Æloha Surfers
It’s finally spring and if you haven’t been on the water during the cold months, we look forward to seeing all of you at the club soon. We have been busy over the last couple of months and here’s a little overview of the latest news.
1. General assembly
On March 16 we had the annual General Assembly. A huge thanks to all that showed up, and in case you didn’t – you can read the summary right here: REFERAT_Helgoland Surfers Generalforsamling 2022.pdf
First and foremost, we welcomed Karen Skærlund Risvig as a new member of the board and she will replace Kristian Lyngsø Holst as 2. treasurer.
Secondly, as you know we are working hard to renew our lease and contract with Københavns Kommune (KK) and as part of this, we need to make some changes in the club to comply with the expectations from KK.
In short, our lease ends in 2025 and our clubhouse built from containers doesn’t comply with the local and design plans for Amager Strandpark. This means that we now have 3 years to transform the club to live up to the expectations from KK and the first step in this process was our 2025 Vision. In addition to the design sketches that we have already shown you, the board has created the framework for the vision in 2021. The core elements are; Community, safety, and focus on the interaction between Helgoland Surfers and the community around us, where our commitment to children / young people and a green profile are key elements. Together we must create a club where we both live up to external expectations but at the same time preserve Helgoland Surfer's unique culture.
You can read more about all of this in the summary from the General Assembly but in terms of the necessary changes that will be made in 2022, you can read more about these below.
2. Change in membership fee
In the budget proposal for 2022, the board suggested increasing the annual membership fee. The reason for this is that we will have more expenses in the coming years due to Vision2025. We need to focus time and money on fundraising and architect costs in preparation for building permits in 2022. And as you know, you need to spend money to make money.
We have a healthy economy in our club, but our savings are not unlimited and with the extra expenses in the coming years, we first need to raise more money internally before we can raise money through fundraising for a new clubhouse. The change in the annual fee was put to a vote and approved. So, for 2022 the annual memberships fees are the following:
- Annual membership fee for members over the age of 24 - 1.200 DKK
- Annual membership fee for members aged 18-24 - 600 DKK
- Annual membership fee for members under the age of 18 - 1 DKK
- One time entry fee - 500 DKK
Keyholder, boxholder, and passive membership fees remain unchanged, but the board has also decided to change the fee for missing a workday:
- Missing workday fee is 500 DKK (charged at the end of the season)
But don’t worry, we have a lot of workdays planned for the coming year. So, you will have no problem helping out and earning your workday.
3. New youth department
As you can see, the annual membership for members under the age of 18 has been set to only 1 DKK. This strongly reflects our ambition to involve more young people in the club. The youth department will get training from our fantastic team of instructors every Tuesday afternoon/evening – and we need members to help with safety and to carry gear to and from the beach on these Tuesdays (more information will follow – and yes this counts as a workday).
We really hope that a low membership fee will help attract more young people. And we of course encourage all of you members with kids that are interested in surfing to enroll them – and tell them to bring their friends. And for the rest of you, please spread the word, if you know someone under 18 that would be interested in joining our youth department.
4. New storage in the sail container
Last weekend, members worked hard to change the layout of the windsurf sail container. As you’ve hopefully noticed, we got more boards (inflatable) and windsurf sails last year and as a result, we managed to run out of space in our containers. But we finally figured out a smart storage layout and while we still need to finish it in the coming weekend – here’s what’s new.
The sails will now no longer be rigged in the container but stand rolled up in their sail bags along with the mast. We sorted all the sails and masts, so right now they are paired up – and please keep it that way.
When you de-rig the sail, make sure to return it to the correct bag and put it back with the sails in the same size, and place the mast right next to it. Please make sure that the mast pocket is facing down in the bag – and make sure to return the mast foot to the board container.
The new storage means that you will quickly become a master at rigging and de-rigging the sails as you will need to do this every time you go on the water. And just think how easy it will be for us when we go on club trips – we won’t be spending time de-rigging the sails before departure or rigging when we return.
If you need help learning how to rig, please ask your fellow members as they will surely help you out.
5. Important dates
April 2: Workday to finish the sail container
April 3: Beach Clean-up with Nordic Ocean Watch
May 3: Official start day for our youth department
May 12-15: Club Trip #1 to Nakskov
June 11: Housewarming
June 18-19: Redbull Midsummer Vikings
June 24-26: Club Trip #2 to Lynæs
August 20: Sand, Wind & Fire Festival (summer party)
September 8-11: Club Trip #3 to Varberg
October 6-9: Club Trip #4 Skaven Strand
December 3: X-Mas Party
That’s all for now. We look forward to seeing you in the club or on the water.
All the best Helgoland Surfers