Report to 2005 World Council Meeting
UK Position Statement
Thanks to John Lawton for making this statement to you and
apologies for the lack of competitors from the UK. This is
something I personally will be looking to address over the next few
years if elected in August.
2004
35 boats attended the 2004 National championships held in Mounts
Bay. Steve Birbeck from Babbacombe SC won with a healthy points
margin. This was the largest turnout in 5 years
2005
Membership currently stands at 66 this is considerably down in the
last few years and represents a major concern for everyone
associated with the Tasar in the UK.
Very few boats are travelling to open meetings and there is little
obvious enthusiasm other than at Babbacombe and Whitstable Sailing
Clubs, though at the latter, numbers sailing are down on last year.
Several members at Whitstable have purchased new Merlin Rockets at
a multiple of the Tasar list price. The 2005 Nationals at
Whitstable in August should see a flurry of activity but keeping
them in the class will be a challenge for the fleet captain. Other
strongholds of the Tasar notable Queen Mary and Wimbleball have
seen numbers declining in the last few years as their members have
grown older.
Membership
I have recently taken the role of Acting chairman and am busy
putting together a 'radical' series of proposals with the committee
for the August AGM aimed at increasing membership and the
visibility of the Tasar in the UK. We believe there are 2-300
Tasars sailing in the UK and Europe.
One proposal being considered is the abandonment of membership
fees as this has become a tax on attendance at championships. In
most members minds there is no other reason to pay. We are strong
enough financially to do this for at least a year while we look at
alternative ways to generate income. One that we are considering
would be a levy on new boats and sails. This would not need to be
very high, say £25 on a boat and £10 on a sail. We would be
interested in any comments you have on this.
Personally I am very excited about recent events in the Tasar
class, both Internationally and in Europe and am busy communicating
this to every Tasar sailor I can. My experience in Japan has shown
what can be achieved with a simple formula of sailing, more
sailing, a lot of beer and a group of people who want to improve
together.
1. Franks and Julian's fantastic work on a new rig offers the
class a chance to step out of the shadows of the 70's and be reborn
as a modern looking class. Everyone I have spoken to is
enthusiastic and waiting for the order book to open. Give us the
max, if the vang wrap is fast we want it. The UK is almost certain
to vote YES. To vote NO would see the class move to an even lower
profile.
2. The UK has suffered for many years problems of supply of boats,
parts and sails. The new agent Mandy Stock is actively changing the
way they are supplied and soon we will have the best available
boats to offer and hopefully the dominance of cheap old boats will
be broken by the availability of fast well equipped new boats with
the new rig from Starboard Products. This should not be seen as
critism of the previous agent Mary Brewer but exploitation of the
impetus the 'New sails' will give to a new boat decision. This will
make the import of boats by the container load viable for the first
time though still at great risk for the Agent. 10 new boats in
January I am excited!
World matters
The UK has always been concerned about the one design nature of
the Tasar and hope that the opportunity of the new rigs will be
used to move to a single source for boats, sails and spars and
achieve the level of equality that should be in place.
Please could we move to a system of next sail or foil goes to the
next order preventing the practice of equipment selection that has
been available in the past.
On behalf of the UK association we would like to thank all the
officers of the world association for their work in the last two
years and in particular Frank for his perseverance despite of the
rejection he experienced with the Tasar 2 project towards making
the Tasar an attractive boat for the next ten years.
Tim Knight
Acting Chairman UK