1.   Call to Order and Introduction of Members
Patty Lawrence, ODCC Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:47 AM on Thursday October 17, 2002 in the Mariott Beach Hotel in Marina del Rey, CA.  The members each introduced themselves and the classes they sail.

2.   Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the March 2002 meeting were approved as posted on the web site.

3.   One-Design Awards
Patty Lawrence encouraged sailors to make nominations for the five one-design awards.  Nominations may be submitted online at the ODCC website.

3.1.  2003 Awards
Stan Betts described the process for selecting the award winners and emphasized the need for quick responses by the ODCC Executive Committee members so that the awards can be finalized by the end of January.

4.   Growth and Promotion Ideas to Share with One-Design Classes
Susan Daly, the Marketing VP of Vanguard, lead the discussion of ideas for attracting sailors and growing fleets.  A description of the discussion is attached (Attachment 2). The major conclusions from the discussion were:

   * Growth is really driven from the local level
   * Involvement by the top sailors is critical
   * Strict one-design rules, well enforced
   * Involve the builder, if you have one

5.   Crew Awards
Lee Parks described the CREW principles and the CREW award process.

6.   ISAF Issues
Ding Schoonmaker introduced the following issues that will be discussed at the upcoming ISAF Meeting.

6.1. Age Limts on World Championships
A proposal was to make a minimum age of 15 years for all competitors in World Championship events.  This would eliminate crews on larger boats.

The Council unanimously passed the following resolution for presentation to the Board of Directors:

6.2. ISAF Encroachment on One-Design Classes
Nelson Stephenson of the Mumm 30 discussed the general imposition of ISAF policies upon one-design classes.

The Council unanimously passed the following resolution for presentation to the Board of Directors:

6.3. ISAF Safety Proposal
Jerelyn Biehl discussed a proposal to establish safety training requirements for world championship events.

The Council is concerned about additional requirements that are difficult to administer or implement.  The Council recommends that the requirement be a recommendation, but not be mandatory.

7.   Listserv and One-Design Publications
Patty Lawrence discussed the necessity for articles to go out on the ODCC Listserv each month.  A list of topics was circulated and the members present signed up for the articles as shown below:

Topic	Assignment	Topic	Assignment	Topic	Assignment
US SAILING Calendar	Jerelyn Biehl	Class List		Donations and Sponsorship	James Appel
ODCC Awards	Stan Betts	Web Space		Choosing Nationals Sites
Class Management Handbook	Clark Chapin	Championship of Champions	Dick Goodman	Teamwork in a Three-person boat	Bill Munster
Sharing Growth Ideas on the Web		SNAX		How to deal with problem fleet members
Insurance		Sail Measurement	Clark Chapin	Tips for putting on a good regatta	Mary Huntsman
Don’t Blame the Officers	Tom Hubbell	Retaining Fleet Members		Seamanship Initiative	Tom Hubbell
Running good one-design races	Bill Stump

8.   Championship of Champions
The current Championship will occur next week at Lake Norman in Flying Scots.  Next year will be Lake Geneva in MC Scows.  The Council needs to generate bids for the following years and more interest in the event in general.  Proposals for sites and boats should be submitted on the Championship of Champions web page.

9.   Staff Report
Lee Parks reported on activities in Portsmouth.

9.1.  Strategic Planning Meeting
Lee described the Strategic Planning Meeting in May that has resulted in the newsletter motion approved by the Board on 19-Oct as well as the other initiatives.

9.2.  One-Design Membership
Our target of 117 member classes was exceeded.  The ODCC Executive Committee contacted lapsed member classes regarding renewal after the second renewal letter. A summary appears below:

Category	Oct 2002	March 2002
2002 Member Classes	127	107
2001 Member Classes that did not renew in 2002	9	29
1998-2000 Member Classes that have not renewed in 2001-2	26	33
1975-1997 Member Classes that have not renewed in 1998-2002	53
Bad addresses	17

10.   Election of Officers
The following people were elected:

ODCC Chair	Patty Lawrence	ODCC Vice Chair	Jerelyn Biehl
ODCC Exec Comm (Class of 2005)	Clark Chapin James Appel Bill Stump	US SAILING Board of Directors (Class of 2004)	Jerelyn Biehl Bill Stump Patty Lawrence
Inshore Committee	Patty Lawrence Jerelyn Biehl Bill Munster	US SAILING Nominating Committee	Ding Schoonmaker

11. New Business

11.1. Class Membership for Championships
The Council discussed a proposal to require class membership in the boats for a US SAILING Championship, that is, if a Championship is held in Snipes, then all the participants would be required to join the Snipe Association.  No motion was made, but the Council suggests that the classes give the participants a one year free membership which may result in sailors voluntarily joining the class.

12.  Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 AM on Saturday 19-Oct.  The next meeting will be at the US SAILING Spring Meeting in Cincinnati, OH.

 Respectfully Submitted,
Clark Chapin, Secretary pro-tem

1. Growth and Promotion Ideas to share with One-Design Classes

Susan Daly, the Marketing VP of Vanguard, began the discussion of ideas for attracting sailors and growing fleets.

1.1. What are the issues that confront each class?

If you don’t know why you are losing members, it is impossible to address the issues.  Jerelyn Biehl described that the Snipe Class had gone from a printed to an electronic newsletter.  To sign up for the newsletter, it is necessary to complete a questionnaire.  From the results, the primary loss is due to the loss of free time.  Clark Chapin described how the Interlakes have tracked participation at the Nationals since 1972.  The database keeps track of participation by fleet and who was a “visitor” or from the host club.  The move from a week-long series to a long-weekend series in the mid-90’s has had a large positive effect on turnout.

1.2. Which classes are growing and why?

Growing Classes present: Club 420, Etchells, Lido 14, Optimist
Lido 14:  A re-design of the boat made it more comfortable to sail.  Running short races near shore helps.  Several Snipe sailors have converted to Lido 14’s.
Optimist: Coaching, on-line membership, and they are considering an on-line newsletter.
Etchells: The Worlds were in San Diego in 2000.  To sustain interest, the class has hosted clinics to help new sailors with tuning and boat handling.  The growth is fueled by younger sailors (post-college).
Soling:  There has been a loss of members after the Olympics.  Only five fleets are still active in the United States.  Several strategies are being investigated, including limitations on sail purchases, a division that does not allow droop-hiking, or moving the boom upward to provide more clearance when tacking.
Club 420: Merely writing down the class rules had a significantly positive effect, particularly in making it more strictly one-design.  Creating National and North American Championships has changed the nature of the class, particularly in moving the regatta site out of the traditional northeastern sites.
Laser: The growth has been in the area of the Radial and the Masters categories.
Ensign: A new builder, strict one-design rules, and resurgence by long-time class members.

1.3. Other ideas
Houston: allowing people to start with boats that they don’t own to minimize the entry level costs.
US SAILING: make contacts with environmental organizations to emphasize the “green” aspect of sailing.
Seattle: The Sail Sand Point Program gets new sailors involved through community organization and has shifted the emphasis from a beach party to a family party.
Ensign:  Offer a trophy at major regattas for the “best looking boat.”
Etchells: Chartering boats for major championships is a help, provided that the charter fee goes to the boat instead of to the class or the club.
Shields One-Design:  The competitive races are on Wednesdays.  Weekends are for non-spinnaker races that are more relaxed.  The boat seems better suited than some others for folks who aren’t as agile as they used to be.
Lake Norman: Helping newer sailors with a periodic “Rent-a-Ringer” races has raised the participation rate.
Annapolis: Tailor the racing to the needs of the population and the venue – generally shorter races.

1.4. Conclusions

Growth is really driven from the bottom up.
Involvement by the top sailors is critical
Strict one-design rules, well enforced.
Involve the builder, if you have one.