Rule Change:
Scoring two day events for each day. How many drops?

I can go either way on the scoring. As for the drop, keep the structure the same and add more races to the event schedule.

Macho Man (March 24):
Has been added to the series this year. Should we score Macho and Mini Macho.

Sure why not.

Islander Reef Run:
Who is interested in attending? Because of poor attendance the last few years, Warren is debating on whether to have it this year.

Realistically this one is never on the radar for me. I have limited time and $$ and it never seems to make the cut.

Event Insurance:
How important is event insurance to the sailors and would any other events outside the Endurance Series be interested?
Sail Series is considering getting a policy to use for races under it's umbrella and possibly other events. By sharing the cost of the initial policy, it would make it more affordable for the events and create stability among events.

Most clubs, even paper clubs carry their own policy and those that don't probably wouldn't pay to be part of the group policy that only covers one regatta on their schedule. As far as my local club goes, we would not be interested we have recently partnered with our local yacht club to address our sky rocketing insurance costs.


Tracking:
How important is this to both the competitors, spectators and sponsors? The development deal I had worked out with TrackLeaders ran out. They are giving me a good deal but I can't foot the bill.

I like the tracking and we have addressed this need by installing a tracking app on our smart phones. As for paying a fee for the tracker, unless the entire fleet uses a tracker and we can playback all the tracks it's really not that interesting or worthwhile, IMO.

Sponsorship:
Currently the series and most of the events have no real sponsorship. I have been really tied up with work and the economy has been terrible. If anyone has any sponsorship ideas, feel free to pass information along. I have printed material and some good ideas how to improve the series. Just need sponsorship to make things happen. First on the list would be tracking.

Unfortunately if I have any leads on sponsorship I will selfishly use it for myself, fleet or club.

Volunteers:
At one point, I would like to start racing my boat again but I would need some help with the series to make that happen. If I can get a few people to each do one item, it would help the series, the events and give the teams exposure. The long term goal is to get sponsorship to actually pay people but the short term reality is that we are at least a year away from that happening. If anyone attends races as ground crew and wants to help, anyone follows the race on the internet or would like to help out at an event, let me know. There are small jobs that can be done even if you are not at the events. Top of the list would be someone to write media releases which can be done from video reports, phone calls and background knowledge. Another major one would be scoring points.

I'd be willing to help with almost anything pre and post event but, if I have the time and money to attend an event I'm sailing so I wouldn't be interested in working it. As for team promotion, is that really necessary? It looks like most of the teams cracked the self promotion nut a long time ago.

Future of Sailing:
These are hard times and endurance racing has been hit hardest because of the logistics, amount of money and amount of energy that goes into getting ready for one of these events. We have already lost the Tybee 500 and are at risk losing the Islander Reef Run.

Like everything else interest in distance racing will ebb and flow. It is true distance racing has waned a bit in FL but there are several classes that are currently enjoying stronger participation in the buoy arena. So to say that sailing has fallen hard times is a bit inaccurate.

As for getting paid staffers to promote and maintain the series, in my opinion sailing simply doesn't carry the interest to make this feasible. I also have a great deal of doubt that paid staffers actually bring any value to the game at all.