todd asked if it would be better to measure from the bearing point of the hounds to the cringle, rather than the top of the jib (rule 14 (b)). Richard said it used to be this way and we changed it to the present wording. No action required.
b) Discussion of hull weight rule 4 (c) (minimum hull weight of 68 kg). Ian reported that his figures show that the current average weight of boats world-wide is 69.3 kg. However, Ian believes that the current average weight of boats actively racing is less than this. At the 1998 NSW State Championships, the average weight was 67 kg. At this 1999 International Regatta in Japan approximately 49 of the boats have weights between 63 and 65 kg. The European region has adopted a minimum hull weight of 66 kg for their events.
It was agreed to recommend that the World Council propose changing rule 4 (c) to reduce the minimum hull weight from 68 kg to 66 kg (vote of measurers present: 4 in favour, 2 opposed).
There appears to be little interest world-wide in moving to an all up weight for the hull, spars, foils, sails and equipment. (This weight appears to be about 91 kg for a typical boat.)
c) There has been considerable discussion world-wide of a reduction in, or elimination of, the requirement for crew weight ballast (rule 29). NATA does not currently require crew weight ballast in their events. There was a consensus that we should keep some kind of minimum crew weight rule, although not necessarily with the present minimum crew weight of 130 kg. Ian suggested that the JTA should also stop requiring crew weight ballast between now and he UK International Regatta in 2001, and report their findings regarding results, fleet size, etc. at that time. It was also suggested that some regattas in Australia should be held with no requirement for crew weight ballast.
d) The hounds to deck measurement of 3725 mm in rule 22 was suspended in 1998. The committee recommended that it remain suspended and be reviewed again in 2001.
Quality control of masts appears to have improved since the Melbourne International regatta. All spars are now supplied either from Australia (Australia and Japan) or Canada (North America and Europe) and the committee expects that this will lead to better standardization world-wide. However, more work is still required in this regard.
e) The three manufacturers of foils (in Australia, UK and Canada) are now all using molds supplied by (or similar to those supplied by) the designer. This will ensure that all foils supplied world-wide are essentially identical.
Ian Guanaria them proposed two motions:
Moved Ian Guanaria/Seconded Richard Spencer: That the World Council propose that rule 4 (c) be amended, using the procedures in rule 34, to reduce the minimum hull weight from 68 kg to 66 kg. Carried unanimously.
Moved Ian Guanaria/Seconded Richard Spencer: That the hounds to deck measurement in rule 22 remain suspended until after the next World Council meeting in the UK in 2001. Carried unanimously.
8. ISAF Recognised Status. The World Council had already voted in favour of applying for ISAF recognized status. Those present supported this decision. Richard Spencer said that he had been unable to make the formal application, because the World Tasar Class Association had no bank account and no funds with which to pay the application fee of 750 pounds or the annual fee for ISAF recognition if our application is approved. He proposed two motions:
Moved Richard Spencer/Seconded Rob Gilpin: That the Executive Secretary be authorized to open and operate a bank account for the World Tasar Class Association and that either one of the President or the Executive Secretary be authorized to act as a signing officer for the account. Carried unanimously.
Moved Richard Spencer/Seconded Rob Gilpin: The Executive Secretary will determine annually the fee to be paid by each region, based on the annual fee for ISAF recognition and the number of members in each region on September 30th. This fee will be set in October and will be due on November 30, so that the ISAF fees can be paid in January of the next year. Carried unanimously.
Takumi Ozawa noted that JTA has been encouraging people who do not own boats to become members. If other associations require one membership per boat, JTA could be asked to pay more than its fair share of the annual fees. It was agreed that the number of members owning boats would be used in applying this motion.
The Executive Secretary will present a financial report at each World Council meeting.
9. Next International Regatta. TAUK proposed Whitstable, Kent as the site of the next International Regatta in July or August, 2001. There will be an earlier warm-up event and the European Championships will follow in Holland. Whitstable is a good sailing area, on the east coast of the Thames estuary, with launching from the beach. There is a good yacht club with excellent meals available. Whitstable is a popular holiday area with lots of accommodation, although it will be necessary to book early, particularly if the regatta is in August.
Moved Richard Spencer/Seconded Frank Bethwaite: That we invite regions to host future international regattas as follows:
North America - 2003 Australia - 2004/2005 Japan - 2006 Europe - 2008
Takumi Ozawa suggested that Japan would be prepared to switch dates if Europe wanted to hold the international regatta earlier than 2008.
10. Other business. Rob Gilpin noted the value of having all regions exchange their Tasar newsletters or magazines with other regions. He asked all regional Presidents to promote the exchange of newsletters.
Honorary life membership: Article 10 (6) of the World Tasar Class Association states that "the World Council may grant honorary life membership to any member who has achieved, in the opinion of the World Council, international stature as a result of his yachting achievements."
Moved Richard Spencer/Seconded Rob Gilpin: That, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Tasar class and to sailing, Frank Bethwaite be made an honorary life member of the World Tasar Class Association. Carried unanimously.
11. Election of Officers. The following were elected:
President - John Rischmiller Vice President - Cathy Sherwood Executive Secretary - Richard Spencer Chief Measurer - Ian Guanaria.
The meeting closed at 8:30 PM.
Richard Spencer, Executive Secretary