Thank You Greg Willis
Posted: 10 Aug 2007, 00:06
As the upcoming World Championships and Annual General Meeting are fast approaching, I thought a brief look back at where we were three years ago and an appreciation of how far forward we have moved under Greg Willis is in order.
For those of you who were there, the IOM Class on the eve of the Australlian World Championships was an organization in crisis and on the verge of falling apart.
The World Championship itself was on the brink of being cancelled due to a conflict between the Chairman of IOMICA and the organizsers of the race with IOMICA taking the position that unless its rules and dictates were accepted virtually without question, the World Championship woulld not be sanctioned.
The IOMICA Exec was running short handed because the representatives from both the United States and Canada had by their claim been ignored and put down to such a degree that they had quit.
The IOMICA Technical Committee had just completed issuing a series of rule "interpretations" that among other things had caused the banning of all sails made by "Black Magic" ; the ban of "texallium" boats; and the sanctioning of the jib boom being swivelled from the bottom of the hull because the technical committee could not define the term "deck" . Moreover, the Exec and the Technical Committee were proposing to ban the use of colored fiberglass tubes in any IOM which if passed would have banned all of Brad Gibson's "Disco" designs.
The IOMICA Forum however was very, very active. There were numerous post disputing the actions and policies of the IOMICA Exec and principally its chairman, Lester Gilbert. Lester dealt with these criticisims by often sending long, private emails to those who disagreed with his positions. These emails usually contained veiled threats of sanctions if the posters continued to disagree with the Exec and its policies.
For the Annual General Meeting itself, Lester Gilbert had apparently hand picked a successor, Anders Wallin, to succeed him as IOMICA Chairman and carry forward his policies. The Exec had put together a package of rules changes that had to be voted on an "all or nothing basis" that included a ratification of the ban on texalium boats. The Exec was also asking the class to accept its failure to collect required sanctioning fees from the organizers of the European Championship in Spain. And, Lester Gilbert himself was now running for the IOMICA Events position, but had directed Anders Wallin to withdraw his name from consideration if Greg Willis, who had decided to run against Anders for Chairman, was elected.
So what happened? Greg Willis was elected in a landslide. All of the rules changes proposed by the Exec were rejected. The World Championship in Australia took place, but the International Judges singled out Appendix Q, the on-water judging provisions written by Lester Gilbert as particularly ill advised and problematic. True to his word, Lester withdrew from the IOMICA Exec upon Greg's election, and went off to start his own class. (Actually, Lester eventually came back to IOMICA, but resigned from his position on the Events sub-committee when he felt his proposals were not being adopted.)
Under Greg Willis a new group of leadership was brought into IOMICA. Representatives from Australia, the UK and the United States were invitied to join the Exec. A philosphy of "open" decision making and "if its not broke, don't fix it" was put into place. Rather than have a technical committee impose rules changes on the Class, the Class was pushed to submit rule changes that its members wanted and then those rules changes were voted on by everyone. A firm, but fair attitude was taken reagarding the outstanding debt and it was collected in full. The ban on texallium boats was overturned. The Class intentionally operated independently of the RSD and urged that ultimate authority belonged in the hands of the members, not the unelected RSD. To the extent there were disagreements within the Exec, all positions were allowed to be heard and only if a consensus could not form, would Greg impose his judgment.
To the extent a rewite of the IOM rules were required to comply with changes made by ISAF in certain definitions, the process was done quickly and passed without dispute. When France agreed to host the World Championship, Burce Andersen took it upon himself to work with the French organizers to jointly develop rules and procedures and not simply dictate how things had to be done. To the extent that there were technical issues, in each case, advice was sought and all disputes were resolved without having to issue "technical committee rulings" that could have banned boats or equipment. And finally, Mike Eldred, our new head of measurment (a man who has worked for yacht designers Bruce Nelson and Doug Peterson and has been in charge of boat building and upkeep programs for America3, Oracle Racing, Prada and America One among many others) has been quietely polling builders and members about the viability of waterless measurement and self-certified sails in anticipation of submitting a detailed report to the class prior to the annual general meeting.
The result of this management has lead to a period of harmony and stability in the class. No boats or equipment are being threatened by the rule makers. While the IOMICA Forum has a lot less traffic, all of it is positive and helpful and no one is being banished. Class members are concentrating on boat design, building, sailing and racing and membership has been steadily growing.
These positive results do not come from neglect or mismanagement. They happened because Greg Willis worked very, very hard at making the IOMICA Exec work together and to always keep in mind the good of the class and its members not personal agendas. They happened because Greg believed the class would florish if simply left alone until a real problem occurred. They happened because Greg believed in democracy and that the class did not need an elite Exec issuing edicts and imposing an agenda from above.
So, having been involved, both from the inside and outside, and as someone who cares deeply about the IOM Class, I simply want to say thank you to Greg for all that he has done.
For those of you who were there, the IOM Class on the eve of the Australlian World Championships was an organization in crisis and on the verge of falling apart.
The World Championship itself was on the brink of being cancelled due to a conflict between the Chairman of IOMICA and the organizsers of the race with IOMICA taking the position that unless its rules and dictates were accepted virtually without question, the World Championship woulld not be sanctioned.
The IOMICA Exec was running short handed because the representatives from both the United States and Canada had by their claim been ignored and put down to such a degree that they had quit.
The IOMICA Technical Committee had just completed issuing a series of rule "interpretations" that among other things had caused the banning of all sails made by "Black Magic" ; the ban of "texallium" boats; and the sanctioning of the jib boom being swivelled from the bottom of the hull because the technical committee could not define the term "deck" . Moreover, the Exec and the Technical Committee were proposing to ban the use of colored fiberglass tubes in any IOM which if passed would have banned all of Brad Gibson's "Disco" designs.
The IOMICA Forum however was very, very active. There were numerous post disputing the actions and policies of the IOMICA Exec and principally its chairman, Lester Gilbert. Lester dealt with these criticisims by often sending long, private emails to those who disagreed with his positions. These emails usually contained veiled threats of sanctions if the posters continued to disagree with the Exec and its policies.
For the Annual General Meeting itself, Lester Gilbert had apparently hand picked a successor, Anders Wallin, to succeed him as IOMICA Chairman and carry forward his policies. The Exec had put together a package of rules changes that had to be voted on an "all or nothing basis" that included a ratification of the ban on texalium boats. The Exec was also asking the class to accept its failure to collect required sanctioning fees from the organizers of the European Championship in Spain. And, Lester Gilbert himself was now running for the IOMICA Events position, but had directed Anders Wallin to withdraw his name from consideration if Greg Willis, who had decided to run against Anders for Chairman, was elected.
So what happened? Greg Willis was elected in a landslide. All of the rules changes proposed by the Exec were rejected. The World Championship in Australia took place, but the International Judges singled out Appendix Q, the on-water judging provisions written by Lester Gilbert as particularly ill advised and problematic. True to his word, Lester withdrew from the IOMICA Exec upon Greg's election, and went off to start his own class. (Actually, Lester eventually came back to IOMICA, but resigned from his position on the Events sub-committee when he felt his proposals were not being adopted.)
Under Greg Willis a new group of leadership was brought into IOMICA. Representatives from Australia, the UK and the United States were invitied to join the Exec. A philosphy of "open" decision making and "if its not broke, don't fix it" was put into place. Rather than have a technical committee impose rules changes on the Class, the Class was pushed to submit rule changes that its members wanted and then those rules changes were voted on by everyone. A firm, but fair attitude was taken reagarding the outstanding debt and it was collected in full. The ban on texallium boats was overturned. The Class intentionally operated independently of the RSD and urged that ultimate authority belonged in the hands of the members, not the unelected RSD. To the extent there were disagreements within the Exec, all positions were allowed to be heard and only if a consensus could not form, would Greg impose his judgment.
To the extent a rewite of the IOM rules were required to comply with changes made by ISAF in certain definitions, the process was done quickly and passed without dispute. When France agreed to host the World Championship, Burce Andersen took it upon himself to work with the French organizers to jointly develop rules and procedures and not simply dictate how things had to be done. To the extent that there were technical issues, in each case, advice was sought and all disputes were resolved without having to issue "technical committee rulings" that could have banned boats or equipment. And finally, Mike Eldred, our new head of measurment (a man who has worked for yacht designers Bruce Nelson and Doug Peterson and has been in charge of boat building and upkeep programs for America3, Oracle Racing, Prada and America One among many others) has been quietely polling builders and members about the viability of waterless measurement and self-certified sails in anticipation of submitting a detailed report to the class prior to the annual general meeting.
The result of this management has lead to a period of harmony and stability in the class. No boats or equipment are being threatened by the rule makers. While the IOMICA Forum has a lot less traffic, all of it is positive and helpful and no one is being banished. Class members are concentrating on boat design, building, sailing and racing and membership has been steadily growing.
These positive results do not come from neglect or mismanagement. They happened because Greg Willis worked very, very hard at making the IOMICA Exec work together and to always keep in mind the good of the class and its members not personal agendas. They happened because Greg believed the class would florish if simply left alone until a real problem occurred. They happened because Greg believed in democracy and that the class did not need an elite Exec issuing edicts and imposing an agenda from above.
So, having been involved, both from the inside and outside, and as someone who cares deeply about the IOM Class, I simply want to say thank you to Greg for all that he has done.