AGM Presidents Report
Tauranga Windsurfers Main Purpose
To encourage the sport of windsurfing in and around the Bay of Plenty region through various competitive and social events and attract more people to the sport.
2023 THJ Event
4th-5th Nov 2023, 21 competitors, 6 wingers, 10 Windfoilers and 5 windsurfers.
Numbers were lower than previous years mostly due to the wind forecast.
We had light winds for this event again (3 years in a row). We got some wing racing and foil racing done, but the lack of wind hampered what we could do.
The long board match racing was again fun and filled in some time, but we really need to hold this event when there is enough wind to complete a decent amount of racing.
Casual Racing & BBQ
We had a few BBQ days but didn’t really manage to organise any racing days. I don’t think that’s a major issue because most people just want to socialise. But we have the gear and hopefully this next summer we can get at least one or two days of casual racing.
Not having easy access to a rib possibly reduces what we can achieve here because laying marks and organising a start/finish line without a rib is a challenge. Possibly the BOP youth trust will acquire a rib this year and maybe we can somehow get access to that.
Summer Lessons
We managed to teach more than 130 newcomers to the sport last summer and have nourished the cadet group which was great to see grow. This is now a fairly large part of our annual revenue and is going to help with equipment replacement costs.
We also had success with pushing some of our cadets onto the next level Freeride boards and giving foiling a go. So we are achieving our main objective.
General
The Club is essentially doing what it was setup to do, which is run the Harbour Jam and promote the sport of windsurfing in the BOP. We will offer a few corporate days and Open days this summer because this is a really good way to get people interested in our club.
The harbour Jam has not been a great source of revenue for the club in recent years, with most funds coming from the Sponsorships and Cadet and Membership fees. This is fine because we are still making positive cash flow, but hopefully a revised THJ with wind could become more popular and productive for the club.
We have not been as successful in our application for funding this year, but we will keep applying for funding so that we can offer different levels of windsurfing to our club members on suitable and safe gear. The current priority is to replace some of the very tired learner boards.
As of 12th June 2024, the Tauranga Windsports Inc is now reregistered under the new Societies Act 2022. We now fully comply with the new act which was a large undertaking but something that had to be done.
We have a shiny new website that is being well used by people interested in joining the club or having a taster session. We possibly still need to work on how we handle the requests and organise the learning days, but it has worked well enough to get 130 plus people onto the water.
Looking forward to another year of windsurfing with all of you.
John Davies
Tauranga Windsurfers - President