Sailor Athlete Advisory Board Conference Call Minutes

August 22, 2001 - Approved by majority vote

1. Present: G. Bodie US Sailing Team Coach, L. Parks, S. Ikle, J. Appel, L. Gleason, B. Merrick, M. Gaillard, M. Reynolds

2. The current voting procedures were approved with the amendment that the voting cycles would coincide with the Olympic Quadrennium and the half Quadrennium, occurring in 2004 and 2002 respectively. The present board members will remain in office until the 2002 election.

3. Web Page update. Ken has been working very hard on the voting registration page. The S-AAB recommeds the capital letters A(in yellow),B(in blue),C(in red) to represent the three levels of sailor athletes for purposes of committee lists and icons on the web page. The sailor-athlete registration system is in the process of being constructed. All S-AAB members are encouraged to test the system and send feedback to Ken ASAP so that he can make corrections quickly.

4. Dave Rosekrans had asked for a member of the S-AAB to serve on the Code Oversight group. Geoff Ewenson has been the only volunteer, so we congratulate him on his new position.

5. Gary Bodie spoke on the current Olympic Sailing team, Operation gold recipients and other news. Fred Hagedorn has just returned from a trip to Athens to scout out the venue and accomodations in the area.

The US Team has increased outreach to the "elite youth sailing" group such as the JO Youth Champs, however, personal, one on one mentorship of new talent by veterans and coaches appears to be the most effective tool for development of the US Sailing Team. All former Olympic Class sailors are asked to encourage and promote new talent in the sport. Volunteer Coaching would be a way to benefit the US TEAM.

Gary solicited the input of the S-AAB regarding the issue of how to rank the US Sailing team members. Topics included multiple crew boats, substitutions, international crew members, ranking skippers or crews independently? With a growing emphasis on the Miami OCR for ranking purposes, the skipper and crew of that event could be considered the official team for ranking purposes unless otherwise changed by written permission. The final decision will be made by the OSC.

6. A lively discussion took place on new ideas to benefit sailors.

- Each S-AAB member is asked to recruit other active sailors to become involved with US SAILING by registering themselves as athletes and serving on committees.

- Encourage modern forms of communication such as e-mail and conference calls as ways to become involved that do not require expensive trips in order to participate in the promotion and governance of the sport.

- Develop exposure for the sport whenever possible. "Create a little hype in your area."

7. Bob Merrick spoke on the status of the new sailing medalist. The first issue should be ready in September. Members of this committee may be asked to contribute. Please, think of other potential contributors that you might recommend to Bob.

8. Fred Hagedorn reported that the RFP for a fundraiser has been sent out. At the July Ex. Com call it was announced that there would be an RFP for an Olympic fund raiser as well as a study undertaken to assess all the fundraising needs of US SAILING.

9. There was no New Business