World Organisation for Modelshipbuilding and Modelshipsport
Weltorganisation für Schiffsmodellbau und Schiffsmodellsport
Fédération Mondiale de Modélisme Naval et de Modélisme Sportif

Minutes of the meeting of the board of directors of Naviga, held 16 March 2002

Present:
Mr. Hofbauer
Svorcik
Litwin
Dahm
Turk
Schaft
Tomasek
Excused:
Mr. Fragniere
Schmidt
1 The president of Naviga opened the meeting at 8.15 a.m., and declared it capable of passing decisions. Mr. Dahm was appointed as the minutes clerk.
Dr. Litwin received the medals for the FSR World Championships in Poland, and the financial subsidy from Naviga, as well as the money for the engraving of the medals.

2. Correction of the minutes of the board held in December 2001: Dr. Litwin protested that Poland had been mentioned in relation to the delayed payment of the rooms booked in the Oekotel. Poland had always paid all fees on time, and the statement had been a mistake.

3. Report of the president, Mr. Hofbauer:

Bulgaria was supposed to pay USD 1,180.00, but paid only DEM 975.00. The outstanding sum has still not been paid. The National Federation fees have not been paid either; however, the deadline for the payment of these is 31 March 2002. A letter should be sent by the end of March, after the review of the funds by the treasurer. First it has to be determined how the division manager's expenses had been accounted for.
The Naviga computer has broken down; it is not advisable to have it repaired. A new computer must therefore be bought (Vote: all were in favor).
Mr. Türk is retiring. To ensure communication with the secretary's office, it is necessary to establish a ground telephone line, since the mobile phone is too expensive for Internet activities. Two connections should be established at one number. The expenses are expected to be approximately EUR 36.00 per month. Mr. Türk will pay the connection fees himself. Vote: all in favor.
The list of Federations should be continuously updated by current addresses and e-mail contacts. It still lists Federations that have not paid the membership fee for several years.
New Zealand had paid the fee, and were surprised that they had not received the confirmation of their membership. A letter was sent to them subsequently.
Money transfer problems. Example: Belgium transfers EUR 21.00, Naviga receives EUR 14.47. Since this happens all the time, it results in great losses for Naviga. The transferors of money must ensure in the future that the expenses are borne by them so that Naviga receives the net required sum.
There has been an organizational change in the hotel. The rooms must now be booked in writing. The hotel then sends the customer a written confirmation. If the rooms are not subsequently used, they must still be paid for.
Naviga is missing two appliances: a scanner and a phonometer, they are probably still at Mr. Schmidt's.

Membership fees for 2002: 16 countries have already paid, 20 are still outstanding. Reminders are to be sent starting in April.

The minutes must this time be translated fairly quickly, since the information should be sent till the end of March.

Date of the fall meeting: proposed for 16 November 2002.

Correspondence - Switzerland, course C and NS:
Germany has raised a complaint. They inquired as to why the course had to be held in Switzerland, which is very expensive, although there is going to be the World and European Championship, where it will be possible to meet.
A new rule C should be introduced; the points should be raised from 100 to 1,000 (it is more precise), and a new system of awarding medals should be introduced.
It is not clear who proposed the change in the points award system in C. The TK of the C groups had not held a meeting, according to Mr. Litwin.
The change of rules cannot therefore take effect for Hanover.

The training has been designed for new people. The information was published only on the Internet in December. The application forms were published on the Internet 3 weeks ago.

4. Report of the Secretary General

Change of the address, telephone and fax number of the Secretary General's office. Mr. Türk will receive his new telephone and fax number (No. + 43 1 4786367 at the beginning of April 2002.
This number shall also be stated on the front page of information and on the Naviga home page. France has withdrawn their application for the organization of the M division World Championship, since they do not have enough experience.

It is necessary that each National Federation immediately informs Mr. Türk and Mr. Svorcik of any change of address.

It is urgently required that the rules be translated into English, since for most countries, to translate the rules into their national language from English is much easier than from German. This has therefore been required by a number of countries. In the C and M divisions, this presents a considerable problem.
Decision: all rules are to be translated. However, in case of any dispute, the original rules, not the translation, shall prevail.
Decision: The division managers shall submit a proposal by November concerning the costs at which the translation can be made.

Sailing: Mr. Türk shall submit to Mr. Svorcik the amended version of the regulations for all classes, and the evaluation of measurement, together with all necessary documents, to be published on the Internet. The preparations for the World Sailboat Championship 2003 at the Pichlingersee in Austria are satisfactorily under way.

5. Report of the FSR division:

Preparations for the World Championship in Belchatow are under way. The division is looking for an organizer of the 2004 World Championship.
The division shall submit a written report in May.

6. Report of the M division:

Mr. Schmidt, the division manager, was not present.
In Bulgaria, the distribution of the start point leaders is too one-sided: four Bulgarians and one German. One of the start point leaders from Bulgaria should be replaced by a leader from a third country. Poland has filed a second application to hold the European Championship on the same date. At the last meeting, it still wasn't clear whether the LOK would support the European Championship. In the meantime, the European Championship has been awarded to Bulgaria.

Mr. Türk told Bulgaria that there were also other big races. The Europacup is being held in Moers, Kozle, and the international Elektroregatta shall take place in Prague. Based on this fact, the participation in the European Championship could be fairly small.
It is necessary to ask Poland whether they could hold the M division World Championship 2003.

7. Report of the C division:

Mr. Fragniere was not present.
Application of the Marine Museum to be awarded the organization of the 2003 C division European Championship in Danzig.

8 Report of the NS division:

Mr. Martin Tomasek has submitted the rule F4c and steamboats. There have been no other changes.
Effective since 01/01/2002.
The rules will soon be available from Mr. Hofbauer. The relevant changes shall also be published on the Internet. The division manager has started to translate them into English, beginning with the new rules. The NSS has already been translated into English. Steamboats should be ready in two weeks.
The participants in the NSS will be available in the future.
The preparations for the European Championship in Moscow are safely under way. There are probably not going to be many participants from Western Europe.

9. Report of the treasurer:

no report.

10. Miscellaneous:

Mr. Schaft has presented a report of a project in The Netherlands. It involves building the models of Zeven Provinzien Dutch warships, eight of which have been built for centuries. A contest should be organized. It is possible to buy the plans of the warships. In 2005, a contest should be held in Rotterdam with ships constructed according to the model. Submitted to the C division; announcement should be published on the Internet.

Meeting closed 11.15