MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ISSA, SEPTEMBER 27, 2003

The Annual Meeting of the Interscholastic Sailing Association was called to order at 0900 September 27, 2003 at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach, CA. Present were President Larry White, Vice President Tim Hogan, Secretary John Vandemoer, NESSA Representative Roger Rawlings, at-large member Kevin Baker, MWISA representative Don Shea, Scott Boye the NWISA representative, Joanne Kolius the SEISA representative, Tom Monkus the SAISA representative, Ted Gazulis the PCISA representative, and ISSA member Mike Segerblom (PCISA) and Jeff Spranger.

The Annual Meetings first session was devoted to reports, the first a discussion on the ISSA strategic plan, Tim Hogan led the discussion and set out as goals for ’03-’04 to implement the new website and on-line membership system and to increase fundraising activities. The purposes are to help ISSA achieve it’s goals of facilitating the districts, providing education and running the day to day operations of the association. Tim Hogan and Mike Segerblom led the discussion and presentation of the new website, created by Derek Webster. Tim explained the history of the new website starting as a PCISA experiment requested by ISSA, an experiment which was described as successful with some start-up problems. The President mentioned that there was some bad data coming from the online registration of PCISA, but these were input error not the program itself. Mike described the new program as Microsoft Access based and very similar to the ICSA college model. The designated district administrator would do the control of the data on a district level. This administrator would verify and control data changes; personal information would only be accessible by the administrator. Tom Monkus mentioned having a field in the registration process for signing up for the newsletter and adding that to their dues. Tom also wanted to make sure historical data carried over from year to year to provide continuity. Roger Rawlings mentioned that he would like to see the team coach or advisor have access to their teams data and not have it at the district level. Mike commented that his experience had dictated that district control was easier to handle and that all changes were recorded as a log file to make sure no one was tampering with the data. Roger Rawlings moved to implement the revised website and the on-line membership system, Ted Gazulis seconded the motion. In discussion Roger wanted to change some of the wording on the website to make it clear that schools are registering through the website for their district and ISSA. Don Shea added that the wording should be clear that the registering team must print out its invoice for mailing to the district with dues remittance.. Both items were changed on the website. President White called for a vote. The members passed the new revision of the website and on-line membership registration system unanimously.

The meeting continued with district reports. Roger Rawlings reported for NESSA saying that everything was going smoothly and their Cressy elims were the following day. Roger stated that they had signed up 35 member schools so far and he anticipated the membership to top 80 schools. The NESSA annual meeting is set for November 2^nd. Larry White delivered the MASSA report, which had been sent out earlier to the board via email. Larry had commented that things are going well there and that MASSA would like to add an at-large member Ted Kaczmarski to the board. Tom Monkus reported that SAISA was having another great year with 31 member schools signed up so far, the first of which was the Antilles School from St. Thomas. Tom mentioned that there is increased activity in the Virgin Islands and also some possibilities in Puerto Rico. The SAISA sailors were active this summer: Ransom Everglades School’s Charlotte Hill winning the Leiter and Paige Railey from Clearwater High winning the girls singlehanded Youth Worlds. The SAISA Great Oaks eliminations were set for the following weekend at USF. Tom also stated that the Cressy Nationals were on track and they had tied the last loose end by finding a PRO, Tom Farquhar. Tom also mentioned that SAISA was now working with 8^th graders and it was going quite well. Joannne Kolius delivered the SEISA report saying that she has registered 14 teams thus far. This year SEISA has organized a calendar for all their events this year and has distributed it to all the junior sailors in hope to get more support for High School regattas. The Gulf Yachting Association, Louisiana and Mississippi, have been very enthusiastic about school sailing and continue to do well. Texas YA is showing increasing acceptance of school sailing. John Kolius sailed in the J/80 North Americans with the La Porte HS team as crew and finished second.

We took a break from the district reports to talk about the potential of having the Cressy in Hawaii. It was determined that the East Coast crowd would have the hardest time getting there, the concerns were cost and time away from school. The thought was to have the regatta during Thanksgiving to avoid sailors missing school, It was also mentioned that the cost would go up because it was a Holiday. President White mentioned that we must follow the College Singlehanded NA’s in order to take advantage of our Vanguard contract to supply boats. If the colleges decided to host their event there then ISSA would be required to do the same unless a fleet of 32 Vanguard Lasers( 16-full and 16-radial) could be found elsewhere. The group then decided that we would wait for the college’s decision and that Mike Segerbloom report to the ICSA Board that Thanksgiving or the weekend of November 11^th would be best for us because of holidays.

The MWISA report by John Vandemoer was that the district was doing well and he was expecting the membership to top 50 registered schools this year. He also mentioned the steady growth in Minnesota with 32 boats on the water for every practice. John went on to thank Rick Wolney for his years of solid service to the ISSA board and to nominate Don Shea to take his place as MWISA’s district director. The NWISA district represented by Scott Boye reported that the district was moving along with the potential of 10 schools this year, with a potential for more in the Seattle area. Scott did say that he had scheduled his district meeting with the big junior sailing meeting in hopes to spur on more interest in High School sailing. NWISA will be having a clinic and fundraiser featuring the McKee brothers. Scott finished by crediting Sail Sand Point and Dick Rose for all the help in the area they have been giving for School sailing. PCISA reports that things are going well with no big changes, they expect to top 80 schools as well. They were having their annual meeting tomorrow ( Sunday – 28^th). Tim also reported that Hawaii was frustrated that they could not get more teams to the Great Oaks because they had gone past the three-year limit. Jeff Spranger brought up that we might need a new regatta, like a JV championship to accommodate those and other teams. There was some lively discussion but all agreed that there should be some changes made to the Great Oaks eligibility. Roger Rawlings commented that the 3-year rule should be taken away and a new rule be instated that allows any team to sail Great Oaks if they have not qualified for the Mallory or Baker in the last five years. The thought was that teams during rebuilding years would still be eligible. Scott Boye made a motion to accept Rogers’s statement and Tim Hogan seconded that motion. Tom Monkus just wanted to make sure that this rule would not take effect until next year, Larry agreed that nothing would take effect until the following years Great Oaks. This proposed revision to the Great Oaks eligibility passed unanimously. Since the Great Oaks Regatta is governed by a Deed of Gift, the Board action has no effect unless the Donor agrees.

Larry White talked about retention rates by simply urging the districts to follow up with the schools that are not returning. Districts were sent retention data with the June ’03 minutes, along with Great Oaks eligibility lists.

Scott Boye made an impressive Mallory presentation outlining all the possibilities for venues for the Mallory 2005 in NWISA. After heated debated and discussion, it was determined that Scott’s number one choice Orcus Island was probably not a good idea because of the amount of time it will take to get there and home and because the pure logistics were very complicated, Roger mentioned that entertaining the sailors on the Island would be tough as well. Scott mentioned other venues and it was determined that a date shift might free up a good venue in Shilshole. Shilshole (Seattle area)would not be free in the normal Mallory weekend but might be if we switched the dates with the Baker. It was determined that Scott would go back to his district and investigate this possibility and Tom Monkus would see if it would be possible to switch the Baker dates at Florida YC(Jacksonville).

Larry went over the future dates and venues for our upcoming championships. The 05 Baker will be at Florida YC in Jacksonville, the 05 Cressy will be in Wayzata Minnesota and in late October, the 06 Cressy will possibly be in Hawaii, the 06 Baker will go to NESSA, and the 06 Mallory will go to Lake Forest, IL.

The meeting then shifted to Project reports. Larry reported that audio-conferencing had been set up if needed, that the Admin Guidelines were being prepared, that steps towards transition were taking place with the new staff assistant and that Tim, John and himself were working on it. Roy Williams and John Vandemoer, will handle the conduct of Championships and hopefully Bill Campbell will join us. There will be changes to our pubs because of the post-Olympics changes to the Racing Rules of Sailing, and we will prepare for them. Larry also wanted people to give feedback on their experiences as well as the "Guidelines…"to this committee as they run the various championships.

Local leagues were emphasized as the best way to develop school sailing opportunites.

Kevin Baker reported on Yacht Club cooperative programs, he mentioned that as a thank you and possible marketing tool that ISSA give recognition to the yacht clubs that support school sailing. The idea would be to write an official letter to the club thanking them for their service and also presenting them with a certificate of recognition. The proposal goes on to recognize a club or a group of clubs in the district and highlight them in the newsletter. The consensus was that this was a good idea and Larry asked Kevin to take the lead on this. Kevin then reported on the video projects he was working on. He proposed that the promo tape needs to be updated and a longer 20-30 minute tape needs to be produced. He asked the districts to get him information and pictures and video to help him accomplish this project. Next Kevin talked about his dealings with the Sea Scouts. He has been in contact with their Commodore and has drafted a Memorandum of Agreement between the Sea Scouts and ISSA. His experience closely paralleled Larry’s discussions with Jimmie Homburg, Sea Scouts’ National Commodore, some time ago. There was much heated debate over this topic. In the end it was determined that Sea Scout cooperation was great for some areas but not all. The insurance program is appealing. Because of public perceptions of some of the policies in Scouting, it was thought best not to connect the organizations formally but to ask for a link on the Sea Scouts website similar to the one ISSA has had for Sea Scouts for some years.

Joanne Kolius reported on school sailing recognition issues and liability. The biggest hurdle has always been insurance but as Joanne mentioned it is a non-issue for public schools unless they specifically exclude sailing. Joanne suggests that teams apply for club status, don’t go for varsity right away. The key is to have people to push the issue.

John will pursue development of the Coaching Improvement program with Roy and others. A schedules of seminars is to be set up, one for sure at the NSPS in Oakland next January, and one at the ICSA Winter Meeting and Coaching Conference.

Jeff Spranger then reported on Communications, the first order of business was that a template is being made by his wife and himself to make it easier for the next person who takes over the newsletter project. The Newsletter is also expanding in size to cover more news from the districts. Jeff made a plea for districts and individuals to submit written work to the newsletter including local scores from regattas. Jeff is also working on the 75^th anniversary history and is confident that he has all the information to create it.

Jeff Spranger also brought us up to date on the trophy situation; the priority is clearly refurbishing the Mallory trophy. Jeff made a great presentation on a new trophy, which would combine the old model with a new triptych display. The display would have all the past winners on it as well as a ISSA seal and Tim suggested a picture of the model. This way the triptych display would travel to the event. The general consensus was that this was a good idea. The debate then started on where the model and trophy should be kept. The original idea was to keep it in theICSA College Sailing Hall of Fame at the US Naval Academy, but communication has been weak with the college group. It was decided, by the group, that we do want to be part of the college hall of fame. Larry will pursue this.

Larry reported on the progress with 75^th anniversary events. He stated that the Atlantic Class is interested in doing something so we can hold a regatta in Atlantics in CT where the first regatta was, Indian Harbor, or close by maybe Cedar Point. Tim Hogan mentioned that the districts host a 75^th regatta and use it as a fundraising event for both the district and ISSA. The group thought that these were both great ideas.

Larry White then reported that the international team race regatta would not go on this year due to venue issues but that he would ask to hold the money for a possible event next year.

Adjourned at 2:50 pm.

The Annual Meeting of the Corporation convened at 1500. Scott Boye moved to adopt the minutes from the 2003 Annual Meeting(New Orleans). Roger seconded and the minutes were adopted. Larry White presented the President’s and Treasurer’s Annual Reports. There was a discussion led by Jeff Spranger about the newsletter, primarily the discussion was whether we should increase fees for ads next year, Jeff thought that was necessary. Kevin Baker asked the districts whether they felt the newsletter was valuable. The general consensus was that it was very valuable for giving ISSA a presence and as a vehicle for the donation coupon.

There was no old or new business.

On behalf of the Board, Larry White presented the Jeff Spranger Award to Tim Hogan for his long-standing dedication to ISSA and school sailing.

The Nominating Committee, represented by Jeff Spranger made their report submitting the slate of Officers and Board Members for 2004. He also suggested that the committee work year round not just before the annual meeting, which it is now supposed to do. The President was asked to appoint a new Nominating Committee for 2004.

Jeff called for adoption of the slate; Tim Hogan seconded and the slate was elected unanimously.

Here are the Officers and Board Members for 2004 :

Vice-Presidents – Tim Hogan, Ray Teborek, Roy Williams

Secretary – John Vandemoer

Treasurer – Nancy Healy

District Directors – NESSA – Roger Rawlings

MASSA – Bill Schneider

SAISA – Tom Monkus

SEISA – Joanne Kolius

MWISA – Don Shea

NWISA – Scott Boye

PCISA – Ted Gazulis

At-Large – Kevin Baker, Wayne Cutler, John DeMeyer, J.P. Fasano,

Guy Fleming, Steve Gay, John Gervais, George Linzee,

Shawn Ryan, Larry White.

Nb: note addition of Ted Kaczmarski, below- at-large

We thank departing Board Members : Rick Wolney for his many years of service as Director of MWISA, Andrew Cole for his service as Secretary ( he now becomes a Counsel ), and Doug Heil, at-large from NESSA.

The next Annual Meeting will be the last Saturday in September, 2004, in accordance with the By-Laws, and the Board offers to MASSA the opportunity to host . If MASSA declines, NESSA offers to host instead. The Annual Meeting was adjourned at 1545.

Executive Vice-President Tim Hogan called the Meeting of the Board of Directors to order at 1546.

Tim nominated Ted Kaczmarski as an at-large member of the Board, in accordance with MASSA membership’s recommendation. Joanne Kolius seconded and he was elected unanimously.

In accordance with the By-Laws, the President is elected by the Board. Tim then nominated Larry White for President, and that was seconded by Joanne Kolius. Larry was elected unanimously. He vowed to get even.

The meeting was adjourned at 1600.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Vandemoer, Secretary