FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marlieke de Lange Eaton
401-683-0800
US SAILING’s
One-Design Sailing Symposium
A Success in Georgia; National One-Design Awards Announced
Acworth, Ga. (November 16, 2008) – More than 100 one-design sailors and
class and fleet leaders traveled from across the country to Atlanta Yacht
Club in Acworth, Ga., last weekend to attend US SAILING’s One-Design Sailing
Symposium. The over 100 attendees represented more than 30 one-design
classes and came from over 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The event
featured many seminars and workshops, including presentations by sailing
experts Dave Perry, Greg Fisher, Craig Leweck, and many more. Organized
annually by US SAILING, the Symposium is geared towards one-design sailors
who are interested in keeping the one-design sector of the sport thriving
and growing and in improving their own sailing skills.
The three days of the Symposium, which ran from November 16-18, were filled
with educational seminars, keynote presentations and numerous networking
opportunities for all participants. The event kicked off on Friday, November
14, with a Race Management Seminar. Other Symposium sessions covered a wide
range of topics, including small boat safety, insurance, best practices for
measurement, sponsorship, coordinating event registration and results, and
much more. Racing rules expert Dave Perry was one of the many highlights of
the Symposium, speaking at a US SAILING Mount Gay Rum Speaker Series on
"Winning Moves in One Designs" - improving tactical skills - and at a US
SAILING Racing Rules Seminar presented by North U. The Symposium also
included a series of "Go Fast" seminars taught by Skip Dieball, Mike Ingham,
and Greg Fisher, designed to help one-design sailors improve their sailing
skills.
National One-Design Award Winners Announced
In addition to seminars and workshops, US SAILING presented several awards
to one-design sailors and organizations:
• One-Design Service Award: Paul White
Paul White of Indianapolis, Ind., was taken by surprise on Sunday morning
when he was presented with the US SAILING One-Design Service Award after a
standing ovation. Secretary for Y-Flyer National Class for eighteen years,
White has managed the finances, organized meetings, maintained measurements
and certificate records, while actively buying, selling, and repairing boats
to help grow his local fleet. At the Indianapolis Sailing Club, he has been
a director since 1972 and has served as Commodore and chair of a number of
committees, and as principal race officer for numerous regattas. He is a US
SAILING Certified Club Race Officer. White is also an accomplished sailor:
he and his wife Kay won the Y-Flyer International Championship earlier this
year. In 34 years, White has not missed a single Y-Flyer regatta in the Mid
America Cup circuit and will participate in his 200th consecutive circuit
regatta next spring.
• One-Design Leadership Award: Bill Brosius
Bill Brosius of Olympia, Wash., received the national One-Design Leadership
Award. Brosius founded and built the Budd Inlet Star Fleet at the South
Sound Sailing Society (Wash.). When Brosius, who had been very active in the
Corinthian Star Fleet of Tacoma, moved to Olympia (Wash.), he located five
Star boats, convinced his new club mates to purchase them and helped to
ready them for racing. His dedication to the growth of the fleet has been
marked by his assistance to others, particularly to younger racers, by
helping them to improve their sailing skills. He continues to locate older
Star boats, arranges transportation and has even built a shop just to work
on them, charging boat owners only for the cost of materials. In 2006, the
Budd Inlet Star Fleet joined the ISCYRA. Today, the Budd Inlet Fleet is 25
boats strong and growing, making it one of the largest Star fleets on the
West Coast.
• One-Design Club of the Year: Clear Lake Yacht Club
Clear Lake Yacht Club in Clear Lake, Iowa, has received the One-Design Club
of the Year award. The Club is run entirely by volunteers and offers a
variety of racing events for numerous one-design classes including Hobie 16,
Optimist, E, C, MC and X classes as well as a sailing school, with US
SAILING certified programs for both youth and adults. The Club consistently
operates with a positive cash flow enabling them to fund regattas, youth
programs and scholarships as well as make charitable donations. Each year,
the Club has seen increases in every class due to the visibility of the club
in the community and the success of the sailing school converting students
to lifelong sailors. Clear Lake Yacht Club has become a centerpiece of the
Iowa community, not typically thought to be a sailing region, by creating a
fun, successful, social, one-design sailing organization run solely by
dedicated volunteers for the past 75 years.
• One-Design Regatta: Hobie Cat 40th Anniversary Regatta
The One-Design Regatta went to the Hobie Cat 40th Anniversary Regatta (held
at Dana Point, Calif., by Hobie Fleet #4 and organized by James Orkins of
San Diego, Calif. The event, held October 3-5, was an expansive
commemorative event, with approximately 110 boats racing in Hobie 14s, 16s (A,B,C
Fleets), 17s, 18s, 20s and Tigers. Separate courses were set up for junior
racing in Hobie Holders and a Hobie Island Adventures (a hybrid
kayak-sailing trimaran) exhibition. Over 500 people attended the celebration
with National and World champions coming from as far away as Australia to
participate. The three-day regatta featured programs for everyone ranging
from “town-hall” discussions with Hobie sailing legends Hobie Alter, Sr.,
Wayne Schafer and Sandy Banks to a children’s coloring contest hosted by
world-renowned marine life artist Wyland. The regatta was a success on many
levels, involving the local community with a donation of event proceeds
going to a local non-profit organization. Many participants ranked this
event as “the best regatta ever.”
• One-Design Creativity Award: Max Hinneberg
Max Hinneberg of Aurora, Colo., received the One-Design Creativity Award.
For the past 26 years, Hinneberg has served as chair of “Hobie Fun Days”, an
event created to bring the pleasure of sailing to patients at Craig Hospital
(Englewood, Colo.) who have experienced debilitating brain and spinal cord
injuries. Since 1986, Hinneberg has been instrumental in coordinating
sailors, hospital staff and volunteers to provide a fun day of sailing for
hundreds of patients while raising thousands of dollars to support the
hospital’s therapeutic and recreational activities. Hinneberg’s hard work in
the challenging task of organizing Hobie Fun Day has elevated the Fleet and
enhanced the lives of people truly in need through the simple pleasure of
sailing.
For more information on the 2008 One-Design Sailing Symposium, please visit
www.ussailing.org/odcc.
Plans are in the works for the 2009 One-Design Sailing Symposium, most
likely to be held in San Diego, Calif., in the fall.
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing
body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode
Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the
United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for
instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing
organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and
provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the
country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and
Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit
www.ussailing.org.
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