Minutes of US 505 Fleet 19 Meeting,
October 26, 2002

A short meeting was held during the fleet party October 26^th at the Lieberman's waterfront beach house. Thanks to the Liebermans for inviting us!

These are the minutes of the meeting, with slight updates to include information learned in the couple of days after the meeting.

The meeting was called to order by Bob Patterson, who had earlier circulated a proposed agenda for discussion.

1. Minutes of the previous meeting

2. Election of a new fleet captain

Bob was again nominated by Jesse and seconded by Alexander. There were no other nominations. All were in favor.

Macy Nelson asked if Bob was a member of SSA (he is), and then suggested we still need a fleet contact at WRSC. Barney Harris agreed to continue in this capacity.

It was not clear who will be the SSA contact, or if we need one since Bob is an SSA member. After the meeting, Bob agreed to be the SSA contact as well.

It remains to be determined who the regional coordinator will be (currently Barney as per Jesse, above). Alexander pointed out that the Regional Coordinator is picked by fleet captains in the region, according to the American Section supplemental rules, so Bob, Henry Amthor (or whomever is Hampton fleet captain) and Ethan Bixby (St. Petersburg) can decide.

3. 2003 Regatta Schedule

Bob Patterson asked if there was any interest in an event in Louisiana timed to coincide with Mardi Gras. Dustin recalled that John Hauser had offered to tow all the boats there if we had a Mardi Gras regatta. There was some support for a Mardi Gras regatta. Bob will look into it.

There was general agreement in scheduling spring regattas around Bermuda International Race Week. Alexander asked if Bermuda could be the East Coast Championship (ECC). This was discussed, but not agreed to.

Alexander proposed one event prior to Bermuda shipping date and one event immediately following boats return. These would be April 12-13 and May 10-11. April 12-13 may be SSA opening day and not available for a regatta, so how about WRSC in April and SSA in May? Barney was concerned about shipping problems and wanted more time between the expected boats-return-by date and the following regatta (and perhaps on the ship-to-Bermuda date). Alexander though we could not really run a regatta earlier than April 12-13 (would anyone come?), and if we go later than May 10-11, we probably run into Hampton Trapeze.

There was general agreement that fleet 19 would support TWO events in Hampton. We assumed these are Hampton Trapeze and Black Seal. That Hampton wants to have these two events on the 505 schedule was confirmed later by Henry Amthor. Henry reported that Hampton Trapeze is May 17-18 and Black Seal is probably May 31 - June 1. Barney suggested Black Seal could be Mid-Atlantics but that did not garner strong support. Alexander pointed out that Black Seal is a multi-class event and Mid-Atlantics is traditionally a 505-only event.

There was some discussion on returning to Rock Hall (six 505s, four from fleet 19) participated this year. Macy expressed some reservations, but withdrew them after our favorable experiences this year were discussed. We decided to keep it on the schedule for 2003.

We expect an early July event in Kingston. We await confirmation and dates from the Canadians.

We expect a late July or early August event at Hyannis (Hyannis Annual). We await confirmation and dates from Tim Collins.

The Pre-worlds in Malmo Sweden are about July 20-24.

The Worlds in Malmo Sweden are July 25-Aug 1. Three to four teams are interested in going.

The Fishing Bay Annual Regatta (FBYC, Deltaville VA) conflicts with worlds shipping, but not with the North American Championships (most years we have an NAs conflict). There was general agreement to put Fishing Bay on the schedule this year.

The NAs are in Falmouth, Cape Cod, MA, August 26-30, racing on the 27-30.

Macy reported that as per Jeff Boyd, we are not doing CORK Series II this year. This may be due to the proximity to the NAs.

There was considerable discussion about the fall events.

Alexander proposed one event at each of WRSC And SSA in spring, then one at WRSC in fall and two at SSA, and keeping some weekends in September and October open so we could support an event at our new NYC fleet. This changed into a discussion of the East Coast Championship, with Alexander suggesting SSA, but an apparent majority in favor of WRSC, though no vote was taken. Barney wanted the ECC in fall, Macy wanted to revert to the traditional third week in June dates. This was not resolved at the meeting, but Macy and Barney will discuss it and decide. Barney Harris committed to organizing the ECC.

We need to hear from the Canadians, Midwest, NYC and NE sailors to know what they are planning. Alexander thought it reasonable for fleet 19 to support two NYC fleet events next season (Half the fleet at the New England Championships at Larchmont -- the first NYC fleet event -- were from fleet 19), and expects one of them to be in September. After the meeting, NYC Fleet Captain John Wyles suggested that they would probably schedule ONE event intended to draw from fleet 19, and it would by at Larchmont YC or American YC, in September or October.

Pending resolution of the ECC dates, the fall schedule was not further discussed.

After the meeting, Fleet Captain Bob proposed Sept 13-14 should hopefully be at Larchmont. Sept 27-28 could be at WRSC and Mid-Atlantics at SSA on 10/18-19. And I think we could end the season at SSA the following weekend with a team race regatta. We could probably get 2 teams from SSA (Meller, Hauser, Romey; Legg, Lieberman, Lauren) 1 from WRSC (Harris, Macy, Watson) and 1 from New York (Dina, Ferrone, Wyles). We could run it with the Vanguards, who regularly team race. Just an idea.

Those being the key issues to discuss, and the allotted hour up, the meeting was ended and we reverted to partying.

Matters Arising out of the meeting

• Who will be the regional coordinator? -- Bob Patterson, Henry Amthor and Ethan Bixby to decide. They later decided to reappoint Barney Harris as regional coordinator
• Is there a Mardi Gras 505 event in our future? -- Bob Patterson to investigate
• What are the dates of the East Coast Championship?
• What are the dates of the NYC fleet events that would like fleet 19 support? -- John Wyles, suggests one event in September or October
• What will the fall schedule be? - ongoing fleet discussion
• Is April 12-13 the appropriate date for a pre-Bermuda packing regatta, or should we go a week earlier? - ongoing fleet discussion
• What are the dates of the Kingston (KYC) event? -- Canadians
• What area the dates of the Midwest events that would like fleet 19 support? - Katherine Long

Matters Not Addressed

• Other SSA events
• Other WRSC events
• Sponsorship
• food/drink/parties included? (Feed Your Crew, Black Seal)
• Fleet Building
  • College sailing teams (U MD, UMBC, etc.)
  • High School sailors
  • West Coast approach (target good sailors from other classes)
  • Publicity (regatta reports, pics, results, etc. reported at least to website, better, to media)
  • Spinsheet article/crew listings
• Alternative Regatta Formats
  • Match Racing
  • Team Racing
  • Point to point (to WRSC, Eastern Shore)

Draft Schedule

Note taker: Alexander Meller