COMMERCIAL SAILING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
OCT. 15 -19, 2002
MARINA DEL REY, CALIFORNIA

Larr Trophy
Jim Muldoon attended to discuss the Larr award recipient, donations for the perpetual trophy and funds necessary to maintain it.

Safety & Licensing
Discussions on how the committee can help Safety at Sea to get the "word" out and create new forums and possibly new certification level for racers and cruisers. The committee also discussed the need for US SAILING to issue an International Certificate of Competence.

Jim Muldoon will head up taking a proposal to the USCG to define what we need in a license for our instructors. A Motion to propose to the USCG that the possession of a Basic Keelboat Certification would be accepted in lieu of sea time for six pack license. A working party to create the wording was established. (Don Durant, John Alofsin)

Website
The committee reviewed Kevin Kavanagh's "www.sailingcourse.com" website for use by the Keelboat Program. Kevin, the creator, gave a Website Enhancement Presentation. History, Implementation and Budget were gone over for us to formally adopt the site as a Keelboat site. Input for pending National Faculty review of the web site was given. Motion to accept the web site was approved and we will be assigning two people to be tasked with content and to work with Kevin further.

Program Guidelines and Terms of Reference

Motion to accept the "Guidelines" manual as written with portions still in progress was passed.

Motion to approve "Qualifications for CSC Committee Voting Members" was passed. (section 4.2, Part II terms of reference)

Motion to approve 4.2 Terms of Reference with regard to Officers' voting and leave of absence was passed.

John Alofsin retracted an earlier recommendation to increase the BK Instructor passing test scores was withdrawn.

Instructor prerequisite addition for all instructor candidates to pass the Coast Guard medical exam before being considered for the course was withdrawn.

New Officers

Nominate and vote for Commercial Sailing Committee Officers

Outgoing Chair- Greg Norwine
Incoming Chair Tom Carruthers
Outgoing Vice Chair-David Forbes
Incoming Vice Chair 1-John Alofsin
Vice Chair 2- Tom Dameron

Marketing & Growth

Discussions on Growth / Strength of the Keelboat Program along with:
Budget/Investment issues
Marketing /Competition issues
Benefits of US SAILING membership for students
Building support / understanding/ participation in US SAILING
Communication between schools and US SAILING Keelboat office
Relationship to the Cruising Council
Review Advertising budget/ad placement -working party to consist of Janine Ahmed, John Alofsin, Rich Jepsen, Don Durant, David Forbes. Decisions to be made within 1-2 months.
Develop suggested content for the editor of the new US SAILING Newsletter.
Send new schools the PowerPoint presentation "Building Blocks of the Keelboat Programs" and make the presentation available on the website for existing schools.
Enhance our relationship with Sail America.

National Faculty

Issues for National Faculty with regard to: (John Tihansky liaison)

Website

Reviewing tests for keelboat program

Cruising Council

Issues for new Cruising Council were discussed. Greg Norwine, with the assistance of Rich Jepsen, will be interim chair until first vote at next year's AGM

Instructor Certifications

Motion to extend the One-Day Evaluation Pilot Program for BK level instructors for another year.

2003 COMMITTEE PROJECTS

Enhanced communication with new and existing schools
Safety at sea (Tom Dameron)
Advertising - pursue co-op opportunities
Further consider development of a Racing certification
Enhance communications with other areas of US SAILING (Inshore/Offshore - Tom Carruthers and Jahn Tihansky)
Pursue a limited license on a national basis for instructors
Propose to the Coast Guard that possession of a Keelboat certification would be accepted in lieu of sea time for six pack license (Don Durant and John Alofsin)
Pursue the possibility of issuing an International Certificate of Competence