First Results of Autumn Ballot

The Autumn 2020 IDNIYRA and IDNIYRA EU combined ballot closed at 23:45 (AST) November 22, 2020.  Two-thirds of ‘yes’ votes are required for a Question to pass.  The results are as follows:

Fifty-six percent of eligible members participated in the ballot.  Abstentions were allowed on individual questions.

• Question 1: EPIC Agreement Amendment.  132 yes / 84 against (61.1% yes, Question 1 fails)
• Question 2: RMA Amendment.  184 yes / 46 against (80.0% yes, Question 2 passes)
• Question 3: Technical Specification A16, Hull Cross Section.  169 yes / 52 against (76.5% yes, Question 3 passes and comes into effect May 31, 2021)

A report with the breakdown of votes by continent will follow once those results are received from the voting software contractor. The members support to the governance of the DN Class is appreciated.

Attila Pataky (M-100) Commodore IDNIYRA EU
Warren Nethercote (KC 3786) Commodore IDNIYRA

Update on IDNIYRA and IDNIYRA EU Autumn Ballot

 We have an electronic ballot underway to consider three questions: an amendment to the EPIC Agreement; an amendment to the Regatta Management Agreement; and a change to the OFFICIAL SPECIFICATIONS.  The ballot closes on November 22^nd. 

As of 0900 AST Wednesday, 11 November 177 of 422 eligible voters had voted (79 from Europe and 98 from North America).  Another 49 members have opened their ballots but not yet voted.  How people voted is not available to us until after ballots close on November 22nd. The voting software indicates that all ballots sent to IDNIYRA EU members were received.  One ballot for a North American member was undeliverable, but we have been unable to make contact with the member to correct the email address.

 On Friday 13 November those who have not yet voted will receive an automated reminder to vote from the voting software.  The reminder will come from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com   To help avoid rejection of the notice as junk mail you can add invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com to your contact list.  If you did not receive an invitation, or a first reminder (on 6 November 2020) and think that you should have received one, please contact Deb Whitehorse for North America (exec.secretary@idniyra.org) or Attila István Pataki for Europe (secretary@idniyra.eu). We can check whether a ballot has been sent, your voting eligibility if one was not sent and, when appropriate, we can add you to the voters list.

Warren Nethercote
Commodore IDNIYRA
Ballot Administrator

This is the announcement of a combined ballot for members of IDNIYRA and IDNIYRA EU, although North American and European results will be available separately.

At their Spring 2020 meeting the IDNIYRA EU National Secretaries supported sending six measures to a ballot of the members.  Three of the six will be on this combined ballot.

• Changing Article II of the EPIC Agreement to add considerations of environmental friendliness to reasons for changing the Official Specification.  The IDNIYRA EU National Secretaries supported this proposal.  The IDNIYRA Governing Committee believes that environmental friendliness should be located in the Regatta Management Agreement. The current proposal may restrict construction materials currently in use.  The IDNIYRA Governing Committee recommends rejection of this proposal.  This is Question 1 on the ballot.
• Changing Paragraph 10 b) of the Regatta Management Agreement to add “Skippers who finished in the first 3 places in the Gold Fleet of the preceding continental or higher regatta” to Gold Fleet assignments.  The IDNIYRA EU National Secretaries supported this proposal.  The IDNIYRA Governing Committee and the scoring committee recommend rejection of this proposal because it addresses one unique occurrence of an unranked sailor finishing in the top three of the Gold Fleet and may reduce the opportunity for advancement from the Silver and Bronze Fleets. This is Question 2 on the ballot.
• Changing Paragraph A 16 (Fuselage) of the Official Specification to introduce a ±2 degree tolerance to the 90 degree corners (‘rectangle’) of the fuselage.  Both the IDNIYRA EU National Secretaries and the IDNIYRA Governing Committee support this proposal.  This proposal has been further developed by the Technical Committee and is Question 3 on the ballot.

Further work is required on the other three proposed changes to the Official Specifications and they will be submitted for a future ballot once technical issues have been resolved.

Members of IDNIYRA and IDNIYRA EU who were in good standing as of September 1^st, 2020 are eligible to vote and can expect to receive an electronic ballot invitation at their email address on file with IDNIYRA or IDNIYRA EU.  The ballot will be open from 23:45 Atlantic time, 1 November 2020 (Nov 2^nd, 3:45 GMT) to 23:45 Atlantic time, 22 November 2020 (Nov 23^rd, 3:45 GMT).  To pass, a proposal must receive at least 2/3rds yes votes.  Any measures passed will come into effect on May 31^st, 2021.

Note to voters: All election notices are sent from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com   To help avoid rejection of the notice as junk mail add invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com to your contact list.

Dear Fellow Icesailors,

Signup for the 2020/21 membership is open.
For registering to the upcoming season please click on this link and follow the instructions.

Alternatively, the signup can be accessed through the sidebar and also under the menu “OFFICE >> IDNIYRA-EU Membership”

Please make your payment of 25 EUR through PAYPAL or Credit Card as requested on the registration page. Do not send money via bank transfer!! (Except for the National Organisations membership fee)

Think Ice,

Attila Pataky

Dear Fellow Iceboaters,

As many of you know, we held an online secretaries’ meeting last weekend where we discussed and voted on many of the issues we were unable during the spring meeting.

We are happy to announce that out of the 3 nominees Mihkel Kosk C-45 has won the election for vice-commodore with an overwhelming majority vote and support of the national secretaries.
Mihkel is an active DN and softwater sailor in Dragon Class. He has proved himself as the national secretary for Estonia for about 10 years and lately as a trainer for the estonian Junior DN and IceOptimist team.

Welcome onboard Mihkel!

The minutes of the meeting will be published later this week.