THE NORTH AMERICAN STATION

OF THE ROYAL SCANDINAVIAN YACHT CLUBS

AND NYLÄNDSKA JAKTKLUBBEN

est. 1945

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  • Kate Somers
  • December 20, 2023
  • 1:21 pm
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2023 Annual Meeting Minutes
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December 1, 2023

Attendees: Governors: N. Orem, H. Roos, D. Tunick, K. O’Donnell, E. Godshalk, O. Haxthausen, C. Anderson, S. Vietor, M. Geagan, A. Almlid Barrows, M. René, and C. Säve

Home Club Commodores/Vice Commodore: Alice von Geijer, Patrik Salén, Nils Klippenberg , Benedicte Bjørland and Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen  

Ca. 25 attending members

  1. Post Captain (PC) Nick Orem called the 2023 NAS Annual Meeting to order at 1600.
  1. Secretary Henrik Roos confirmed the presence of a quorum. 
  1. PC Nick Orem welcomed our distinguished Scandinavian guests:  Commodore Alice von Geijer (GKSS), Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen (KDY), Commodore Patrik Salén (KSSS) and Commodore Nils Klippenberg (KNS) and Vice-Commodore Benedicte Bjørland (KNS).
  1. Secretary Henrik Roos presented the minutes from the Spring Meeting on June 16, 2023. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the attendees waived reading of the minutes and approved them.   
  1. Reports of Officers:
  1. Post Captain Nick Orem:
    1. Tricia O’Connor, daughter of NAS member Terry O’Connor and his wife Sally, has died in a tragic death by falling off a roof. We are all sending our deepest sympathy to Terry, Sally and their family. 
    2. The long awaited 75th Anniversary Book is now completed, and the book is in the hands of the graphic designer who will hand it off to the printer in short order.
    3. Lastly, Nick expressed his gratefulness for the trust the Station have placed in him and the honor of being our Post Captain for the last 3 years. The membership of the Station is robust, our finances are in excellent shape, our relations with the Home Clubs are stronger than ever and we have just concluded the first domestic Cruise in decades which was a big success. We expressed our sincere gratitude for Nick’s hard work, leadership, and commitment to the Station. We gave Nick a standing ovation. 
  2. Fleet Captain: David Tunick mentioned the very successful New England Cruise this past summer The Cruise Chair Chace Anderson will provide more detail later in the meeting. The 2016 cruise will be on the West Coast of Norway. The cruise will start in Bergen and head south. It will be a crossed burgee between NAS and KNS. Steve and Nancy McInnis, Atle Moe and Kristina Thyrre are co-chairs. They have started drafting a plan. We have been in touch with Vice Commodore Benedicte Bjørland regarding the cruise. Going forward we will also be in touch with Commodore Nils Klippenberg about the cruise. 
  3. Secretary: Henrik Roos reported that the Station’s correspondence is up to date. The current membership stands at 285 which is a net gain of 6 compared to 2022. In 2023 we have 16 new members, 9 resignations and 1 deceased member.  
  4. Treasurer: Nick Orem reported that our financial situation is strong. Cash on hand is approximately $165,000. Copies of the Treasurer’s Report were available.  
  1. Reports of the Committees:
    1. Nominating Committee (NC) Report.  NC Chair Ernie Godshalk reported that the NC places the following names in nomination for the positions indicated: 

Post Captain, for a term ending in 2026:  Ove Haxthausen 

Governor, for terms ending in 2026: Michael Geagan, Ernest L. Godshalk, Nicholas R. Orem

The following individuals will continue to serve in the positions indicated:  

Secretary, for a term ending in 2024:  Henrik Roos

Treasurer, for a term ending in 2024:  Kathleen O’Donnell

Governor, for a term ending in 2024:  A. Chace Anderson, Jennifer Bowden, and Sandy Vietor

  1. Membership Committee Report:  Mr. Haxthausen reported that thirteen (1 couple and 11 individuals) new candidates for membership have been approved by the Governing Board. The new members are John Cunningham, Jim and Marcia Borel, Louis Sparre, Peter Oestergaard, Hendrik Fasmer, Finlay Fitch, Bo Merlin, Bertil Ahrenfeldt, Pelle Hartwig Andersen, Mats Welin, Clare Harrington and Richard York. 
  2. The Atlantic Round: Palmer Sparkman gave an update of the 2023 TAR regatta which was arranged by NJK and held at their island harbor Kajholmen and at the city marina Blekholmen in Helsinki. The NAS team consisted of Palmer Sparkman, Nick Orem, Ove Haxthausen, Dan Colliander and Henrik Roos. 
  3. Junior programs
    1. Steve Ovren reported that this summer we had both juniors from North America and Scandinavia spend a couple of weeks with respective host families in Norway, Sweden, and the United States. Activities have already started to be able to find juniors and host families for the 2024 season. 
    2. Five club regatta:  Angelica Almlid Barrows reported that the NAS junior team had another successful regatta in Finland. The same team (Leo Seuss, Oscar Emus, Jasper Emus and Ella Orem) who won in Newport in 2022 finished second in Finland. Long lasting friendships were again developed between the NAS and the Scandinavian sailors. 
  1. Home Club Reports
    1. GKSS – Commodore Alice von Geijer reported that they had a very busy year. GKSS has 3000 members and of them are 700 juniors who actively participate in junior programs and sailing schools. The focus has been on maintaining the properties, arranging match racing in Marstrand, and supporting their Olympic Team. GKSS has applied to host the America’s Cup for women and youth sailors.  
    2. KDY – Commodore Anne Sofie Munk-Hansen reported that they have 2000 members of which 250 are juniors. Their focus continues to be on junior programs, match racing and sustainability. Lots of racing activities in 2023 and in 2024 KDY will host the Nordic Championship for juniors and the 470 World’s. 
    3. KNS – Commodore Nils Klippenberg reported that they have 4500 members. 2023 was a very busy season with 20 regattas including the 470 Nationals for women. In 2024 they are hosting the Soling World’s and the European Championship for double handed ORC. In 2024 KNS is also the host for TAR/5C. In order to generate recurring income, they are in 2024/2025 building a new marina for 400 boats. 
    4. KSSS – Commodore Patrik Salén reported that KSSS is the world’s largest yacht club with 6000 members, of which 2000 are below 20 years of age. 2023 was a fantastic year with lots of regattas and other club activities (Classic Yachts in downtown Stockholm, 29er Europeans and Gotland Runt). This year Gotland Runt had 200 participating boats but due to extremely difficult weather conditions only 23 boats got to the finish line. For the 2024 Olympics KSSS will have participants in at least the following classes: 470, 49er and ILCA 6. 
    5. NJK – Club Representative Henrik Roos reported that they in 2023 elected its 25th Commodore Casper Grönblom, after 6 successful years with Mats Welin at the helm. NJK successfully hosted the TAR and 5C regatta at the end of July in Helsinki and the nearby archipelago island Kajholmen. They will continue to support the Olympic Nacra-17 sailing team. NJK is also on the brink of a large-scale expansion of the Helsinki South Harbor Club Marina (Blekholmen). NJK arranged the “Champion of Champions” regatta, where all the national champions in various classes are invited to race each other. NJK has 2900 members of which 430 are juniors. 
  2. 2023 New England Cruise: Cape Cod & the Islands. Cruise Captain Chace Anderson reported that the cruise this past summer was a great success, and everybody had a wonderful time.  We had a very international and diverse group with 29 boats, and more than 140 sailors form 10 different countries. We also had 29 passengers on our mother ship Arabella. The Cruise Committee with the leadership of Chace Anderson did a fantastic job in arranging the cruise including 11 different events. The Cruise Book can be found on our web site. Chace and Josie Anderson, Nick and Phyllis Orem – thank you for your hard work and time commitment in arranging this amazing cruise. 
  3. Awards: David Tunick reported that there will be awards tonight. 
  1. Old business: none
  1. New business:
    1. Ernie Godshalk presented the proposed change to the Constitution, Article VIII, paragraph 1. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the proposed change was approved. 
    2. Ratify election of new members: according to the Constitution of the Station the Board votes on accepting new members. Traditionally we have, however, always brought the list of new members to the Annual Meeting. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the election of the thirteen new members were ratified. 
    3. Election of Governors and Officers: Upon motion duly made and seconded, the officers proposed by the Nominating Committee Chair Ernie Godshalk were approved. 
    4. Our new Post Captain Ove Haxthausen expressed his gratitude for being elected. He is looking forward to the new leadership role within the Station. Ove concluded his remarks by thanking the outgoing Post Captain Nick Orem for his tenure at the helm of the Station. 
    5. Angelica Almlid Barrows reported that the 1909 built classical 15-metre yacht s/y Tuiga will be in the US for the 2024/2025 season. The yacht is owned by the Monaco Yacht Club and has participated in the Monaco Classic Week with a Scandinavian crew. 
  1. The meeting was adjourned at 1700 EDT.         

Respectfully submitted,

Henrik Roos

Secretary