WAKSA Annual General Meeting

Cottesloe Beach Hotel 17
More than 50 waksa members, family & friends enjoyed the convivial atmosphere of the ‘sunset room’ at the ‘Cott’ for this years AGM. Video entertainment included footage of the 2008 Australian National Wave Titles.

Raw footage was generously donated by ‘Steve’ from Kitepower - Sydney & Geelong. Editing was put together, very professionally and in very limited time, by Andrew Tate from Onslow.Huge thanks from waksa to Steve & Andrew for this highlight of the nights entertainment.

07/08 reports were presented by the outgoing President, Secretary, Treasurer and Events Co-ordinator. Alex Bell then declared all positions vacant and in stood in as Chairman to kick-off the election of the new committee for the 2008/09 season. 13 nominations were received. When the voting was all done & dusted we had the following structure, and people, forming the 2008/09 waksa committee.

President
Phil Morrow - Nominated by Alex Bell - Seconded Nick Streuli - Voted in by the members Yes

Vice President
Dean Gilkison - Nominated by Phil Morrow - Seconded Lance Gelden - Voted in by the members Yes

Secretary
Pat Banks - Nominated by Jessica Van Den Berg - Seconded Daniel Anderson - Voted in by the members Yes

Treasurer
Nick Dawe - Nominated by Alex Bell - Seconded Daniel Anderson - Voted in by the members Yes
Alex Swingewood - Nominated by Nicolea Paull - Seconded Nick Dawe - Voted in by the members Yes

Webmaster
Nick Strueli - Nominated by Pat Banks - Seconded Alex Bell - Voted in by the members Yes
Brad Wright - Nominated by Alex Bell - Seconded Coert Du Plessis - Voted in by the members Yes
Said Salameh - Nominated by Nick Strueli - Seconded Nick Dawe - Voted in by the members Yes

General Committee
Michael Brooks - Nominated by Nick Strueli - Seconded Chrissy Gaudieri - Voted in by the members Yes
Ray Quahs - Nominated by Sue Anderson - Seconded Alex Bell -Voted in by the members Yes
Graeme Speak - Nominated by Jonothan Keys - Seconded Daniel Anderson -Voted in by the members Yes
Lance Gelden - Nominated by Daniel Anderson - Seconded Nick Dawe -Voted in by the members Yes
Christophe Chevallier - Nominated by Richard Walanski - Seconded Nick Strueli - Voted in by the members Yes

Congratulations and thanks to all those involved. An exciting year is about to unfold.Several items of general interest were raised and discussed. Each of these will be addressed in detail, and reported on, by the committee at a later time.

Time then for our presentations. The new president, on behalf of all WAKSA members, thanked Alex Bell for his three years of dedication and self-driven voluntary work as president of WAKSA. For his tireless, and so successful, initiatives in this role Alex was presented with WAKSA’s inaugural Lifetime Membership. A very prestigious and well deserved honour as the form, and direction ahead for waksa has been very much forged by his efforts.

As the prime movers behind the hugely successful kitestock event Alex Bell and Jess van den Berg were each presented with three years of free entry to Kitestock. Jess was also applauded for her work as overall Events Coordinator for the last three years. Here again one person has defined the standard for all future waksa events. Her thoroughness and her legacy of the “events templates” will serve waksa well – well into the future.

Presentations and thanks were also extended to Chrissy for her year as treasurer and to Sue for the great job she has done with the very time consuming role of secretary.

Thanks were also extended to all the resigning & past committee volunteers who, collectively, have built WAKSA to a position that is widely acknowledged as Australias premium kitesurfing organisation.

Amongst the final round of applause the words “WA ROCKS” was heard from the someone at the bar. How true! The next committee meeting is scheduled for 14th May 2008 time and venue to be announced.