After an exciting year at Windsurfing Queensland it is now time to elect a new committee. In this season we had fantastic racing conditions, generated links with a social club(www.windwanderers.com) and nearly tripled membership numbers from previous years. Having said that we are still well off the figures for New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia (see approximated breakdown below).

If we want to be taken seriously by sponsors and take the club to the next level then we need to continue to build on the platform established this season and will require a strong and dedicated committee to do so.

Approximate membership numbers 2006-2007:

Tasmania: 15
South Australia: 30
QLD: 60
Victoria: 150
Western Australia: 190
New South Wales: 220

Being on the committee of a sporting club does take a small amount of commitment and time but the satisfaction and sense of community make up for this ten fold. We would ask however, that for the good of the club, you choose your nominations carefully and ask the member you are nominating if they will be willing and able to carry out the role for the year. It is also good to try and match nominee’s core skills to the position, i.e. a person with accounting skills for treasurer or a business owner or manager for president (given that the club needs to operate as a business).

This year we have generated more positions on the committee to help spread the workload for each committee member and help to make this upcoming season even more productive and enjoyable than the last. We are also introducing a new fee structure that implements a standard and reduced fee to join the club and a user pays system for other events you would like to participate in. This means that people can join for social and insurance reasons without having to support the more resource hungry racing component of the club. Those who want to race simply pay an additional fee to allow them to race.

The new fees are still very reasonable and will only add a fraction to the fees from last year (concurrent with increases that were already needed). It is hoped that the new structure will increase the Queensland numbers to the point where it becomes viable for sponsors to get behind the club, allowing us to hold better events and secure a start boat that will allow us to pick and choose venues for racing and social events.

The positions open for nomination are listed below. Please respond to the WQ forum www.windsurfingqld.com with the person you think is most suitable for the job (feel free to nominate yourself). Nominated persons should indicate their availability for the position on the forum before the AGM so that a final decision can be made on the night. The AGM will be held on Thursday the second of August 2007 at 7.00pm. Boardcrazy has kindly offered to hold it at their shop and allow people who want to renew their memberships on the night to use their card reading facilities. Seating will be limited so please bring a chair if you wish to sit down through the event.

Positions open for nomination:

President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Sponsor Coordinator/Publicity officer
Web Coordinator
GPS coordinator
Race coordinator

Please ensure that you spread the word so that everyone has the chance to come to the AGM and have their say about who gets nominated and the direction the club takes in the future.

Hope to see you there.

Regards,

Scot Farley
Secretary/Treasurer Windsurfing Queensland

PS: I have been assured that the web difficulties we have been having will be resolved within the hour by Chris Thomspon (thanks Chris) and the forum will be online again.

PSS: The new fee structure will be posted on the WQ Webpage shortly so please renew your memberships and if you can, convince another sailor to join up. With everyone’s help we should be able to double last years memberships and establish Queensland’s Windsurfing as a serious player amongst it southern counterparts.