| US SAILING JUDGES COMMITTEE Spring Meeting - March 12, 2004 Mobile, Alabama Open Session - Friday, March 12, 2004 [Posted to web on March 30th, unless corrections are posted, minutes will be automatically approved on April 13, 2004, as per Judges Committee policy] Except as noted by an asterisk (*) below, all members of the Judges Committee and Lacey Given (US SAILING Race Administration Director) were present:
Mr. Everingham called the meeting to order at 9:38 a.m. AREA REPORTS Area A - John Dieselman. Area A currently has 34 Judges and Senior Judges. Two Judges re-tired this year, and two initial applications are being processed. Six Judges will need to re-certified in 2004. Steve Jeffries will chair a Judges Workshop and a Basic Race Management Workshop at Eastern Yacht Club on April 30-May 2, 2004. The Judges Workshop at Corinthian Yacht Club on October 25-26 had 22 people in attendance, nine of whom were Judges. 17 people took the test, and 14 passed. Area B - Bruce Cook. Area B held two Judges Workshops this year, gained
one umpire and lost two Judges due to retirement. Renewals are all set for
2004. Five Judges have terms expiring at the end of 2004. Of those, four need a Workshop and Test to renew. Workshops and Seminars. Area C held a Judges Workshop and Test in Norfolk, Virginia, in December, taught by Sandy Grosvenor and Dave Pyron. There were 13 attendees, three of who were certified Judges; 12 of the 13 passed the test. Questionnaires showed high marks for all sections. Participants worked through lunch and did the expanded ISAF Rule 42 presentation since there is a lot of junior dinghy sailing in the area. Dave did an added session on "onwater equipment for the judge and umpire" complete with demonstration. We also held an informal one-day judges clinic on March 6 in Annapolis. This was not a certified Judges Workshop at all; instead it was modeled after the seminar in Southern California a year ago and after the annual CBYRA Race Management Seminar. We focused on four or five topical areas, working on each for hour. The topics were: Validity (presented by Joe Krolak), Facts vs. Conclusions (presented by Sandy Grosvenor), Arbitration (presented by Jack Lynch), Rule 42 (presented by Jim Capron) and Hearing Management (presented by Jack Lynch). In each topic, we had a "presentation" of the issues and rules, targeting no more than 30 minutes of the planned hour, and then the rest of the time focused on exercises and/or group discussion. We targeted the audience to all certified Judges in Area C, but we did not require certification. We had about 18 attendees despite conflicting with a US SAILING Advanced Race Management Seminar in Norfolk. It was a huge success, all attendees thought it was great and would like to see similar gatherings held a several times a year. I will likely schedule a US SAILING Judges Workshop and Test in the late Fall of 2004, probably located in the center (geographically) of Area C. Other Education. Annapolis harbor has (like many areas) seen a growth in recent years informal ½ day or evening sailing. There are three different winter frostbite series on most Saturdays or Sundays, and there are very active mid-week evening series from May to September for different sized boats. A common attitude among these series is that since it is informal racing, no one wants to protest, but frustration among the sailors with on-the-water rules behavior has been growing. The local interclub and Laser fleets approached me to see what could be done. We recently devised (and executed) a casual "rules corner" after racing. Rather than lecture on the rules, I made myself available along with a white board and magnetic boats to handle questions, focusing on issues that had arisen on the water that day. We discussed scenarios driven by questions from the sailors and talked about what rules applied and who might have broken a rule. We also talked about the situations tactically - how to see the situation arising and coping before anyone breaks a rule. We ended up with a discussion for a couple hours. The sailors thought it would be worth continuing. It provided rules education and a chance to talk over situations, vent a bit, laugh a bit and otherwise improve rules knowledge without the formality and risks of a formal protest. Area D - Burton Howell. I am presently maintaining files on 44 US SAILING-certified Judges in Area D. Since the 2003 AGM, there are four new certified Judges, one Judge upgraded to Senior Judge and one Judge is deceased. I have two new Judge applications, which are being processed at US SAILING and one that I am collecting the references on. All judges scheduled for re-certification in 2003 were re-certified. There was a Judges Workshop held in Miami in November with 22 attendees. Walter Chamberlain and David Brennan were the instructors. There will be a Judges Workshop and Test on April 17-18 2004 at Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville. Tom Farquhar will be the lead instructor. Area E - Ted Everingham for Mike Tapert. A Workshop was held last March, and we are trying to set up a Workshop to be held in Ohio this spring. The judge's roster is stable in Area E. Area F - Gail Bernstein. Area F certified one new Judge and re-certified four judges in 2003. Two candidates are working towards initial certification, and four Judges need re-certification in 2004. Area F currently has nine certified Judges and 11 Senior judges. Two Judges Workshops are being scheduled for March 20-21 (Denver) and April 3-4 (Dallas). Gail compiled various PowerPoint presentations into one presentation for the Workshops. After Sandy reformatted to the same style as the Race Management Seminars, Gail received valuable suggestions from Bruce Cook and Joe Cochran. She is currently rearranging the presentation to follow the flow of the Judges Manual and incorporating other recommendations. The Workshop in April will be Gail's testing grounds for the revised presentation. Area G - Tom Roberts. Since the 2003 AGM, Area G has one new Judge and one new Umpire, but has lost one judge due to attrition. A Judges Workshop is scheduled for late Spring. Tom also will offer a Judges Basic Training Seminar three times in the future. These are two-hour seminars intended for clubs with few (if any) certified Judges. Tom also is presenting five RRS seminars with guest appearances by Dick Rose at one and Dave Perry at another. The funded Judges & Education Program continues to grow with three other Areas preparing to start a similar program. Area H-W - Joe Cochran. Area H-W held a Judges Workshop & Test in
January 2004. Five current judges and one new candidate passed the test
and one prospect did not pass. Joe Cochran A report was provided to the Judges Committee regarding the apparent Workshop material bias to procedural issues. To date no response or comment has been received. Area H-W continues to be adequately represented by certified Judges who currently respond to all jury requirements. A challenge is for these Judges to gain out-of-area experience to qualify for Senior Judge status. Area H-E - Joe James. No report. Area J - Barry Ault. No report, other than comments for discussion at the closed session. Area K - Cliff Black. Area K Judges and Umpires Profile - Certification Number Cliff established a Quarterly Briefing for Area K to facilitate greater communication from the RAJ. The following topics were addressed in the first briefing to draw attention to annual certification requirements and opportunities: · 2003 SOARS/Sailing Officials Online Reporting System The e-mail correspondence was well received with positive comments. RRS Sail Smart Seminars. This program serves as a pre-season RRS
refresher RRS for competitors. There are consistent requests from yacht
clubs throughout Area K to conduct programs to aid in the sailor's
knowledge of the RRS. The program is a one-day presentation, which
incorporates participant discussion prompted by a PowerPoint presentation.
The presenters are US SAILING-certified Judges familiar with the
presentation. This program is organized and administered by Senior Judge
Allan Teske. The PowerPoint presentation is available upon request. 20 March 2004 Columbia Yacht Club, Chicago, IL Umpire Subcommittee Report - Steve Wrigley New Appointments Re-appointments Two applications are pending for re-certification, one for certification. We are developing International (IU) and National Umpire (NU) candidates to replace those who will retire in the next five years. There are at least five people working on IU certification and a minimum of ten working on NU certification. All have team race experience and expertise. In 2003 there were five US SAILING Umpire Seminars with examinations. We have two US SAILING Umpire Seminars (Annapolis and Rhode Island) and one ISAF IU seminar (Long Beach) planned for 2004. Examinations are part of each seminar. We have revised and continue revising the US SAILING Umpire test and seminar. Kirk Brown will attend the ISAF IU Conference in Southampton in March. Umpire Emeritus should be processed by the USC, and a proposal to that effect will be offered at the closed meeting. GOALS & OBJECTIVES FOR 2004 Workshops & Test - Gail Bernstein is continuing to refine the standard Workshop PowerPoint presentation. Ted appointed the committee of Sandy Grosvenor (Chair), Tom Roberts and Bruce Cook to compile a proposed initial list of approved lead Workshop instructors and a proposed procedures for identifying and qualifying new instructors for that list. They will distribute a proposal to the Judges Committee for review and comment with a view to presenting a final proposal for the committee's approval at the AGM in October 2004 (Portland). Marty Oppenheimer has asked to be excused from further responsibility as editor of the Judges Manual and for maintaining study and test questions for the certification program due to his other commitments. Ted and the Judges Committee thanked him for his countless hours of dedicated effort on both missions. Gail Bernstein will assume responsibility for the study and test questions. Tom Roberts will assist her. Judges Manual - The Judges Committee will prepare a new edition of the Judges Manual by the end of 2004. Before the end of March, Ted will assign specific parts of the current manual to the JC members for initial review and (where appropriate) revision with a timetable for completing the new edition. Recruitment - A member of the audience asked, "How do we sell becoming a judge?" There followed discussion on what benefits are presented towards potential candidates i.e.: better understanding of the rules, more confidence in the Protest Room and overall benefit to their racing. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. NEW BUSINESS Harmon Hawkins' family proposes to donate a trophy to US SAILING to recognize excellence in judging. Ted Everingham will pursue the matter. The Judges Committee will have to work with the family to develop criteria for awarding the new trophy. AREA APPEALS COMMITTEE (AAC) PROPOSAL Tom Farquhar joined the meeting to discuss the AAC proposal and answer questions. After giving the Judges Committee an overview of the existing Association Appeals Committees and how some work well while others do not, the discussion was tabled for the closed session on Saturday. Mr. Farquhar and Jim Capron agreed to come to that meeting after the committee had narrowed its concerns about the AAC proposal and formulated suggestions to meet those concerns. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Debbie Schoenherr, Secretary
|