505 Fleet 19
Fleet Meeting
November 20th, 2005, at Marc Zupan’s home in Annapolis

Note: The date and venue for the meeting had been announced and discussed via e-mail, and the date first proposed was changed to better accomodate participants.

Present: Bob Patterson, Marc Zupan, Alexander Meller, Dustin Romey, J Bergquist.

Prior to the official start of the meeting, Dustin took orders for CSC 505 calendars.

1. Minutes of the previous meeting:

(http://www.int505.org/fleet19/events/20041106FleetMeetingMINUTES.htm) Were accepted. Moved by Bob, seconded by Ali, unanimous.

2. US Sailing Association One Design Sailing Symposium:

Bob Patterson reported on the USSA ODSS which had been held in Annapolis November 19th and 20th, ending just about an hour before the fleet meeting.

A. Fleet Newsletter: Inspired by some sessions at the above symposium, Bob proposed we prepare and mail newsletters to fleet members, three times a year, in March, June and September. This newsletter to include the event schedule, contact information, who is looking for crews or skipper, who is doing what on their boats. Marc and Dustin agreed to handle this for the fleet. The first issue will ask for payment of 2006 dues, which are $20. Our fleet treasurer, J Bergquist is accepting dues now, and received payment from several of the members present.

B. Clinics (a session lead by Joni Palmer), and more practice sessions. Various ideas on how to do this were discussed. Dustin proposed a format with one experienced driver, one experience crew and a driver/coach in the powerboat. Swap the skipper in to one boat, the crew into another, and you now have coaching going on in two boats, with a skipper and crew and coach watching from the powerboat. Continue swapping people. We want to do this in spring. We need a powerboat. Can we get one from J World/Tihansky? This would be targeting Marc, J, Chris, Bob P. Doug Watson, Nicholas Place, John Wyles, Christian, Garth, Frank Maldari, but not Ali, Sterg, Macy, Barney, Henry or Tyler. Possible coaches: Ian Burman, Eric Boothe, USNA coaches, Geoff Ewenson. Ali undertook to organize this. A proposed format was Friday evening briefing, then Saturday on the water. There was some discussion of dates, with Bob noting that May 5-7 is Volvo activity, and April 28-30 is the NOOD.

3. 2007 NAs discussion:

The SSA 505 fleet decided to propose a 2007 NA’s bid at the 2006 AGM, presumably alongside WRSC and RHYC bids. Basically, since we cannot come to and announce a fleet 19 decision, and rather will face these competing bids at the 2006 AGM. We have withdrawn our request to reserve schedule time on the SSA calendar, and will resubmit if we are awarded the NAs at the AGM. All agreed.

3A. It was agreed that we should request the American Section to "Tee up" NAs venues more than one year ahead of time, possibly by awarding them TWO years ahead of time, rather than one. All agreed.

4. Treasurer’s Report:

We are $220 in the black. Moved by Dustin, seconded by Ali that this goes into the fleet account to help pay for the Road Warrier Trophy, a jib for the fleet boat. Carried nem con. The Road Warrier Trophy will be awarded at the joint Laser/505 Holiday party on December 17th. J is making a base for it. For 2005, we will award based on who did the greatest number of events in Fleet 19/Region II. For subsequent years it will be awarded to whoever does the most events East of the Mississippi and West of Europe (so Bermuda counts). The award goes to a dues-paying member of the fleet.
Supplemental: as noted by the Fleet Treasurer, 2005 dues were paid by – Hauser, Meller, Bergquist, Patterson, Place, O'Brien, Baetjer. J is now collecting dues for 2006. 2006 dues were paid by (so far) – Patterson, Romey, Zupan.

5 New Fleet?

There was considerable discussion on whether we should formally operate as a new fleet separate from the existing fleet 19. The summary is that there are de facto two separate fleets, and it hard to make decisions together, and manage funds together. We might as well be separate fleets. This new fleet will be assigned a fleet number by the American Section and will be the SSA 505 fleet and will include anyone who chooses to pay dues to this fleet. Bob moved to start a new fleet, J seconded, carried unanimous. There was some further discussion to put clearer words around why this is happening. The fleets have different objectives, run differently, and are unable to come to collective decisions. Dustin will write the e-mail and all present at this meeting will review.

6. Fleet Officers:

Fleet Captain:
Bob Patterson is stepping down. Bob moved the nomination of Sterg Papadakis for the position of fleet captain, seconded by Ali. Sterg nominated Chris Legg, but no 2nd was found. There being no other nominations, Sterg was chosen as fleet captain, unanimous.

Treasurer:
J Bergquist has agreed to continue as fleet captain if that is the wish of the fleet.
Sterg nominated Chris Legg, there was no 2nd.
Ali nominated J, seconded by Bob. There being no other nominations, J was chosen as treasurer, unanimous.

Secretary:
J nominated Ali for the position of secretary, seconded by Dustin. There were no other nominations. Carried nem con.

Cruise Director (social event organizer):
Bob nominated Marc to be cruise director, seconded by J, No other nominations. Carried unanimous.
J moved that the cruise director be responsible for the news letter, Dustin seconded, carried unanimous.

Publicity/Event web sites:
Dustin nominated Mike Renda for this position, seconded by Sterg, carried unanimous.

Event Coordinators (Regatta Chairs):
We discussed electing or appointing event chairs to handle organization for specific events at SSA. This is to offload the fleet captain. But from the SSA standpoint, they want a single point of contact and will go to the fleet captain, so this role is the "everything else" coordination for an event. It was decided to wait until the schedule has been determined, so we know how many events and when they are, before selecting people to do this. But John Hauser was nominated to do it at least once.

7. 2006 Scheduling of Events:

The SSA scheduling meeting is December 3rd. Sterg and Bob will participate on our behalf. There was lots of discussion about scheduling alternatives. What we came up with was:

Spring Series: three days, with two on a weekend and one by itself. The idea is that the two-days-on-a-weekend work for visitors (and we will give out prizes), while the single days work better for SSA members, so we’ll try a hybrid.

Summer Series: three one day events, possibly one each in June, July, August

Fall Series: two one day events, or a two day and one day like spring, to be left up to the fleet captain at the scheduling meeting.

Fall Invitational: two day.

We will try very hard to not have conflicts with key events held by other nearby fleets. Subject to discussion with these fleets that means we will not conflict with:

The SSA 505 Fall Invitational needs a name. Ali moved that we call it "Plane Insane", seconded by Sterg, carried unanimous.

8. TESOD or Practice Sessions:

There was considerable discussion about the value of TESOD versus a regularly scheduled practice/training session. The outcome was that we will organize regular Thursday evening practice sessions. Those who want to can also do TESOD, but we will favor Thursday over TESOD. All members are encouraged to come down to the club on Fridays for Happy Hour.

9. Midwinters:

The fleet supports TWO events, two weeks apart, in Florida. We would deliver boats, sail/race, fly home, come back in two weeks, sail/race, drive back. J will investigate trucking/shipping alternatives.

10. Fleet Boat/Cardiac Arrest:

Storage is about $460 (Ali checked with SSA, actually $446).
We bought a slightly used jib from Ethan for $100 (we agreed to pay for it out of fleet dues), this is the REGATTA-ONLY jib for the boat.
We need to cost out insurance
We need a REGATTA main
We need a REGATTA spinnaker
We need to consider blade upgrades. The boat has an HA rudder, but needs a good CB
The boat needs a new top cover.
We (J, Ali, Bob, Sterg, Marc) agreed to pay $100 each to support the fleet boat. If more people support this, money may be refunded. We will ask other fleet members to support the fleet loaner boat.
We agreed to give Macy back his used sails. Who will contact Macy? We have more suitable (North) old sails provided by John Wyles (Thank you very much, John!), and these have fewer restrictions on their use. The main is a 2001 pre-luff-curve-change main, so we need to alter spreader settings for it. These are the NON REGATTA sails for the boat.
It was agreed that casual use of the boat will be CHARGED so as to generate some revenue to support the boat. Those who support the boat are not charged. Others are charged as follows:
TESOD or practice (one afternoon/evening) $20
One day $50
One weekend $100

11. Non profit Status for Fleet:

The American section let this lapse. Apparently Macy is investigating on behalf of the American section. We should look into getting that status for the fleet. Marc Zupan is looking into this.

12. Boats for sale, People who should buy boats:

8610 Epoxy Rondar, Steve Cherry, about $11,000
7776 Waterat bag boat, Bob O’Brien, about $5,700
8085 Waterat bag boat, Rene de la Rie (non motivated seller), about $11,000
7986 old Rondar, Rick Cassell, about $2500
7148 Lindsay launcher, Peter Mignerey, about $6000
8015 Waterat bag boat, Monty Schumpert, about $12,000
8776 Rondar, fully tweaked, Ali Meller, $16,500

Prospects: (based on OD Symposium, we want more women sailing 505s)
Keith Davids (should buy 8610, or maybe charter 8085 in return for bow launcher installation)
John Hauser (should buy 7896)
John and Evan Aras (charter 8085 for bow launcher installation)
Stephen Gay (should buy 7149 or 7776)
Peter Levesque
Alon Finkelstein
Ian Burman
Ted Morgan
Phil Grotheer
Amy Boothe
Erika Seamon
Lisa Pline
Margaret Podlich
Krysia Pohl
Liz Filter
Anna Tunnicliffe
Dorian Haldeman
Matt Schubert
Yvette Davids
Lauri Petroy
Kat Hansen

13. Place to do Boatwork:

Zupan to approach Stout Marine.
Can we rent a garage in Eastport
Ali is opening a commercial account at Fawcectt/Oceana
Zupan has vacuum bagging supplies, Ali has pump and tape

14. Everyone to solicit others to join the fleet and pay dues.

15. Most Improved Trophy:

Moved by J, seconded by Sterg that we will use Ali’s broken boom to make a trophy. Carried.

16. Calibration Day:

Ali to take digital images to help explain how to calibrate. We want to calibrate the same. Ali pointed out why the West Coast calibration does not lend itself to our more heterogeneous fleet (nearly all the Long Beach fleet use Waterats).
We will schedule a calibration day to calibrate all the boats. (Ali)

17. Adjournment:

Bob moved for adjournment, seconded by Ali; unanimous. Meeting adjourned to Riordans.

Submitted by A. Meller, Secretary