WHAT’S NEW FOR 2011-12
Learn to Sail will now be run on Saturdays, and other sailing and racing on Sundays – check the calendar for dates, and info about how to express your interest, will be posted here very soon – watch this space. In previous years we’ve had a           waiting list, so we recommend you get in quickly.
Sailing for the Junior fleet (Starlings and Optis) has become a lot more structured, with coaching, racing, and visits to other clubs. Some of our sailors have made good progress over winter. Becoming involved in this fleet is a great experience for older children that want to get a bit more competitive, and who might want to continue sailing into adulthood .
The Senior Sailing Fleet gets better every year. We have a great fleet of Jolly Boats and we also now have several Lasers, as well as an Open class to include other types of boats that might turn up on sailing days – if you are keen to           sail, turn up at the suggested rigging time and talk to the Officer of the Day to find out the day’s format.
Learn to Sail for Adults – for 2011 we’ll be working with Elements Sailing School to run sessions at French Bay Yacht Club. It’s a great way to sample the sport and see if you like it – more details will be emailed out soon, or you can email sail@frenchbay.org.nz to pre-register your interest and be kept notified. There is limited space, and last year we had a waiting list. Priority is given to members.

NEW ONLINE CALENDAR AND WEBSITE!
Never be late for a race again – we have a great new calendar up on our website – check it out at www.frenchbay.org.nz – view it on your website or download it to your Outlook/Mail calendar. Very convenient!

The calendar is launched in conjunction with a brand new website, thanks to a lot of hard work from Matt at Pauaware – the site is now live and final tweaks and adjustments are being made.

UPCOMING EVENTS – AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Sunday 11 September (morning)- French Market
Friday 16 September – AGM – Arrive at 6.45pm for a 7pm start  at the clubhouse – meeting followed by drinks & nibbles – a great chance to hear what’s in store for this year and into the future, including a presentation of the club’s strategic plan. The AGM is not compulsory but probably should be! Critical business parts of the AGM will be finished by 8pm so that you can catch NZ vs Japan.
1 October Working Bee

Also look out for the first official day of sailing, Opening Day, which is on 16 October from 12.30-5.30pm (high tide at 1.30pm), and the O-Day, which is a chance for visitors to find out about the club and try sailing, is on Sunday 13 November, from 11am – 3pm. All other events at the club and which the club is involved in, are posted on the calendar too.

2011-12 MEMBERSHIPS – TEAMVODAFONESAILING PRIZE FOR EARLY RETURN!
The new membership form for the 2011/12 sailing season will be circulated shortly by email. We also have a TeamVodafoneSailing       t-shirt and hat to give away to a person/family who gets their form and payment back to the club before Opening Day. Be quick!

HELPING OUT – 2011-12 ROSTER
It takes 12 people to run each sailing day, and to make it run smoothly, we need every family to contribute some way. The new membership form will ask what tasks you’d prefer to do, and a roster will be drafted early in the season to spread the load and make it easy for everyone.

See you at the beach!

The Team at French Bay Yacht Club

The main changes to the old constitution relates to the number of members required on the General Committee to form a quorum. Under the old constitution, nearly every current adult member was required to be a committee member and required to turn up at every meeting for any resolution to be passed. This has now been reduced to a minimum of 8 adult members (refer to Clause 7). We have also tried to introduce email voting (clause 23) and firm up the rules on the management of funds (Clause 10).

You are welcome to review the existing constitution which can be found on this link and by doing a Register Search for French Bay Yacht Club.

We intend to hold a Special General Meeting at the end of the season, combining it with a social evening, at which we hope to ratify the new constitution.

It would help us immensely if you can provide your comments prior to this event, so please reply with your comments to :

• FBYC, PO Box 60-012, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand
• email marked attention to me, with subject = Constitution at frenchbay@maxnet.co.nz

With thanks,

Paddy Charles, Club Secretary