Great meeting in Mobile this month - lots got done. Other committees and councils will be posting their minutes on the US SAILING website, so check there for other news.

Here's the minutes from our meeting - please drop me a note if there are questions or comments:

Meeting Minutes
US SAILING Multihull Championship Committee
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Mobile, AL

Members in Attendance:
John Williams – Chairman
Darline Hobock – Web Liaison
Dan Mangus
Dave Shaffer
Jamie Diamond

Also in Attendance:
Mark Hansen
Bill Doelger
Deb Schaefer
Chris Keifer
Tom Farquhar
David Beale
Tammy Shelton
Lee Parks
Jay Klassen
Karen Reisch
Liz Walker


Agenda Items Discussed:
The Alter Cup meeting was called to order on time at 0930 hours.

Introductions were made around the table, and it was established that a quorum was present. The meeting minutes from the Fall Meeting in Saint Louis were distributed and accepted as written.

Financial Status:
The balance of the US SAILING Multihull Championship restricted fund was $62,050 as of 31 December 2003. The request for disbursement of $5,000 for the 2004 Championship was filed as an action item for the Board of Directors meeting on Sunday, 14 March 2004.

Old Business:
1. The upcoming requirements for race official certification at various levels of US SAILING-sanctioned events were discussed at length. Based on some revisions to the original language, the Multihull Championship Committee generally agreed that the requirements could be met if passed. John Williams will be responsible for communicating any new guidelines on to the Multihull Area Representatives should they become official policy.

2. The establishment of Committee guidelines for the continued inclusion of youth teams in future Championships was discussed. It was agreed in general that future youth teams would be required to be a US team and ISAF age-eligible in the year that they qualify for the Multihull Championship. Further discussion was postponed until after the 2004 Youth Multihull Championship in June.

Motion: It was moved that Bret Sullivan be offered the youth representative spot for the 2004 US SAILING Multihull Championship, pending his selection of an age-eligible crew. The motion carried.

New Business:
1. It was announced that the plans were well along for the 2004 US SAILING Multihull Championship for the Hobie Alter Cup, June 16th-20th in Rowayton, Connecticut on factory-supplied Hobie 16s. Tom Farquhar accepted the PRO position, and Dave Shaffer accepted the Chief Judge position. Dave reported that his Jury has been selected. The difficulty of Host Clubs to continue to provide free lodging to the fleet was discussed at length, and it was generally understood that Hosts would be asked to make arrangements for a reduced rate at a host hotel for future events. The Host for the 2004 Championship is the Roton Point Sailing Association, and the event website can be found at ussailing.org/alter/alter04/index.htm A final competitors list is nearly complete, and the entry deadline is 16 April 2004.

2. The Committee received a bid from the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club to host the 2005 Championship. The bid package was very well received, but some concern was voiced over the dates proposed, as they fall one full week after the conclusion of the 2005 Hobie Tiger Worlds in Santa Barbara. It was put forth that some teams that qualify for the Championship would find the break between events a hardship if they were also competing in the Worlds. The Committee agreed to vote on the bid once ABYC had been contacted to see if the dates could be moved up. (Post script – ABYC has indicated that the Long Beach Grand Prix is taking place during the two weeks prior to the proposed dates, making moving the date up impossible due to the unavailability of hotels and traffic resulting from the presence of the expected 250,000 Grand Prix spectators and participants. Dan Mangus will check with the Hobie Cat Company to see if the boats can be made available before the Worlds event rather than after as originally planned.)

3. Regarding membership credits to the Multihull Council, Darline Hobock indicated that we receive $2.50 for each renewing member and $10.00 for new members under the Golden Anchor program. It was determined that an accounting will be requested, and the balance will be made available to the Area Representatives to defray costs associated with running the Area ladder events. For example, the funds could be used to purchase the US SAILING medals awarded to the top three teams from each Area. Darline will report back to the Committee at the Fall 2004 meeting in Portland, OR. Mark Hansen also suggested that the various YRAs could be contacted for support, as has happened in Area J. Deb Schaeffer indicated this is the practice in Area E also.

4. Regarding the promotion of consistency in the Area ladder events, much discussion took place about what makes a successful Area event, and the disparity between participation levels in different Areas. The Committee resolved to establish some basic guidelines to provide to the Area Representatives and potential hosts of Area Eliminations. Jamie Diamond agreed to consolidate some of the ideas discussed and provide a list to the Committee for approval and subsequent distribution. There was also discussion about the need for a separate start for the Championship fleet when the Area Eliminations are combined with another event.

Motion: When Area Eliminations are combined with another event, a separate start for the Championship fleet is required. The motion carried.

It was further discussed that the US SAILING Event Visibility Program is available to the Area Representatives, including promotional materials and an exhibit. Details regarding the program will be distributed to the Area Representatives. It was also pointed out that both the International Hobie Class Association and the Hobie Class Association of North America have stated that both the Area Eliminations and the Championship are sanctioned events, and therefore can be hosted by a Hobie Fleet or Division regardless of brands of multihulls in the fleet.

5. Regarding the current Championship Conditions, it was determined that no additional changes are required at this time. It was pointed out that stricter use of the official entry form at the Area Eliminations as recommended to be an enforced guideline will obviate the need for further discussion of skippers’ selection of crew for the Finals. If the crew or alternate crew identified by the skipper on the Eliminations entry form is not the crew to be registered for the Finals, the skipper must petition the Committee.

6. No new business was introduced from the floor.

7. A motion to adjourn was made and passed at 1100 hours.

Respectfully submitted –

John Williams
Alter Cup Chairman

Draft – 23 March 2004

Hi John

Could you recap the discussion concerning a seperate start for the alter qualifier for mixed events?

In my experience, this will significantly lower the participation in a region AND push Alter qualifer's to be stand alone events. These become financially hard to make happen with 7 to 10 boats.

If memory serves, the Seacats club hosted an alter qualifer within a Hobie regatta last year and it appeared to be successful.

IME, Casual racers (for many reasons) don't join US Sailing and the Alter qualifier was a good way to get them to support the national organization since they enjoyed racing against their faster buddies.... Now they would be in a seperate race.

Thanks for you efforts

Take Care
Mark

Hey Mark -

Sorry to not have seen your note sooner.

Yes, Area D North had the Qualifier last year with the Outback Cup. The Alter Cup fleet had a seperate start. By contrast, Area D South was hosted by OSYC at the Shearwater Regatta - out of a fleet of about 30 boats, two were not competing in the Alter Cup Qualifier - just in the Shearwater Regatta. In the future, those two boats won't be on the same start line as the folks trying to get to the Championship. The Qualifiers can still be combined with other events as long as they get a seperate start - I don't think that has been or will be a problem.

In an unrelated development, both Area D events this year will be stand-alone events. With 20 or so boats at each, I think they're finally self sufficient now. D South will be in Melbourne, FL in November, and D North will be on Lake Hartwell in the early Fall.