MEMBERS'
HANDBOOK
First Issued with original Rules...................................................................... 1968
Re‑issued with amendments to Rules.......................................................... 1973
Re‑issued in booklet form.............................................................................. 1979
Re‑issued with revised Rules effective on
1st January 1989 (adopted at SGM on
17th December 1988)......................................................... January
1989
Re‑printed with corrections (to rules 13.5.2.1 ‑
mainsail leech and 13.7.8 ‑ spinnaker foot)
following 1989 AGM.................................................................. April
1991
Re-printed with amendments to Rules effective
on 1st January 1996 (adopted at AGM on
15th October 1995)......................................................... December
1995
Re-printed with amendments to Rules effective
on
1st January 2000 (adopted at AGM on
8th
July 1999)
..January 2000
Re-printed with amendments to Rules effective
on 1st
January 2002 (adopted at AGM on
16th
June 2001)
..January 2002
Re-printed with amendments to Rules effective
on
1st January 2003 (adopted at AGM on
20th
July 2002)
..January 2004
Website handbook updated 24/06/2007 after 2007 AGM
COPYRIGHT: Ajax23OneDesignClassAssociation:January2004
(i)
MEMBERS' HANDBOOK
CONTENTS
RULES OF THE ASSOCIATION AND CLASS RULES
Page
No.
PART A ADMINISTRATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
1 Title 1
2 Objects
3 Membership
4 Subscriptions
5 Management
6 Meetings 3
7 Authority of Members 5
PART B CLASS RULES - ADMINISTRATION
1 Definitions 6
2 Authority 7
3 Class Rules and
Interpretations
4 Eligibility
5
6 Designer's Fee
7 Measurement and Measurers
8 Certification 9
9 Measurement of existing boats 10
10 Owner's responsibility 11
(ii)
Page No.
PART C CLASS RULES ‑
MEASUREMENT
l General 12
2 Measurement
3 Definitions
4 Builders 13
5
.1 Materials
.2 Dimensions
.3 Modification 14
.4 Cockpit
layout 15
.5 Weight
6. Keel
.1 Manufacturer
and materials
.2 Shape
and measurement
.3 Fixture
to hull 16
.4 Weight
7 Rudder,
skeg and tiller
.1 Materials
.2 Design
and measurement
8 Mainsheet horse 17
9 Mast position
10 Rig
and Spars
.1 Mast
.2 Boom 18
.3 Spinnaker Boom and fittings 19
.4 Rigging
11 Fittings 20
.1 Obligatory
.2 Optional
12 Sailing weight 21
(iii)
Page No.
13 Sails
.1 Manufacturers 21
.2 Materials 22
.3 Sail
Numbers and Class Insignia
.4 Measurement
.5 Mainsail 23
.6 Foresails
.1 No. 1
.2 No. 2 24
.7 Spinnaker
.8 Acquisition and Use 25
14 Underwater
Surface 26
15 Equipment
16 Crew and Racing
rules
17 Prohibitions 27
PART D MEASUREMENT
DIAGRAMS 28
PART E MEASUREMENT FORM
PART F SPECIMEN PROXY FORM 29
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
CLASS TROPHIES 30
DRAWINGS and DIAGRAMS
MEASUREMENT DIAGRAM (copy) At rear of handbook
RULES OF THE ASSOCIATION
PART A
ADMINISTRATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
1 The
full title of the Association shall be the AJAX 23 ONE DESIGN CLASS ASSOCIATION
hereinafter referred to as the Association.
2 Objects
The objects of the Association shall be to govern and
to further the interests of the Ajax 23 One Design Class, the aim of which is
to provide a seaworthy, safe, inexpensive One Design Family racing yacht able
to race as a Class or in Handicap events; particular encouragement being given
to racing as a Class.
3 Membership
(a) Full
membership shall be open only to owners or part owners of Ajax 23 Yachts.
(b) Associate
membership shall be open to yachtsmen interested in the Class but who are not
owners or part owners of Ajax 23 Yachts.
(c) All
Full and Associate members shall be elected by the Committee.
(d) Full
members shall be entitled to attend, to speak and to vote at a General Meeting,
but such votes shall be limited to one per boat in the case of part owners.
Associate members may attend and speak at a General Meeting but shall have no
vote.
4 Subscriptions
The annual subscriptions payable by Full and Associate
members to the Association shall be payable on 1st January each year and shall be
such sum as the Association in General Meeting may from time to time prescribe.
5 Management
(a) The
affairs of the Association shall be managed by a Committee of not less than
five persons, including two from each fleet of the Class, all of whom shall be
Full Members of the Association. The Committee shall have power to co‑opt
additional members as required. Three members including the Chairman or Vice‑Chairman
of the Association to form a quorum.
(b) The
Committee shall be elected annually at a General Meeting of Members.
(c) The
General Meeting will elect annually a Chairman and Vice‑Chairman of the
Association, who where practicable shall not be members of the same local fleet
of Ajaxes. The Chairman of the Association shall act
as Chairman at General Meetings of the Association and at meetings of the
Committee or may appoint the Vice‑Chairman of the Association to act as
chairman at any such meetings in his stead.
(d) Only
the Annual General Meeting or special General Meeting shall have the power to
alter or add to the Class Rules.
(e) The
Annual General Meeting shall appoint an Honorary Secretary who will be a member
of the Committee. The Secretary shall
deal with the day‑to‑day administration of the Association,
including;
(i) the maintenance of the Register of
Members and of owners of all boats;
(ii) the
issue of Class Registration Certificates, sail numbers and measurement
certificates.
(iii) the collection of fees and the issue of the receipts for the
same.
(f) An
Honorary Treasurer shall be appointed by the Annual General Meeting and shall
have charge of the funds of the Association, making such disbursements as the
Committee may prescribe.
(g) [The
content of this sub-clause, which appointed the Designer Oliver J Lee a
permanent member of the Committee, has been removed following his death.]
(h) The
Committee shall have authority to appoint such person or persons as they
consider fit to be approved Class Measurers, and to terminate their
appointment, provided however that any such person shall at all times during
his or her appointment be approved by the Royal Yachting Association as an
official measurer for a National class of racing glass‑fibre keelboats of
comparable size and type to the Ajax 23 One Design. Reference in these Rules to
the "Class Measurer" shall be to such a measurer appointed by the
Committee.
(j) The
Committee shall have authority to grant and withdraw licences for the
construction of new plugs patterns and/or moulds for hulls and keels and for
the construction of new boats from the existing or any such new plugs patterns
and/or moulds on such terms as they shall consider proper. Such licensees are
referred to in these Rules as "Authorised Builders".
(k) The
appointment of any Class Measurer or Authorised Builder may be terminated by
the Association upon a motion at a General Meeting by a majority vote of not
less than two‑thirds of the votes cast.
6 Meetings
(a) The
Annual General Meeting shall be held before 31st December each year.
(b) A
Special General Meeting shall be called by the Chairman or Honorary Secretary
upon receipt by the Honorary Secretary of a request in writing signed by not
fewer than one‑third of the Full Members entitled to vote.
(c) Notice of Meetings
(I) Written
notice shall be given by the Chairman or the Honorary Secretary to all Full
Members of any General Meeting and of any motion to be put to such meeting, in
the case of an Annual General Meeting not less than 21 and in the case of a
Special General Meeting not less than 28 clear days before the date upon which
the meeting is to be held. Such notice shall be accompanied by a proxy form
stating the date of the meeting and containing provision for the giving of the
information required by sub‑paragraph (e) of this Rule;
(ii) Such
notice shall be given to each Full Member by handing the same to him or her or
by its delivery to the address last notified by him or her to the Honorary
Secretary and in the case of such delivery shall be deemed to be delivered if left
at or posted by first class prepaid post to that address before the expiry of
the required notice period; and
(iii) Not less than 14 days' notice to its members shall be given of
any Committee Meeting.
(d) Voting
at any General Meeting by a Full Member may either be in person or by proxy. A
proxy, if nominated, shall be the chairman of the Meeting or another Full
Member of the Association
(e) If
any Full Member wishes to vote by proxy at any General Meeting there shall be
lodged with the chairman before the meeting is declared open a form signed by
the member and by the nominated proxy in the form or substantially in the form
of the Specimen Form of Proxy incorporated in part F of these Rules and
containing the following information:
(I) the
name of the Full Member wishing to vote by proxy, the date of the meeting for
which the proxy shall have authority and the motions to be put thereat;
(ii) in
the event of a Full Member wishing to vote by proxy being a part‑owner of
a boat, a certificate stating the names of the other part‑owners and that
no other part‑owner will attend the meeting to vote;
(iii) the name of the proxy;
(iv) whether
or not the proxy is authorised to vote at his own discretion and, if not, how
the proxy should vote upon each of the motions to be placed before the meeting
(f) Upon
the opening of each General Meeting the chairman shall ascertain and declare to
the Meeting the number of valid proxy forms received, how many of them validly
authorise the proxies to vote and, should he so wish, the names of the Full
Members who have appointed proxies and of the proxies nominated by them
(g) Ten
Full members present in person and eligible to vote shall form a quorum at any
General Meeting.