Updated 03/13/2007

US SAILING
MULTIHULL COUNCIL MEETING
Annual General Meeting
St. Louis, Missouri
October 18, 2003

Minutes

I.       Call To Order:  The Meeting was called to Order at 9:50am 

II.      Introduction and Special Guests:

Sue Corl and Joan Thayer, both members of National Women's Sailing Association, came to the MHC because they want to learn more about the Fast and Fun Program. They explained that NWSA is dedicated to enriching the lives of women and girls through education and access to the sport of sailing.  They have their own out-reach program, called Adventure Sail, which is a mentoring program for at-risk girls with 2,000 girls participating since 1996. They have a goal to reach 10, 000 girls by 2010. 

III.     Approval of Minutes: The minutes from March 2003 meeting were approved as written.

IV.     Correspondence:  There was no written correspondence. Most of the Council work gets done through e-mail or phone communication.

V.      Elections of Officers and Area Representatives:  A slate of officers was presented and Nominations were taken from the floor.  An election of officers and Area Representatives was held. There was no change in the officers.

Chairman                         Art Stevens
Vice Chairman                  Dan Mangus
Secretary                         Deborah K. Schaefer

The following four Area Reps were elected for two more years

Area B                             Joe Manganello
Area D                             John Williams
Area H                             Ken Marshack
Area K                             Mike Hill

Add two new Area Reps:

Area F                             John Tomko replaced Doug Camp when he resigned mid-year
Area G                             Michael Egan replaces Phil DeGaa who chose not to continue

VI.     Budget Review and Discussion:

         A.   Hoyt-Jolley Fund: There was considerable discussion regarding the status of Hoyt-Jolley Fund which is a restricted fund established in 1998 to defray costs of putting on the Alter Cup Event. It is the intention of this group that only the earnings from this fund be used so we were pleased to see that there has been significant growth in the account after many months of decline. To our best knowledge, there is currently $56,985 in this account.  The Finance Director, Cindy-Leary Johnson has promised Art Stevens a monthly report.

B.      Fast and Fun: Fast and Fun is a semi-restricted fund. According to the 2004 US SAILING Budget Worksheet, Fast and Fun earned $7,000 and spent $5,840.  According to Art Stevens, he had $49, 000 in revenue at the beginning of 2003, and expenses of $36,000 plus. Art entered into June with $12,000.  All donations go to US SAILING and they pay Art’s bills. Art is requesting a monthly report from the Finance Director to ascertain the current status of this account.

      Fast and Fun Presentation: Art Stevens reports that Fast and Fun is the only outreach program remaining after the budgetary process. Fast and Fun has been privately funded successfully for three years. This program needs funding and staff. Art Stevens shared a 7-minute Power Point presentation with the BOD Saturday morning. Each Board Member received a copy of the presentation on a CD. Art intends that the BOD share these CDs with possible sponsors. It’s part of Art’s three-year plan to fund Fast and Fun outreach to At-Risk Youth, introducing thousands of kids to the sport of sailing, and also bringing new members into US SAILING. Art would like US SAILING to bring Fast and Fun into the fold.

The Multihull Council congratulates Art Stevens for his great work.

C.      US SAILING Youth Multihull Championship:  The Budget shows $1,000 in revenue and $700 in expense.

VII.    Reports:.

A.      Alter Cup:  At the Spring Meeting, the Chairman of Alter Cup Committee, John Williams, was charged with forming a sub-committee to review the US SAILING Area structure to determine if changes to the current Area boundaries were warranted based on the current national demographics of multihull sailors.  The committee, composed of John Williams (Area D), Eric Kennedy (Area E), Darline Hobock (Web Liaison), Jamie Diamond (2002-2003 Alter Cup Chair) convened during the Spring 2003 US SAILING meeting to discuss the issue.  John came back to the Multihull Council with a proposal that a change to the boundary between Area E and Area K be made – all of the lower peninsula of Michigan was recommended to be included in Area K. No other changes appear warranted at this time. John withdrew his proposal when he learned that these boundaries had already been changed years before, with all of Lower Peninsula of Michigan to be included in Area E for purposes of the Alter Cup.

      The 2004 Alter Cup Event will be held in North East Region on Hobie 16s. It will be held in close conjunction with the planned 2004 Youth Multihull Championship at Sea Cliff Yacht Club in Long Island, NY to be held June 25, 26, 27. Potential venues of Roton Point, CT, or Spray Beach, NJ were discussed. The MHC wants to thank Hobie Cat Company for their continued support.

B.   Golden Anchor:  Darline Hobock reports that the Multihull Council continues to lose members with regard to renewals and gained members through the Alter Cup eliminations. We are just about breaking even.  We lose track of multihull members when US SAILING does their direct mailings. So, overall we continue to lose.  The fallout from this is that the Golden Anchor program was paying for the Alter Cup Medals through credits earned.

John Williams will request that Race Organizers of the Alter Cup Eliminations have Golden Anchor forms at registrations. Vice Chair, Dan Mangus will follow-up with US SAILING staff with regard to better tracking of multihull members.  

         C.   Portsmouth Numbers:  Darline Hobock reports that due to a computer crash, she lost all the race data from 2003. She is requesting that race committees resubmit race data.

D.      Web page:  Due to the efforts of Darline Hobock, the Multihull Council Web pages are by far and away the best website at US SAILING.

      The MHC congratulates Darline Hobock as the recipient of its C.R.E.W. Award. Darline was selected for the C.R.E.W. Award because of her dedication and commitment to US SAILING, as well as for the way in which she works with others. Darline embodies all four aspects that the C.R.E.W  award values in the volunteers and staff who drive this organization: Commitment, Respect, Excellence, and Working together. Learn more about this award and Darline’s accomplishments on the US SAILING website: http://www.ussailing.org/news/2003/crewAGM.htm

E.      Americap II:  In lieu of a report on PHRF, Deborah Schaefer gave a report on the Americap II meeting, which she attended.  US SAILING Offshore Director Dan Nowlan reports that Americap II had a tremendous growth in 2003, with 625 valid certificates and approximately 1,100 hull measurements on file. The Chicago Mackinac Race organizers used Americap II exclusively to handicap the monohull fleet. Using standard deviation analysis, it was found that the Americap II ratings generally created closer corrected times than PHRF would have in each of the classes. They found that older boats do better using Americap II. Sport boats, like the Hobie 33, do better with PHRF. This is a known problem and will be worked on. It was suggested that a single number time-on-time rating might be more accurate for long distance races or in situations in which tide becomes a factor. Race organizers used PHRF to handicap the multihull fleet. Contrary to rumor, there are no plans to issue Americap II certificates for multihulls.  

Dan feels that each measurement rule serves a different purpose/clientele/type of race. Americap II works well for long distance races and PHRF works well for buoy races. There is room for both.

Dan Nowlan reported that significant improvements have been made in the Americap II Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) in the last year.  They continue to utilize wind tunnel testing to determine aerodynamic effects of wind on sails upwind and downwind.  Tank tests have been run to measure how drag forces of the hull are impacted by heel angle and wind tunnel tests will be conducted for upwind forces generated by fractional rigs and overlapping sails and the effects of stability on boat performance. VPPs will be updated accordingly.  All of the research to date has been done on monohulls.  There are no plans to do any VPP research on multihulls. 

F.   Offshore:  Dave Lumian came to the MHC with a viable proposal for an Offshore Multihull Championship. This would be an open event like the Alter Cup Championship. The proposed event will be hosted by the Pensacola Yacht Club on F-28-Rs. Dave already has a line on borrowed boats. He is recommending that there will be teams made up of 4 crew, with the boat owner as one of these crew.  Dave hopes to set up this championship in close conjunction with the Corsair Nationals to be held April 19 through April 23, 2004.

G.   Safety-at-Sea Committee:  Deborah Schaefer gave a brief report in place of Bill Doelger who could not come to the Fall AGM. Under the topic of Education, it has become apparent to members of the SAS Committee that many sailors are unaware of Safety Recommenda-tions for Offshore Sailing which includes the Special Regulations that are used in the U.S.  Deb is concerned that many Corsair trimaran boat owners, new to racing offshore, may not be aware of these safety recommendations.

VIII.   New Business:  John Williams proposed that a change be made in the Deed of Gift for the Alter Cup Trophy that is presented to the winner of the US SAILING Multihull Championship.  He proposed that the Cup bear the full name of the person the trophy honors: Hobie Alter, Sr. The MHC supported the name change.

Respectfully Submitted,

Deborah K. Schaefer
Secretary