4 July 2012
The first six months as Commodore of Fireball International have gone by incredibly quickly. Taking on the role at the World Championships in Mandurah, Australia was an exciting beginning and the start of several very important initiatives for the class.
We have expanded the executive to include two new positions. François Schluchter has agreed to stay on the Executive as Past Commodore and I am very grateful for his support and counsel. Cormac Bradley has taken on the role of Director of Communications, a function identified as critical to the long term success for FI and the class. In addition to his regional responsibilities, Ben Schulz has agreed to lead our new Marketing and Fleet Development Committee.
The Executive undertook the development of a strategic plan. By clearly identifying our goals and action plan, we can better direct our efforts. One key goal is to promote communication amongst our fleets and sailors on a worldwide basis. To that end, we launched a Fireball International group on facebook, which has almost four hundred people as members of the group. A quick review of the postings shows that the concept has been well received.
Fireball International is in the process of developing a new web site with some very ambitious objectives. We will be merging the class site with the Fireball Worlds web site, and updating our image and content.
Our Constitution has been rewritten and is currently being circulated for approval. The revised version should provide for a better functioning organization and position FI well for the future.
We are focused on ensuring that our international competitive events are successful. We have established a five point criteria for choosing venues for World Championships and other international events. We hope that in addition to making sure that our current sailors are delighted with what is offered, we can attract many more new competitors to the class and to the continental and World Championships. Andrew Davies, our Secretary, has been working hard to finalize the schedule for World Championships for the next few years. Our goal remains to have a three year horizon published to allow better planning for competitors from all over the world.
The upcoming European Championships in Bracciano, Italy should be an outstanding event with well over 100 boats already registered.
The Fireball Class is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, with exciting events in many different countries. Our future looks bright.
Joe Jospe
Commodore
Fireball International
