The AGM is called for Tuesday 26th August, 2008. To be held at 9/58 Deshon Street, Woolloongabba at 7 pm.
Due to the recent re-structure of WQ the new committee will be comprised of the positions of President, Secretary and Treasurer. Nominations are to be received no later than the close of business on Monday 25th August 2008. Please forward nominations to the Secretary via following link http://www.windsurfingqld.com/contact-us.aspx
As there has been a re-structure of Windsurfing Qld, the committee will allow immediate past full members to have voting rights, even if they have yet to take out current club membership.
Just a couple of quick questions in regards to the new affiliated club/s:
1) if we join the Board Riders Club or such are we also a member of WQ?
2) will our name/s be on the AWA member list at AWA website?
Cheers
Maximus,
No matter which affiliated club you join, your membership will give you WQ membership, and your name will appear on the AWA register. Only full members, will be entitled to voting rights - no different to any other club structure, or previous years at WQ.
For the current AGM, as I mentioned we have decided to allow a honeymoon period as it were, so that all WQ full members from last year 07/08 will be entitled to vote at the AGM (even if they have yet to take out new club membership).
Hope this helps.
I looked on the WQ Website but could not find anything that identifies different levels of membership and associated benefits.
Can you please explain the difference between being a "WQ Member", gained from joining an affiliated club, and being a "WQ full member"?
Surfinchick,
Generally when talking about a member we are referring to a full member.
The WQ membership is now defunct as we re-structured to promote clubs. But to highlight - up until 2 years ago there was only one type of membership - which was classed as a full member. Recently, the concept of social membership became an issue, for non competitive sailors that were seeking some insurance cover. As in most club structures a social member is not afforded the same rights as a full member (namely voting for committee), this is the same with junior members (under 18). To be honest this was never tested as most social sailors were not that interested (to my knowledge none were at last years AGM) in the governance of windsurfing qld, as WQ's primary purpose was the promotion of racing.
The new clubs will have their own structures, and we are no doubt going to have some teething issues with how and what members are to be granted voting rights at the WQ level. For the time being - a full member of a club is going to receive reciprocal full membership of WQ for voting purposes.
Hope this helps.
What clubs are we able to join other than Bayside?
Are there any others yet?
If I was concerned about insurance only, what are our current options?
I have been a full member since 1999 of WQ and do enjoy the insurance and wish to continue with that, but have very little interest in sailing Manly or Wello.
Thanks for your help.
To date Bayside is the only club to have affiliated.
I understand that Sean O'brien is close to having his formula club up and running. Jamie Miller is working on a dedicated wave sailing / freestyle club for SEQ. I have not idea where Wind Wanders are regarding this process.
Sean will be your best bet for the north side as he wants to run events out of the lake, as well as looking at a few in the redcliffe area. But i would suggest that you see what each club will be offering in terms of membership, activities that you may want to participate in and compete.
Regarding racing - from the conversations we have had with all parties, we believe that if you are a member of a club, and your membership is at the full insurance level (racing premium) you will be able to enter into any event. That means if Sean's club offers more of what you are interested in you can join it, but you will still be able to race at Bayside meets if you wish to, as long as your level of membership with WQ/AWA is appropriate for racing.
If you are only interested in insurance coverage then I would not think it really matters which club you join - but logic would suggest that you join one that offers activities that you want to participate in. Currently, as I mentioned earlier Bayside is the only club affiliated, and able to offer insurance membership. I do not know how long these other clubs will take to get going - the incorporation / affiliation process takes about 3-4 weeks from start to finish, so I would have expected Sean and Justin to be ready by now. Jamie has only just started the process.
Hope this helps.
Just a quick bonus point:
if you join a club and become a member of WQ, you automatically receive a "AUS" sail #.
Note: Only request "AUS" #'s, as they are the only #'s issued these days.
Please remember to request preferred sail numbers when you join up. If the number is available it is yours to use until you decide not to renew your membership.
www.windsurfing.org has the current sail number register on it...
Thanks DAM for the explanation of membership. So it seems, at this stage, there is just a single type of WQ membership.
I'm interested to know what WQ is doing to assist the various clubs get up and running and become incorporated/affiliated. Can you help them or do they have to go it alone?
Whilst you mentioned that "WQ's primary purpose was the promotion of racing", I note that your Charter says it's "...to oversee and foster the promotion of windsurfing in Queensland and where possible to hold competitive and social events..."
If the new clubs are not for porfit and run by volunteers, I imagine it will be hard for them to advertise. How are people going to find out about them? Does WQ plan to list/promote the various clubs via their website?
This may be good for people just entering the sport, as the website currently does not really cater for them in my opinion.
Thanks again...I'm just keen to understand how it all works!
Surfinchick, At this stage there are a few people - myself included - putting together the information and sounding out the viability of different clubs. Once this is done and these clubs have become incorporated with WQ I am sure you will at the very least hear about it all via Seabreeze.
Easiest way to progress this is to keep your eye out and if possible lend support to the newly forming clubs, for instance I am keen still keen to hear from people that want to be involved in a wave/freestyle based club, as once we have the paperwork moving along we will need to form a committee etc.
Unfortunatly I will not be able to make it to the WQ AGM as I will be down south for work at the time.
Surfinchick,
WQ has put a lot of time into helping out those that have demonstrated interest in getting up and going - that includes the incorporation paperwork and finanicial assistance. I will not go into detail on a public forum, but if you are interested then you can contact me via the WQ wbsite (secretary).
Regarding types of membership - as I mentioned earlier there are now 2 types of members Competitive and non-competitive / social. The only difference is the level of insurance provided. In the past the membership was only the competitive with the change to add a non-competitive some 2 years ago. After this year it will be up to the new WQ committee to look at the constistution and make any necessary ammendments regarding voting rights and the like.
Clubs need to advertise what they offer like any other business / association. the WQ web site will be one such avenue as will public forums like this. Clubs may approach shops and businesses to help promote etc etc. But do not get me wrong WQ will offer avenues to do this but it is not WQ's role or job to do the work for the clubs. And As Simon mentioned WQ is a not for profit organisation run by volunteers, so we already how hard it is, which I suppose we hope that the interested parties take this as seriously as we do.
I am not sure where you got your information regarding the charter, but the WQ constitution states;
The objects for which the Association is established are to promote sailboarding and to encourage competition in the sport, and to control the rules, specifications and restrictions governing sailboard racing in Queensland. It shall also endeavor to promote training and high safety standards.
The social activities is something that grew out of Wind Wanderers, but was never really a part of WQ's role. We provided insurance protection for Justin under the umbrella of WQ, but never really had anything to do with the running of the Wind Wanderers social meets. Now with the new format, the clubs will be responsible for their own services whether they be competitive, social or both. This should leave the overall administration of the sport and competition up to WQ.
It is a very exciting time for windsurfing in queensland, and the next 2 years will be very important for the sport and its supporters. Personally, I am hoping that we see a greater involvement of sailors with clubs so that these organisations may grow and be able to offer a large variety of services and even facilities to their members.
Thank you all for your responses.
It does sound like an exciting time, hence my questions to learn more about it. Unfortunately I can't make it to the WQ AGM, but I will be involved on the committee of one of the clubs.
seems like there's more folk attempting freestyle now (wello & manly in particular) that it would be great to have a club if someone created one 
but not sure that there is still quite enough to go segregating the genre's. Couldn't the slalom and freestylers just be included in a group together (obviously theres quite alot more slalom folk than freestylers), and have the two different types of events on the same days? would maybe attract even more people and make things more interesting for those who watch and participate - a bit like the Peter Brock Classic if you've ever been to one
it's awesome to think that there is even this much interest brewing again 
Just on that, i thought of a good team event (i think). Make teams of 3 windsurfers 
and include an upwind leg (for course racers) and downwind leg (for slalom dudes) and a crosswind leg (for freestyle/supercross[}:)]). Could work maybe?
Nah, no kitesurfing leg 
.
For anyone qho is interested, The Lake Cootharaba Sailing club intends to affiliate with WQ and to run Longboard and Formula races.
We are waiting for WQ to provide us with instructions on how to do affiliate.
Any progress Simon?
but not sure that there is still quite enough to go segregating the genre's. Couldn't the slalom and freestylers just be included in a group together (obviously theres quite alot more slalom folk than freestylers), and have the two different types of events on the same days? would maybe attract even more people and make things more interesting for those who watch and participate - a bit like the Peter Brock Classic if you've ever been to one
!