Minutes of MPBA Fast Electric Section AGM 2016

Friday 1st July

Meeting opened at 6:15pm
Members present:

Martin Harvey, Peter Barrow, David Harvey, Jason Tooley, Keith Mallam, Paul Upton-Taylor, Ian Williams, John Croyden, George Roberts, Rob Physick, Martin Marriott, Ian Phillips, Barry Fatt, Lee Heath, Paul Heath, Andrew Fuller, Gary Westwood, Chris Hobbs, Roger Graves, Paul Heaton
Apologies for Absence

Vaughan Miller

Vaughan had sent in a letter and this was read out to the members present.

Minutes of 2015 AGM

A copy of the minutes of the 2015 agm had been on the FES website all year. There being no changes the minutes were put forward for acceptance. David Harvey proposed they be accepted, Rob Physick seconded the proposal. The minutes were accepted on a unanimous show of hands.

Chairman’s Report

Peter said that he had missed a lot of race meetings due to ill health but had managed to get to one Electra meeting where he felt that the numbers were low and that they were probably struggling much the same as NADS.

Secretary’s Report

Martin said that the section only has the two events, the Nationals and the SAWS, and these were past history. The MPBA were in dire straits and this issue would come up later. There were an awful lot of positions to be filled and that if some of these were not filled then the MPBA would fold.

Treasurers Report

Paul reported that as of 29th June there was £1004-06 in the accounts before taking out the expenses for the Nationals weekend. Paul would ask for the balance after expenses to be made up from the centrally held funds to £1000.

SAWS Officer

David reported that at the 2016 SAWS meeting the water had been rough as the wind direction was coming from the wrong place. Even so there had been 5 records broken and 1 new record set. The fastest speed for the day was made by Paul Upton-Taylor with a speed of 84.26 mph using a L6 rigger. The lake will no longer be available between April and October due to the owner having taken out a contract for open water swimming. The latest date in March was 26th which would be the day the clocks go forward, effectively meaning an even earlier start for David of 3am. He was not prepared to do this. Also with the number of people attending was there still the interest for this event . The event made a £39 loss. A discussion then took place with suggestions for alternative venues. Any lake should preferably be in the centre of the country
International Officer

No report available

Nationals Officer

Ian said that there was nothing much to report. It was commented that there had been some very late entries and it would be nice if people could get their entries in earlier, especially the money. Martin pointed out that the trophies awarded was dependent on the number of entries in a class. At least three weeks lead time was required to purchase the trophies and get them engraved. As it transpired there was only one class which required an additional trophy and this did not cause any problems. Ian suggested that in future we should have a cut-off date of 4 weeks prior to the event. Another problem was that people entered a number of classes and then cancelled some later. This in itself could cause problems if it took the number of class entries below the numbers set for trophy awards. To enable payment of entry fees easier it was agreed that the section bank details be put on the section website.

PRO Officer

Ian Williams said that he had not done much this year as we only have the two events. These had been written about in the modelling press. Ian said that he felt that what was need was to get the youngsters interested. As most of the events were held at private lakes there was not much visibility to the general public. Ian suggested that we could have some small race boats made available at some of the big shows to give the younger people a chance to run a boat. Attendance at two big shows would be preferable. Jason Tooley said that interest is often shown, but when told of the price they get put off. Ian said that the HobbyKing rtr boats were fast and cheap. Peter checked on the internet and found the FT012 boat 470mm long for £62-56, all requirements included. Ian to liaise with the editor of Marine Modelling as he gets all the adverts in for the shows by October for the following year. Insurance was a bit of a grey area but it was believed that if the event was MPBA sponsored then it should be covered for three trial goes per person.
Area Reps

Northern Area

– no report available

Southern Area

– Lee said that he had not been around due to work and family commitments. Electra was not very busy. Ostend Ospreys were not now running events as there had been no interest shown.

SouthWest Area

– It nearly folded but Mark Shipman tailored the classes and managed to keep it going. Gary felt that the southwest members had lost interest in the Nationals due to the battery regulations. Gary had been given a suggestion that the nationals be held in the south, possibly Elmbridge. Peter pointed out that the cost of accommodation around Elmbridge would be much higher that at Bridlington although there would be space for camping. Peter said that the Elmbridge club had approached him about running the event at their lake and Peter told them that they would need to provide all the facilities we require. They do have a generator but it is not suitable to provide all of the power that was required for an electric boat event. Toilet facilities were also a problem. There were no clubroom facilities. It was also stated that the water is very thick and boats either fail to make the time or the batteries balloon and get ruined. Peter said that at his recent visit to the Electra meeting at Elmbridge the people attending were asked if they would attend the nationals if they were allowed to use their Electra standard cells. There were only two members that said they would, and these two were people that attended it anyway. Martin Marriott asked if there was anything that might bring them back to the Nationals. Gary said that the lack of power down on the camping area also put them off as it was something they were used to having when camping. Ian Phillips pointed out that there was not the capacity to extend the power to the field. It would cost £2000 to upgrade the existing power feed to the site. Peter did state that if there were more entrants from the southwest then a couple of generators could be hired. Ian said that the Bridlington club did have one generator.
Election of Officers

Martin Harvey asked the standing officers if they were prepared to stand for another year. All agreed to do this. Martin said that he would stand for another year but would step down if the MPBA kept going.

Proposed by Martin Harvey

Seconded by Martin Marriott

Passed unanimously

A.O.B.

MPBA

Martin Harvey said that the MPBA was in a pretty serious situation. They need a secretary, treasurer, and other positions to be filled. Without the secretary and treasurer the association would have to be dissolved. Peter Barrow pointed out that if the association did fold then everything would go like trophies, insurance. There were no offers from within the section to stand for any of the positions. David Harvey pointed out that if the association did fold then all moneys held by the association and sections would go to the RNLI as written in the association constitution. Paul Heath felt that we should be going back to the association to change the constitution so that money held for the benefit of a section should be passed back to that section to enable it to continue. It was suggested that at the next MPBA AGM a proposal be put forward to make a change to the constitution. Martin Harvey pointed out that at the MPBA AGM the election of officers came before AOB. Therefore if any of the three main exec positions failed to be filled then the Association would be dissolved at that point and there would be no further business, and so any proposition intended to be brought up in AOB would not get actioned. Martin said that it would therefore be necessary to call an EGM of the MPBA. David Harvey produced the MPBA rulebook and read out the requirements for calling an EGM which involved getting a minimum of 20 signatures. The meeting agreed that this was achievable as we had at least that number at the nationals.

Barry Fatt proposed that an EGM of the MPBA be called and was seconded by Paul Heath. The proposal was passed unanimously.

Mill Time

At the 2015 AGM a proposal had been passed to reduce the mill time for all classes except the mini classes to 5 seconds. It was put to the meeting that this was not really a sensible rule as it meant that a race would become a sprint. A discussion took place around the issues that this raised. Peter Barrow suggested that as everyone racing was at the current meeting that it would be possible to implement any change for the racing over the weekend.

David Harvey proposed that the mill time revert to 10 seconds for all classes.

Seconded by Martin Harvey

For : 12

Against : 3

Abstentions : 5

With the time getting late the meeting was adjourned until Saturday evening.

Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm

Meeting resumed on 2nd July 2016 at 17:04

A.O.B. Continued

Additional member present : George McDonald

Battery Rules

Peter Barrow said that with the exception of one person everyone wanted to do something about the battery rules. Peter said that in his view it was the members that put in the work to run the sport that were most likely to go abroad. He said that Martin Marriott was designing an energy limiter and that Naviga were also testing energy limiters at several meetings to see if such a device was feasible to use. An energetic discussion then took place during which it was pointed out that at present there were only two sources for Naviga legal battery packs, these being Redzone or Tenshock. Martin Harvey said that the reason he had tabled the battery rules for discussion was that he felt that we should be running the section for the benefit of its members and not for the benefit of Naviga. There was general agreement to this from the members. After further discussion the following was proposed:

For 3 cell and 6 cell classes any battery be allowed up to 4500mAh with original packaging but connectors can be changed, or Naviga legal whatever that may be.

Proposed – John Croyden

Seconded – Paul Heath

Votes for – 17

Votes against – 1

Proposal passed

For 2 cell and 4 cell classes any battery be allowed up to 6600mAh with original packaging but connectors can be changed, or Naviga legal whatever that may be.

Proposed – John Croyden

Seconded – Paul Heath

For mini classes any 2 cell battery be allowed up to 2500mAh with original packaging but connectors can be changed, or Naviga legal whatever that may be; or for 3 cell batteries any battery up to 1700mAh with original packaging or Naviga legal whatever that may be..

Proposed – Paul Heaton

Seconded – Ian Phillips

It was further agreed that any boat obviously significantly faster than all others and running overweight batteries could have a discharge/charge test carried out. If the battery was found to be outside of the capacity stated then there would be an instant ban for that competitor for the rest of the season.

It was further agreed that if Naviga come in with energy meters then we accept that as being our rules.

SAWS

It was agreed that the SAWS event should be continued but at a date to meet the availability of the water. The meeting was set for 12th March. Rob Physick agreed to pay for any losses incurred for the meeting.

2017 Nationals

The Bridlington club had requested that the next Nationals be put back 1 week so the dates will be 8-9 July with the AGM on 7th July.

Meeting closed at 18:20