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Minutes
of National Offshore Council Meeting St. Petersburg,
Florida October 18
& 20, 2001 CALL TO ORDER: 0935, October 18, 2001 MEMBERS
PRESENT: Paul Ansfield (LMPHRF), Bruce Bingman (CBYRA), Karen Barnes (EWYC/NCWSA), Craig Brown (TPYC), Larry Bulman (STC), Bruce Campbell (PIYA), Bill Doelger (Multi-Hull Council), Bruce Eissner (YRUMB), William Garapick (PHFLE), David Kilponen (FSA), Gene McCarthy (LMSRF), Ken Morrison (RHORC/HPHRF), John Osmond (SMYRA), Bob Thomas (CBPHRF), Dan Van Heeckeren (ILYA), Bill Uniack (LBYC), Bob Warnecke (LMPHRF) GUESTS: John Burnham (Sailing World), Lloyd Causey (NOYC), Dick Hampikian (AmeriCap), Darlene Hobock (Portsmouth Numbers), David Irish, Tom Lambers (Lambers Design), Joe Melino (SFBYRA), Tom McIntosh, Rob Mock (GRSC), Alan Moony (OCYC), Jim Muldoon, Pete Reichelsdorfer (IMS), Betty Sherman (SDYC), Ken Signorello (Web Design) and Dan Nowlan (US SAILING Offshore Director). REPORT OF
SECRETARY: A) The minutes of the meeting of March 23 & 24, 2001 were approved, B) Communications: The Meeting Agenda and Nominating Committee report were posted on the NOC website and mailed to all member organizations on September 13. We are still soliciting for new member organizations. OLD BUSINESS: A) NOC WEB SITE: Crew List:
Paul Ansfield reported on the
development of a crew list for individuals looking for crew positions at high
profile events. He advised that he has a simplified version of the crew list
ready for publishing, but it will require sponsorship in order to hire someone
to maintain the page. Paul suggested that we need a working party to get the
crew list operational on the website. He is setting it up so that you have to
enter your US SAILING membership number in order to have access to the list.
This needs to be cross-referenced to a calendar of events. Calendar of Events: Ken
Signorello, US SAILING Webmaster, advised that the Calendar of Events is fully
operational on the US SAILING website. The problem is getting race organizers to
put their events on the calendar. The current calendar has links to every event
by class or category such as IMS, PHRF, One-Design. Craig Brown requested that
“Offshore” be a category for linking to our crew list. Ken Signorello needs
two or three people to test the data and the method of accessing the data. During discussion
of the website, Bruce Eissner suggested that the NOC is a forum or offshore
organizations and we need to open this forum up electronically on the website. MOTION
was made, seconded and carried that the NOC Chairman appoint a working party to
develop an electronic forum on the website consistent with the NOC mission and
that the working party report on their accomplishments within 3 months. Action on this motion was deferred to the incoming Chairman. Paul Ansfield
agreed to work with Bruce Campbell, Craig Brown and Ken Signorello to set this
up. During the reconvened meeting on 20 October, Craig Brown announced that
Carroll Marine has donated $1250.00 to support the Crew List and Event List on
the NOC website. Bruce Campbell announced that discussions regarding the
electronic forum have been undertaken with the US SAILING Webmaster and the
framework of the new pages should be completed in a week.
B) ISAF ISSUES:
Bruce Eissner reported that the ISAF and ORC merger is similar to a hostile
takeover in industry. The US SAILING goals in this merger are (1) to assure the
worldwide health of the IMS rule and (2) to level the playing field for
worldwide handicap systems. The big problem for the ORC is the fact that they
are moving from being a rule oriented (IOR & IMS) organization to a being an
universal forum for all international handicap rules. This is a very difficult
task. We can expect some major changes to be forthcoming during the meetings in
Lisbon next month. Everyone was urged to attend the ISAF Delegates meeting for
specific issues. C) U.S. OFFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1) Craig Brown reported that the USNA is hosting the championship October 24 to 28 at Annapolis. This year the event has been oversubscribed with 12 teams vying for the 11 boats available. This problem was caused by a late entry. Craig Brown recommended that this problem could be prevented in the future by permitting an Area to reserve a team position by paying the entry fee as a deposit in advance. Bruce Campbell will be the NOC representative at this event. 2) Bill Uniack from Long Beach Yacht Club is here at the meeting and he has delivered the race notice for the 2002 event to be hosted by LBYC October 3-6, 2002. 3) Bruce Eissner announced that the US SAILING Executive Committee had approved the action to designate the Championships Committee to oversee the US Offshore Championship in the future. Details of this action need to be worked out between the NOC and the Championships Committee. D) RATING RULES (REPORT OF OFFSHORE DIRECTOR):
Dan Nowlan reported that the
Offshore Office has come a long way in the past two years. EQUIPMENT: When Dan
arrived a little over two years ago, the IMS measurement equipment was in pretty
bad shape. Some of the equipment was outdated and spare parts were no longer
available. Today they have developed a state of the art laser measurement
machine that is capable of measuring not only one-of-a-kind hulls for IMS, but
it can also be used for measuring one-design hulls to assure they are in
compliance with their measurement rule and to provide standardized data for
their classes. IMS: This is a very
capable rule but it is in disarray. IMS has suffered from bad press and now we
need some good press. Scoring has been a problem; however, we have helped the
East Coast Fleet and scoring is no longer a major problem. We are still looking
for a new Windows based scoring program that is easy to use. VPP RATING SYSTEMS:
These rating systems have come of age. Owner’s now want more than a simple
single number system but less that the complexities of the IMS system. AmeriCap
is being promoted for the intermediate grade of competitor and is starting to
show real growth. FINANCIAL STATUS:
Two years ago, the Offshore Office was criticized for not carrying its weight
financially. We have seen the bottom and we now have the opportunity to grow
with new products. We are putting 10 new products on the website. For example,
soon you will be able to buy an IMS certificate on the website. NEW DEVELOPMENTS:
Dan Nowlan introduced Tom Andrews, IMS Measurer from Chicago, who has developed
a new spread sheet program for IMS. The spreadsheet allows you to change certain
measurement parameters for a given boat and see how they change the rating data
for the boat. This new spreadsheet will be marketed through US SAILING with a
portion of the proceeds going to the author. E) OFFSHORE ONE-DESIGN CLASSES: Ken Morrison reported that the Mumm 30, Mumm 36 and Farr 40 classes have made a submission to ISAF requesting that they be transferred from the Offshore Classes Committee to the Keelboat Committee. The reason they gave was that they no longer race offshore and do not wish to be involved in the political situation developing between ISAF and the ORC. They feel they are better suited to be part of the Keelboat Committee. This question will be addressed in the meeting of the Offshore Teams, Offshore One-Design & Level Classes Committee. NEW BUSINESS: A) Nominating Committee Report: Gene McCarthy
presented the Nominating Committee Report, a copy of which is attached. The
Chair asked for nominations from the floor and there were none. Motion was
made, seconded and carried to approve the nominations as presented. B) Delegates to the AGM: Craig Brown announced that the NOC has 18 delegate positions for the US SAILING Annual General Meeting on Saturday and asked all NOC delegates to sign the delegates sheet on the notice board. C) The National Women’s Sailing Association made a
presentation concerning the status of their association with US SAILING. During
the reconvened meeting the action item forwarded by the National Women’s
Sailing Association to the US SAILING Board of Directors regarding their status
received lengthy discussion. Motion was made, seconded and carried to
instruct the NOC Delegates to the US SAILING Board of Directors not to support
the action proposed by NWSA as currently submitted. D) Committee Appointments: Nominating Committee: Craig Brown General Services Committee: Gene McCarthy Championships Committee: Bruce Campbell E) During the reconvened meeting on October 20, the Chairman announced that Bill Keith had resigned from his position on the NOC Executive Committee and as an NOC delegate to the US SAILING Board of Directors. His resignation was a result of his wife’s illness. Motion was made, seconded and carried to designate Gene McCarthy to replace Bill Keith on the NOC Executive Committee and as an NOC delegate to the US SAILING Board of Directors. These appointments are for the uncompleted terms of Bill Keith’s appointments. F) During the reconvened meeting on October 20, the
subject of the US SAILING Budget for 2002 was discussed. Motion was made,
seconded and carried to instruct the NOC Delegates to the US SAILING Board of
Directors to support the proposed budget as submitted by the US SAILING
Treasurer. RECESS/RECONVENE: The
meeting was recessed at 1155 on Thursday, October 18 and reconvened at 1150 on
Saturday, October 20, 2001. ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 1230 on Saturday, October 20, 2001 |