COUNCIL OF SAILING ASSOCIATIONS ANNUAL MEETING PHOENIX, AZ October 25-27, 2007 Chairman Betts called the meeting to order at 1000 hours, October 25, 2007. All members were welcomed and it was asked if there were any first meeting attendees. Members Present: Stan Betts Chairman, Edwin C. Theisen, Jr. Vice Chairman, Area E Director, Detroit Regional YA and Lake Huron YA, Don Crandall - Secretary and Area K Director, Susan Epstein Past Chairman, Karen Reisch Championships Committee Chair, Peter Durant Area A Director and South Mass. SA, David Felsenthal (proxy Peter Durant) Mass Bay SA, Bill Poole Northeast SA, Mass Bay SA, Robert Counihan Area B Director and YRA of L.I. Sound, Brad Buell (proxy-counihan) Central NY YRA, Greg Gilmartin (proxy-counihan) Conn. SA, Bud Fox (proxy- Counihan) Long Island SA, Glenn Schmidt Great South Bay YRA, Robert Thomas Area C Director, Harry Foote - Barnegat Bay YRA, Wayne Bretsch (proxy Joseph Krolak) Ches. Bay YRA, Sarah Ashton Area D Director, Mike Dawson (proxy Dick Alsopp) Florida SA, Walter Chamberlain Gulf YA, John Slater South Atlantic YRA, Dave Shaffer Inter-Lake YA, Bob Porter Lake YRA, Dave Rosekrans (proxy- Ed Theisen) Ohio V. SA, Karen Smith, Area F Director, Betsy Beddow Central States SA, Brian Hawboldt - Texas SA, Art Engel Area J Director, Mark Hanse (proxy David Lumian) Southern California YA, Susan Artof (proxy-art Engel) YRU of So. Calif., Joe McGinnis (proxy-don Crandall), -Lake Michigan SFR, Mike Spence (proxy Don Crandall) - Lake Superior YA, Jan Visser Area L Director and Pacific Int. YA, T.K. Wegg CSA Services Review Chair, Dave Lumian and Peter Durant Community Sailing. Minutes: Minutes of the Council of Sailing Associations Spring Meeting held March 15-18, 2007 in Newport, RI were approved. Voting for Director Vacancy: Robert Thomas will be the new Area C Director, replacing Harry Foote. It was determined that his election will be held on Saturday with the other Area Directors and CSA officers. Status of the Web Page: within the handbook for Area Directors and a direct link to the document from the CSA web site. Status of Web Pages: Donald Crandall, the CSA Web Liaison, presented a Web Liaison Update. The site has been updated with current information and converted to a new US Sailing system-wide template to standardize the web site presentation. The web site was migrated to a new server provider in April. This resulted in the need to establish new permissions for access to the web site. The site had a hard drive crash in July resulting
in the need to re-establish the site. The new templates were not rendering themselves appropriately with all web browsers. The size of the web site has been reduced from 28,000 to 10,000 pages. A new Internal Google Search Engine is now in place with over 63,000 queries to date. Some of the information coming from the US Sailing database to the CSA web site is out of date. This will be discussed at the next web liaison meeting. Future web site developments include a Digital Rights Management system and a new Content Management system. Significant improvements have been made in the infrastructure of the US SAILING web site. However, there is still a significant amount of work to be done to bring the site up to standards. Two individuals have agreed to help with the web site upkeep. Items of Interest from Members: One of the primary responsibilities of the members of the CSA is to take an active part in Area and RSA functions. It is the desire of the CSA Chair that we increase the flow of communication between the CSA and our member clubs. In the future the CSA Chair will request subjects of interest and/or concern to our member sailing associations. These topics will be circulated in advance of the meetings and placed on the CSA agenda. Current issued of concern are: A. US Sailing Survey: US Sailing completed a Yacht Club Survey that offers unique insight into the issues facing yacht clubs today. Several members talked about the quality and importance of this 64-page document, and how informative it would be to member CSAs. It is currently available on the USSailing web site. You can find a link on the USSailng home page under Announcements (Yacht Club Survey offers Unique Insight). ACTION: We will attempt to have Dan Cooney make a presentation at the Saturday CSA meeting. B. Yacht Racing Association non-members: Concern was expressed over the accuracy and timeliness of the bills sent to, and the information obtained from our local sailing associations. Some areas are having trouble with the Golden Anchor Program, while others seem to think that it works well in their areas. ACTION: Chair Betts will ask for administrative personnel to come to the CSA meeting to discuss these issues. C. Role of Area Directors: It was suggested that the Area Directors could help improve the retention and accuracy of information coming from the local sailing associations. This would require the Area Directors being notified in some manner when a local sailing association failed to renew their membership or update their information. Action: T.K. Wegg will take these issues to the Membership committee and report back to the CSA at our next meeting. Service Review Committee: T.K. Wegg, Chair of the CSA Service Review Committee (SRC), led a discussion on the role of the SRC post re-organization of USSailing. The role of the CSA Service Review Committee is to be the link between member concerns and the USSailing Administrative Division through CSA representation on the Donald K. Crandall Page 2 1/4/2008
Administrative Division committees. Our current representations on the Administrative Division committees are: A. Budget Committee: Peter Durant B. Development Committee: Dave Rosekrans C. Government Relations: All CSA Area Directors D. Marketing and Communications: T.K. Wegg E. Membership Committee: T.K. Wegg F. Risk Management Committee: No CSA representation G. Site Selection Committee: T.K. Wegg H. Technology Committee: Don Crandall via web liaison I. Web Liaison Committee: Don Crandall Most of these committees are made up of people with special expertise in these areas of interest. Nominating Committee Report: Robert Counihan was brought forward by the Nominating Committee to be the CSA member of the House of Delegates Nominating Committee. ACTION: It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved to elect Robert Counihan as the CSA member of the House of Delegates Nominating Committee. Old Business: Glenn Schmidt gave an update on the selection of the Flying Scott in his area as the standard boat for Championship Events. He feels that it has resulted in a more level competition and increase in participation in these events. Committee Reports: Offshore Council: Art Engel, Bob Porter. The office is understaffed and there is concern about the ability to issue certificates in a timely manner. There were 640 certificates issued in 2007 compared to 715 in 2006. One Design: Susan Epstein. There are 141 member classes in 2007, up from 137 in 2006. A One-Design Symposium will be held November 16-18 in Columbus OH. Women s Council: Susan Epstein. Karen Reisch will be the new Chair of the Women s Council. PHRF Council: Bob Porter. The PHRF Web site has been updated including mean ratings, variations, rig data, and a method of imputing handicaps. Donald K. Crandall Page 3 1/4/2008
Community Sailing: Peter Durant. In need of experienced community sailing program leaders who are willing to provide technical assistance to other new or struggling programs in their region. Olympic Sailing: No report Junior Championship: Ed Theisen. The 2007 event was held in New Jersey. It was a great success with all 11 areas represented in all 3 events. The 2008 finals will be held in Chicago on July 27 th if the ice is off the lake. Early ladder events will need to be held to meet the July finals. Men s Championship: Ed Theisen Women s Championship: Sarah Ashton. No report Youth Championship: No report Race Management: Dave Shaffer No report Judges: Art Engel. A new Judge s Training Program with 218 slides is now available. The committee is looking for younger judges and has a need to increase the number of certified judges and race managers. Government Relations: Jim Muldoon, Harry Foote, Glenn Schmidt. No report Training: Peter Durant. No report Safety at Sea: Dan Doyle. No report Racing Rules: Art Engel. We are entering into the final comment period for the new Racing Rules of Sailing-2009. Budget: Peter Durant. No report Sailors with Disabilities: A how to manual for organizations wishing to serve sailors with disabilities is being prepared as is a program to further develop instructor skills and knowledge when teaching persons with disabilities. Election of Officers The following candidates were brought forward by the Nominating Committee for election as Area Directors: Area A: Nominee TBD at Area A meeting Area C: Robert Thomas Area E: Ed Theisen Donald K. Crandall Page 4 1/4/2008
Area G: Nominee TBD at Area G meeting Area K: Don Crandall ACTION: It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved to elect Robert Thomas Area C Director, Ed Theisen Area E Director, and Don Crandall Area K Director. Area A and Area G Directors will be elected at the US Sailing Spring Meeting of the CSA. Old Business 1. CSA Chairman Stan Betts recommended Susan Epstein, Bud Fox, Dave Shaffer, T.K. Wegg, and Walt Chamberlain to serve on the CSA Nominating Committee. New Business 1. It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved to present a Proclamation of appreciation to Faye Bennet for 45 years of service to US Sailing and the Council of Sailing Associations. Ed Theisen will prepare the award and have it available for presentation at the Spring Meeting of the CSA. 2. Yacht Club Survey. US Sailing staff made a presentation to CSA on the recent Yacht Club Survey conducted by US Sailing. One hundred and sixty of eight hundred yacht clubs responded to the survey. The profile study of yacht clubs looked at membership trends, activities, concerns and aspirations among other topics. You can find a link on the US Sailing home page under Announcements (Yacht Club Survey offers Unique Insight). They re being no further business; the meeting was adjourned 1630 hours. Respectfully submitted: Donald Crandall Secretary Donald K. Crandall Page 5 1/4/2008