The IOM NCA for GBR - What is it about ?

IOM National Class Association for GBR

What the NCA for GBR is about

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Latest revision 3/03/2004 Introduction A little history IOMICA - what is it and what does it do The IOM NCA for GBR - what is it The IOM NCA for GBR - what will it do The IOM NCA for GBR - what will it do in 2004 Membership of the NCA NCA Officers and their duties Communication between the NCA and its members The NCA finances Next steps Finally	Printable files (pdf format) Printable version Memorandum of Understanding Adobe Acobat Reader is needed to access the above pdf files. Click here to open the Adobe website and download this free software.

Introduction

This document is being written following the recognition of the International One Metre National Class Association for Great Britain (IOM NCA for GBR) by the International One Metre International Class Association (IOMICA ) on 26th January 2004.

One of the main objectives of IOMICA and its NCAs is to provide all IOM owners throughout the world with a say in the running of their class - this will be done through National Class Associations in each country. The purpose of this document is to set out the main principles of the IOMNCA for GBR in as simple a way as can be achieved and to also tell the NCA membership how the NCA will initially operate.

The document was published along with Acquaint issue 2004-1

A little history Top

From 2001 through to 2003, ISAF-RSD and a group of interested IOM sailors worked on how to set up a new body in international radio sailing, namely the International One Metre International Class Association (IOMICA for short).

ISAF-RSD ie International Sailing Federation - Radio Sailing Division is the international body which looks after radio controlled sailing throughout the world. Until IOMICA came into being , RSD was responsible for the IOM, its class rules and measurers and its international regattas.

The objective of creating IOMICA was to separate the responsibility for management and administration of the International One Metre into a body separate from ISAF-RSD. This was eventually achieved on 28th October 2003 when ISAF-RSD formally recognised IOMICA as the international class association for the IOM class.

IOMICA is now the world body responsible for the IOM class. One of IOMICA’s main objectives is that each country sailing IOMs should have some form of national representation. In larger countries such as Great Britain, it was expected that a National Class Association would be set up, whilst in smaller countries, the class would be administered by one person known as a National Class Secretary.

During the period leading up to the official recognition of IOMICA and for several months thereafter, a debate took place within the MYA about IOMICA and how a National Class Association would work in the UK. This lead to an agreement being reached between IOMICA and the MYA in January 2004, so that the NCA for GBR was finally recognised at the end of January 2004.

IOMICA - what is it and what does it do Top

Quoting from IOMICA’s Constitution clause 4:
4.1	The objects of the IOM ICA shall be:
	4.1.1	To promote and develop IOM class racing under uniform rules throughout the world.
	4.1.2	To provide a structure for class management and for the exchange of information among IOM sailors.
4.2	In furtherance of these objects the IOM ICA shall:
	4.2.1	Encourage the formation of IOM National Class Associations in all countries where Boats are raced, in association with the Division Member (ie the MYA in the UK).
	4.2.2	Assist event organisers to hold IOM World and Continental Championships and other events of International standing in appropriate locations and to proper standards, in association with the ISAF-RSD.
	4.2.3	Promulgate and review the IOM Class Rules, in association with the ISAF-RSD.
	4.2.4	Encourage the development and training of Class measurers, in association with the DMs.
In summary, IOMICA now looks after the promotion and management of the IOM, the IOM class rules, the measurement of IOMs and the international IOM regattas throughout the world, and it will do this through class associations or individuals acting as a class secretary in each country where the IOM class is actively sailed.

The IOM NCA for GBR - what is it Top

The route to setting up a National Class Association in the UK has lead to the MYA (who is also the Division Member for Great Britain) becoming the NCA. In fact, the full title of the NCA for Great Britain is:

”The Model Yachting Association acting as the International One Metre National Class Association for Great Britain".

What this means in practice is that the representation of IOM owners in the UK in IOMICA will be carried out for the foreseeable future by the Model Yachting Association. This route forward will yield considerable benefits to the IOM sailor in the UK.

Firstly, a strong link will be maintained with past practice in the UK. Arguably, the UK has one of if not the strongest fleet of IOMs in the world. Many UK skippers work within international radio sailing bodies and the UK is well represented within IOMICA itself. This experience and knowledge will be called upon in the future as the concept of the IOMICA progresses.

Secondly, membership of the NCA for GBR is automatically conferred on each and every member of the MYA who owns an IOM with a valid hull number.

The IOM NCA for GBR - what will it do Top The objects and duties of the NCA for GBR are embodied in a Memorandum of Understanding between IOMICA and the MYA. Quoting from clause 4 of the MoU:
4.1	The objects of the DM NCA shall be:
	4.1.1	To promote and develop IOM class racing in Great Britain.
	4.1.2	To promote and develop IOM class racing in Great Britain.
4.2	In furtherance of these objects the DM NCA shall:
	4.2.1	Encourage the formation of an IOM National Class Association in Great Britain, in association with the Division Member (ie the MYA).
	4.2.2	Assist event organisers to hold IOM events in Great Britain.
	4.2.3	Assist in the distribution and review of the IOM Class Rules in Great Britain, in association with the IOM ICA.
	4.2.4	Encourage the development and training of IOM class measurers in Great Britain, in association with the DM.
In summary, this simply continues what the MYA was doing before, albeit in a more structured manner.
Getting an International Class Association and its associated National Class Associations up and running is no mean task. It will take quite some time and what eventually emerges may be different from what we anticipate today. However, in an undertaking of this magnitude, the first small steps must be taken perhaps without a final detailed outcome being in place.
What is significant in these new arrangements is that individual IOM owners will be balloted on the IOM Class rules and on other matters to do with the class, and that the outcome of these ballots throughout the world will directly influence how IOMICA World Council makes its decisions - this is a major departure from past practice in most countries. But, we will all have to work quite hard to achieve the hoped for results.

The IOM NCA for GBR - what will it do in 2004 Top

So, an early question is “What will the IOM NCA for GBR do for UK skippers in 2004?”

In reply, it will continue carrying out existing tasks relating to the IOM class and will start working on some new ones.

(1)

The NCA will oversee the same tasks as was previously done by various officers within the MYA Council. To get the ball rolling, there will be a number of posts created within the new NCA. Most of these posts will be “staffed” by existing officers within the MYA. The one new post is that of National Class Secretary who bears the responsibility of interfacing with IOMICA (as described later) and who will also administer the NCA membership list.

(2)

The NCA will undertake the “official” duties of the NCA as required by IOMICA. These include:

(i)

Maintaining a list of IOM Owners in the UK. An owner is defined as a person who owns at least one “Registered” IOM. IOMICA, through the NCA, permits owners the right to have a say in the running of the class but in doing so has applied a few extra qualifications:

•

A Registered Owner is an Owner who is listed as current and who is also in good standing with the NCA. (In the UK, this means that the owner must be an affiliated member of a MYA club and whose annual affiliation fee to the MYA has been paid).

•

A Certificated Owner is a Registered owner who owns at least one Certificated boat (ie a Registered Boat with a current, valid certificate).

(ii)

Balloting UK owners on class rule changes and other matters within the World Council of IOMICA. Some matters may be voted on by Registered Owners whilst other matters will be restricted to voting by Certificated Owners only.

The number of votes to be cast by any NCA in IOMICA’s deliberations is set out in IOMICA’s regulations - a summary of the relevant section is incorporated below. At the end of January as this document is being written, over 160 owners have submitted boat information forms which means that the UK presently would have at least 5 and probably 6 votes.

Owners	Votes
5 - 25	1
26 - 50	2
51 - 75	3
76 - 100	4
101 - 150	5
151 - 200	6
201 - 250	7
251 - 300	8
301 - 400	9
401 - 500	10
501 - 600	11
601 - 700	12
701 - 900	13
901 - 1100	14
1101 or more	15

(iii)

Representing GBR to the IOMICA Technical Committee (ie continuing the present work of the MYA).

(iv)

Acting as the IOM Certification Authority for GBR (ie also continuing the present work of the MYA).

(v)

Maintaining a list of IOM measurers in Great Britain, keeping the measurers informed of Class Rule changes and interpretations and organising, facilitating and/or liaising in the training of these measurers (again continuing the present work of the MYA).

(3)

The NCA will also take responsibility for a number of existing tasks as below. In the short term, the work involved in these tasks will continue to be carried out by the existing MYA officer.

(i)

Running the UK National IOM events programme and co-ordinating this programme with other classes within the UK.

(ii)

Maintaining the IOM Ranking list. This will continue to establish the pecking order for entry to international IOM regattas.

(iii)

Accepting and forwarding entries to international regattas. (Note - entrants to future international IOM regattas will require membership of a National Class Association).

In the longer term future, the NCA will take on other tasks such as specifically publicising and promoting the IOM class within the UK via the Acquaint and in other ways.

Membership of the NCA Top
In order to formally take part in the running of the IOM class both in the UK and internationally, an individual IOM owner will require to be a member of the NCA. This may be achieved as follows:
(1)	Become an affiliated member of the MYA. Affiliated membership of the MYA is achieved by joining an MYA club and paying the annual MYA subscription through that club. For those individual members of the MYA who cannot for geographical reasons join an existing MYA club, a new club is going to be formed under the auspices of the NCA, namely, The IOM Owners Club of Great Britain. This club will permit its members to achieve full affiliated membership of the MYA and hence full membership of the NCA. It is expected that the objects and constitution for the club will be developed in the first half of 2004 and approval sought from the MYA Council for it to be set up.
(2)	Own at least one IOM which has a valid hull number - ie a boat that has been allocated a number by the UK IOM Registrar. It is worth noting here that membership of the NCA does not require that the IOM has a valid certificate.
(3)	In 2004, registration with the Class Secretary will also be necessary. This step is required to quickly set up a membership list for the NCA so that the requirements of IOMICA in respect of voting in the World Council can be satisfied.
In overview, with the MYA acting as the NCA, all members of the MYA who own an IOM are automatically members of the NCA.
This year for the first time, the annual MYA club membership renewal form issued to all clubs requested information on boats owned by individual members. As the forms are returned, both this year and in future years, NCA membership details will be extracted.
However, to get the ball rolling, all IOM owners are requested to complete a membership registration form using one of the following methods:
Via the NCA page on the MYA web site - follow the link entitled Class Associations / IOM / IOM NCA for GBR or click on this url http://www.mya-uk.org.uk/iom-nca-gbr/nca-status.htm By direct contact with the Class Secretary Richard Rowan Telephone 30 Ashton Road 07904 333430 Gourock Renfrewshire PA19 1NJ
The good news is that, all those owners who had submitted a Boat Information form in the last 3 months of 2003 have supplied the required information and are already included in the NCA membership list.

NCA Officers and their duties Top
The functions or duties of the NCA officers listed below generally match equivalent functions or duties within IOMICA. A number of the NCA posts also mirror existing functions or duties within the MYA Council - in these cases the NCA duties will continue to be carried out by the existing officers of the MYA.
The Class Secretary
•	He/she will act as the Representative on the IOMICA World Council and will maintain the NCA membership list.
•	He/she will also be required to organise ballots of the UK membership and to relay the outcome of such ballots back to IOMICA as the GBR vote.
•	Other duties will include producing the Annual Report required by IOMICA.
This officer is the one entirely new post being created as part of setting up the NCA for GBR. The Class Secretary will attend MYA Council meetings and speak on behalf of the IOM class therein.
The Registrar
•	He/she will maintain the register of all IOM hull numbers issued for GBR.
•	The register will hold such details as owner name and membership number, date when measurement forms have been received and certificates issued.
•	Checking that measurement forms have been satisfactorily completed before issuing a measurement certificate.
Currently this role is being carried out within the MYA by Jim Vice and it is anticipated that there will be very little change to Jim’s detailed duties.
The Technical Officer and IOM National Measurer
•	He/she will act as the representative for GBR to the IOMICA Technical Committee.
•	He/she will deal with all issues concerning class rules.
•	He/she will maintain the list of official IOM class measurers and will provide information, support and training for those measurers.
Again, this post simply continues the activities presently being carried out by the MYA Technical Secretary and his team of District Senior Measurers.
The Events Officer
•	He/she will assist the organisers of IOM events in the UK.
•	He/she will coordinate the IOM racing programme with other classes in the UK, with the IOM class internationally and with other classes internationally.
•	He/she will maintain the NCA national ranking list.
Similarly, this post continues the existing activities of the MYA Racing Secretary and his team of District Racing Secretaries.
The International Officer
•	He/she will manage the selection of the team going to international regattas, including determining eligibility, and arranging for entries and entry fees to be submitted to the event organisers.
Again, this is simply a continuation of one aspect of the MYA International Secretary’s duties.

Communication between the NCA and its members Top
One of the fundamental objectives of IOMICA is the use of electronic communications to carry out its business, and so the same objective is being applied to the NCA for GBR. The merit of electronic communication is its lower costs relative to the traditional method of the post. It is anticipated that email and web pages will be the primary electronic method initially used within the UK. However, it is recognised that not every potential member of the NCA will have access to email and the web and so provisions are being made for communication with those members via traditional methods. The initial proposals for communication are as follows: Using electronic means
(1)	New members may submit membership application forms via the MYA web site. The membership application form is basically the same as the NCA Boat Information Form that has been available since November 2003. The current version of the form sends an email to the Class Secretary via the MYA mail server (when an email reaches the mail server, an auto response is sent back to the email address entered on the form).
(2)	Changes to that information may also be done through the web form.
(3)	Announcements of a general nature will be made via the MYA web site.
(4)	Each member of NCA who has chosen to use electronic communication will require to validate his/her email address on a special MYA email list.
(5)	Promulgation of important announcements or resolutions requiring votes will be made via the MYA email list.
Using traditional means
(1)	Members of the MYA who do not wish to use electronic means of communication may choose to submit membership application and update forms via the post or via fax. Acknowledgements will be made also by post unless an email address is provided. The necessary forms may be downloaded from the MYA web site or may be requested from the NCA Class Secretary.
(2)	Announcements of a general nature will be made via the MYA web site. Members who have chosen to receive information by post are requested to ask a suitably equipped friend to keep an eye on the MYA web site.
(3)	Promulgation of important announcements or resolutions requiring votes will be made via the post.

The NCA finances Top

As stated in the preceding section, the proposed use of electronic means of communication is intended to keep the costs of running the NCA as low as possible. Although, such methods may require a certain amount of capital expenditure both initially and from time to time, once they are up and running, the saving in cost over traditional methods is very high and the work load for the officers is significantly reduced (ie not so much printing, folding, inserting in envelopes and sticking on stamps).

In 2003, the MYA implemented email for distribution of Council papers. This produced good savings relative to previous years. Accordingly, 2004 will see the expansion of the use of email within the MYA. The web hosting used by the MYA also incorporates a dedicated internet based mail server which is being supplemented by a separate list server. All these facilities will be used by the NCA.

So, for the first year of operation of the NCA, all costs are being absorbed within the MYA budget - this means that there will be no additional subscription required from members of the NCA for GBR.

Next steps Top

This document is being written following the recognition of the NCA for GBR by IOMICA. In international terms, the NCA for GBR will be the eighth IOM NCA. So, there is still a lot of setting up work to do throughout the world.

As far as the NCA for GBR is concerned, the most immediate activity will be concerned with acquiring member information and setting up and testing means of communication with the membership.

A lot of other aspects of the NCA activity are already happening as they are merely a continuation of what already takes place in the UK. However, interfacing with this new international body will require a review and a reassessment by all the MYA officers concerned.

Finally Top

All MYA members with IOMs are encouraged to take part in the NCA - initially that only requires submission of some simple details to the Class Secretary and does not involve additional any additional expenditure. The more members that the NCA registers with IOMICA, the bigger the UK vote. So, like in all democracies, the will of the majority prevails and if you are not involved, then you will have absolutely no influence.