TAUK - Chairman's report 2013

This year we have seen some changes in the UK Association, Our Chairman John
Tripp has finally been able to stand down, John has done a fantastic job as
Chairman and has really put some structure into the TAUK, John remains on
the committee and the core of the association remains unchanged.

Tasar sailing in the UK is great, the fleet appears to be getting faster the
boats more upgraded and we get a few cameos from people wanting to join in
our Nationals, although the numbers haven't increase from the worlds in
2011, there are some areas of the UK are showing a renewed interest and are
showing signs of growth.

The year started really well with a great stand at the Dinghy show in
Alexandra palace, the stand was put together by the Signal Locker in a good
location and looked great, we had a lot of interest in Second hand boats, we
spoke to a long list of people who have fond memories of their Tasar the
vibe on the stand was really positive.

Despite very low numbers at this years Nationals the class is in fairly good
shape,  several Tasar put onto the second hand market and they all seem to
find new homes very quickly.

The numbers sailing are static, the growth in the class seems to be held up
by the current price of the New boats in the UK being in excess of £13,000.
We have members  who want new boats but are not prepared to pay the current
price which isn't good for the class this need to change fairly quickly.  In
a recent discussion with Mandy Stock (Signal locker) she currently has
interest from four keen people looking for new boats so things might start
moving again in 2014, and with the current discussion about the Carbon Mast
and the possibility of a new sail plan this might just be what we need to
justify the £13k price tag although this is still considerably more
expensive than most New 14ft dinghy's.

We have three boats representing the UK at this year's worlds, and we
already have a strong interest in the 2014/15 worlds in Australia.