Sailor Athlete Advisory Board Conference Call Minutes

February 13, 2002  9:00 PM - 10:27 PM - Approved by majority vote

Agenda

1. Roll call: L. Parks, J. Appel, D. Brenner, C. Dey, M. Gaillard, M. Gebhardt, J. Lovell, B. Merrick, M. Reynolds, L. Gleason, D. Rosekrans, N. Craw

2. Current athlete representation and US SAILING Committees was discussed. Louise Gleason will update and circulate an excel file to all the SAAC members for review. Follow up will include contacting individual committee chairs and proposing options for coming into compliance. (A. Selecting appropriate athletes or B. allowing the SAAC to make a recommendation of appropriate athletes to bring the committee into compliance).

Generating an e-mail list of registered athletes may facilitate finding appropriate committee members as necessary.

3. What is the SAAC anyhow? The role of the SAAC is to represent sailor athletes within US SAILING. This council is intended to provide a channel of two-way communication between sailors and the organization.

It is part of our role to encourage our sailing peers to get involved or at very least stop speaking badly of the future of US SAILING

SAAC members are encouraged to be pro-active in reviewing committee lists, proposed rules, formats etc. and browse the US SAILING Web site, Scuttlebutt etc. to keep an eye out for issues effecting sailors.

Dave Rosekrans commented on how successful his e-mail communication has been with sailors providing feedback. A chat room/e-mail address for the SAAB may be an effective means of gathering input from sailor-athletes.

Please register as an athlete!

4. Dean Brenner will chair a working party to develop a selection procedure for athletes on the Executive Committee and BOD. Meg and James will also participate. The current goal is to have that procedure drafted and distributed for comment and revision, prior to the spring meeting in Colorado Springs. The procedure may be voted on at that meeting.

5. Voluntary Athlete Registration and Confirmations - Meg, Dean, Louise, James, Scott, Johnny have been involved in the process so far. Some problems were identified in the system and outstanding problem registrations will be followed up through KS.

Regattas being entered into the pull-down menu ought to undergo an approval process before athletes can choose them.

Athletes registering in the system ought to be required to enter an e-mail contact in order to address problems directly with the applicant, and to facilitate future communication through the athlete e-mail distribution. A phone number or some other contact may also be necessary.

 "Elite International Events" as discussed in the definition only applies to offshore/keelboat events.

6. 2002 US SAILING Spring Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO March 15 - 17. SAAC Meeting Saturday, March 16. Planning to attend are Lee, James, Dean, Meg, Mark, and Louise.

-SAAC to present a 5 min Presentation at the opening Board of Directors Meeting 8:00am 3/15/02.

-Sailor Athletes to attend the following meetings, introduce the SAAC and answer questions:

OSC, Nominating Committee, Article 14, Jr. Women's, Youth Champs, US Single Handed, Hinman, OffShore Teams, Level 1Design, ISAF, SWSN/IFDS, Inshore, ODCC, Women's Committee, CSA, US Windsurfing, Multihull

7. 2002 Elections

SAAC members were encouraged to review the voting/nominating procedures for the upcoming 2002 SAAC election on the SAAB password protected web page and make comments. Voting procedures to be approved at the Spring Meeting.

8. OSC Ranking Systems attempted to consider ranking skippers and crews independently this year. The SAAC discussed various aspects of the issue and would recommend that teams be required to sail together throughout any ranking system in multi-handed boats in the future.

9. One Design, Olympic Class or other sailors who may not be sure about whom to confront regarding an issue are welcome to voice their issues with the SAAC

10. Adjournment