I just got the following today from Deb Schaefer, Multihull Council Secretary, about what the Multihull Council did at the US Sailing Annual General Meeting last week. I could not find it yet at the US Sailing site, and these are not the final, complete minutes, but I thought some of you might like to see this preliminary report:



US SAILING

MULTIHULL COUNCIL

FALL AGM MEETING

Marina del Rey, California

October 19, 2002



Report to the Board of Directors:



1.Elections: Nominating Committee Chair, Gordon Isco, presented the MHC with a slate of Officers and Area Representatives. Nominations were also taken from the floor. It was determined that a quorum was present and elections were held. The results were as follows:



Chairman: Art Stevens

Vice Chairman: Dan Mangus

Secretary: Deborah Schaefer

Area A: David White

Area C: Mark Santorelli

Area E: Eric Kennedy

Area F: Douglas Camp

Area J: Roger Brown



2.Budget Review and Discussion: Art Stevens reports that US Sailing has been consistent. There has been no budget for the Multihull Committee or the Council from 1985 to 2002.



3.Golden Anchor Program: Darline Hobock reports that renewals through the Golden Anchor Program have been down, and consequently the number of multihull sailors identified through the US Sailing data base has also been reduced. US Sailing has 44,000 members. There are only 1200 multihull members currently identified. We know this number is not right. It may be that in the effort to integrate multihulls into the yacht club mainstream, we have become a victim of our own success. Yacht clubs have their own Golden Anchor programs and members who sail multihulls are not identified.



To gain the recognition as a multihull sailor, US Sailing members need to check the multihull box on the back of their renewal forms. Multihull member organizations like the NAHCA, can start their old Golden Anchor Programs and get their members recognized that way. Individual members can always renew their membership through the Multihull Council Golden Anchor Program. Meanwhile Darline will investigate adding a link to the MHC website to help identify the multihull constituency.



4.Terms of Reference: The Multihull Council found a copy of the Terms of Reference, which were drafted in October 1996. A committee comprising of John Williams, Gordon Isco and Deborah Schaefer will review these Terms of Reference and will come back to the Council with a recommended draft at the Spring Meeting in Cincinnati, OH.



5.Fast and Fun Report: US Sailing is gaining name recognition through this program.

We introduced sailing to over 1000 participants in a three-week period and this program is reaching people of all ages, from 8 to 84 years old. That’s what sailing is all about.



The next Fast and Fun event will be held November 9 & 10 on Alamitos Bay, in Long Beach California. Art is looking for volunteers to help.



6.US Sailing Youth Multihull Championship: Art Stevens reported that the Multihull Committee has put on two such events in a year, but they are not recognized as US Sailing events. Our children do not get any of the same benefits or sponsorship that other youths get when they compete in US Sailing events. You can’t even find the event listed with the other Youth Championships on the Youth Web Page.



The Multihull Committee prepared a resolution seeking recognition for a Multihull

Youth Championship to be presented to the Youth Championship Committee as

follows:



The US Sailing Multihull Committee recommends that a multihull Youth Championship Class be recognized and invited as an integral component of future US Sailing Youth Championships.



It was presented to the Youth Championship Committee and denied.



The Multihull Committee prepared a second resolution seeking recognition for a US Sailing Multihull Youth Championship and presented it as an Action Item to the Board of Directors and it failed 17 to 13.



Dick Hanneman, Chairman of the US Youth Championship Committee, came to the meeting and vowed to work with Art Stevens and the MHC to make it work within the organizational structure of US Sailing.



7.Alter Cup Report: Jamie Diamond, Alter Cup Committee Chair, reports that a very successful event July 9-13, 2002 was held in Syracuse, New York. The Alter Committee is very grateful to the Hobie Cat Company supplied 10 Hobie Tigers, which is a Formula 18 spinnaker boat. This boat turned out to be a great platform. The competition was very even.



The 2003 event will be held on BIM JAV II Formula 18 boats in Clearwater, Florida. John Williams will liaison with the Key Sailing team and Pensacola Yacht Club to co-ordinate this event.

I have been anxiously awaiting a report about the outcome of the Committees and Councils Race at the US Sailing Annual General Meeting. This year the race was hosted by the Multihull Council and was done mostly on Hobie Waves. Details are sketchy, but it sounds as though monohull sailors took first and second place -- probably ringers recruited from the Sailor-Athlete Committee. Here is part of the report from Debbie Schaefer:



"The Championship of Committees Race was held at the California Yacht Club, Marina del Rey on 12 Hobie Waves. Portsmouth Committee Jamie Diamond and John Williams took third. President Dave Rosekrans was racing on a Hobie Dragoon full of water and fared poorly. Multihull Comte. Deb Schaefer and VP Janet Baxter finished 7th tying with Gordon Isco and Dan Mangus from the Alter Cup Comte. on points. We felt we did very well despite the tough competition by past Olympic Champions and top sailors from other sailing classes. We actually won the second start, by avoiding the traffic jam at the starting mark, and led the fleet to the first mark for a third-place finish. Janet proved to be excellent crew and tactician. Janet was surprised by the Wave's stability, even after we buried the leeward bow. The boat kept moving, even when you went head to wind!!!"

Deb Schaefer

Secretary, Multihull Council

Team Multihull Committee

New Hobie Wave Devotee



Just another note from me, Mary: Apparently, there are photos of this epic event posted at the US Sailing web site in the Regatta Photo Gallery, but I can't seem to find them (I get totally lost on that site), so if you can find them, Debbie says Janet is wearing all red and Debbie is in the white T-shirt & blue lifejacket.

On the US SAILING web page click on AGM reports & photos on the side bar and then AGM regatta on the side bar of the report page.



Gordon Isco

Thanks, Gordie. I found the pictures! I think I found Debbie and Janet, but now, of course, I don't know how to get the picture here, so I hope everyone else will follow your directions to the pictures on the US Sailing site.



It is also interesting to see some pictures of the Dragoon for the first time. Looks pretty.

Hey Folks -



Just one correction to Deb's minutes - the 2003 Alter Cup on Jav 2s will be hosted by the Clearwater Community Sailing Center in Clearwater, FL. Art is working with Kirk Newkirk at Key sailing for the 2003 YOUTH Multihull National Championship. Discussion was rolling pretty quickly - sorry for the confusion.



The minutes do not reflect that Dan Mangus from Hobie Cat has pledged manufacturer support for 2003 the Youth event - they are hoping to have a fleet of Hobie Dragoons at Key Sailing for the Youths - Hobie Cat deserves a lot of credit and gratitude for tackling the import and shipping issues, and for so strongly supporting youth sailing. Cross your fingers that it works out!



Mary - thanks very much for posting the minutes!



John

Just to clarify the Dragoon is the junior cat not the youth cat as the hobie 16 is the youth cat. Still they may be organizing the youth event with Dragoons. I imagine they will be using the Dragoon for the Junior Olympics as well. Seems we get our butts kick each time at the International Youth regatta/Olympics because they are using hobie 16's and our youth are not train on them, so they get their butts kicks. I would think using the hobie 16's for the youth event would be a better idea, and prepare our kids for international events.

What International events?

US Sailing has made it very clear, AGAIN, that we are not welcome in their Youth, Junior and Junior Olympic series. They have no intentions of spending money to send multihullers of any age to international events.

What boat have they been "training" on before?

Wave? Hobie 14? Aqua cat?

There are very few Dragoons in NA. They only arrived recently. How can they have affected our past performance? What boat do you blame for our past performance?

Youth Clarification

The first time mulihulls were at the ISAF Youth Worlds was in 2001 Anders Straume and Hunter Stuzi represented the US by winning the first US Youth Multihull Championship. They finished 8 out of 12 at the Worlds. (As a note to would be Olympic Path organizers Aunders and Hunter are now sailing Tornados.)

As of 2004 it will be mandatory for host countries to have a multihull division at Youth Worlds. It’s still possible that there will be Multihulls in 2003. I think ISAF will talk about it at the November conference. The Youth Worlds boat will be the Hobie 16 in 2004 and 2005. In November ISAF will review several proposals to have a youth multihull trials to test possible future boats.

Regarding the US Youth Multihull Championship, I heard it was voted in as an official “championship” on Sunday of the meeting. This does not mean they are part of The Youth Champs which is a separate regatta. It does mean that the Multihull regatta should get more publicity. (I think this is true but I’m not 100%)

The pending deal with Hobie and youth sailing is probably the most important thing to happen to US Cat sailing since Life magazine came out with that legendary picture on the cover.

I hope it works out.

Rhodysail, I had asked Art Stevens some additional questions about the youth regatta situation, and here is one of his answers that is somewhat pertinent to your post:

Art Stevens said: "We asked to be included in the National Youth Regatta. The youth championship committee and youth strategic planning committee refused to hear us. We chose to ask the BOD (Board of Directors) for their support. They voted us down 17-13 . Closest vote I have ever seen at a US SAILING meeting. But we made many new friends during debate and they came to our aide and convinced the chair to work something out with us. 24 hours later we have US SAILING official status as the 'US SAILING Youth Hoyt/Jolley Cup for Multihull Sailors.' No debate and no objections. Quite a turn around wouldn't you say?"



And also, additional note after I talked to Debbie Schaefer, Multihull Council Secretary. She says Portugal is definitely not going to have a multihull class for the ISAF Youth Worlds in 2003.

Hi Mary,
I just thought you should know that a multihull racer was in fact on the second place boat, and we would have won if we were allowed a throwout race. I loaned my wave for the AGM regatta. Somehow Mike Gebhart did not have a crew, so I was drafted to race with him. We spanked the fleet the last three races! And I think you should give him a break, at least sails board, and not a monohull. Why I consider sailboards practically first cousins to multihulls.Just ask John Williams, he can verify my whole story.

Cheers, Teri McKenna Skipper H-20 685
Crew H-Tiger 1064