I attended a meeting on Friday regarding the status of LICSA (Long Island Catamaran Sailing Association). It is currently dormant with a substantial amount of money left, but no real direction for the future. Many good things were discussed. The main points being:



- A mailing list will be compiled and all will receive a questionnaire regarding how they would like to see the "club" go (I don't know who will actually do the printing/mailing)

- General consensus that we should begin hosting events again, but insurance may be a problem. If we host one Hobie event, we may be able to be under the Div 12 umbrella for a nominal fee.

- East End vs. Heckscher events

- Mast-up storage at Heckscher - If it does happen, should LICSA be the intermediary for the State, or just let the sate run the whole thing. Both are being proposed at this time.



So that's the summary of the meeting, but not the main reason for this post.



The meeting was somewhat disturbing to me, mainly how quickly people forget.



In 1989, Roger Munz ran an event out East that attracted 21 catamarans - the First Annual Peconic Bay Challenge. He did it on his own - no insurance, no help, but a great race. I spoke with Roger after this, and we stayed in touch over the Winter, along with Joe Seluga and formed LICA. We than began a newsletter, which Joe and I essentially wrote. I then made about 100 copies, collated, stapled, affixed mailing labels, and mailed. In the back was a membership form. We were amazed with over 45 people responding and joining - LICA was alive! I then went further and started calling potential sponsors for 1/4, 1/2 and full page ads - another great response! Murray's not only paid for their first ad, but created an account allowing up to 40% discounts to LICA members. (Steve Murray still gives me this discount, whom I speak with often). I also got sponsorship from Newsday, Overton's, Cat Trax, D&D sailmakers, Dart Catamarans, and more! For the next 7 years, Roger, Joe and I essentially ran LICA, with help from the Partenfelders, Milton, Rich Belkin and a few others. Roger did most of the on-the-water stuff out East with his power boat, Joe handled the West. I was the newsletter machine. My wife wanted to kill me - I spent so much time printing, adding sponsors artwork, copying, mailing.... We purchased marks, anchors, horns, beautiful trophies, had award dinners, etc. We were a thriving fleet. We not only had great events, but we raised thousands of dollars. Most of which is what is left in the LICSA budget now.



What was disturbing was that nobody seems to remember this. In fact Jim Mathews insisted that Rich Belkin is responsible for the Murray's account - nothing against Rich, because he contributed much during this time period, but get the facts straight about who did what. Jim also stated that the money there was from all the continentals that were run - I don't think that race ever broke even, let alone turned a profit! if it did, it may have happened once or twice with $100 leftover. Not to mention, in the first few years, all non-Hobies were not allowed to participate - pretty insulting considering, Roger's two son's, Joe and I all had non-Hobies. When I ran races out of Mattituck Yacht Club, the same people would always come and begin complaining about stuff. These people never did a damn thing to help, nor would they ever run a race themselves. It made me (and my wife) not want to associate with this group. These same people also had a bad habit of showing up to people's houses (meetings, parties, etc) empty handed. Were these people raised by wolves? I grew up in Brooklyn with 10 people living in an apartment, and I even have better manners than that.



Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight. This type of not giving credit where credit is due and poor social skills is what caused me to drop out of this stuff the first time - when I handed over the Murray's account and the LICSA money - (which was in a separate account in my name and LICA at the Bethpage Credit Union for 7 years) - over to what is left of LICSA now - a dormant fleet with no direction.



By the way, I believe the direction Ed Norris is taking regarding Mast-up storage is commendable. If this works, it will be the biggest thing that ever happened to Cat sailing on Long Island. He deserves a lot of credit, even if it doesn't. If it does, everything Roger, Joe and I did will pale by comparison.



There are many things that makes a fleet successful. The main one is volunteers - and not the same ones all the time. Complainers and nay-sayers and cheap people need not apply. Talk is OK, but in the end we need everyone to help out this time around if LICSA is going to make another go for it.



Steve

Hi Steve



I would read the insurance policy from US Sailing very carefully. I personally don't think that you (LICSA) can simply host a hobie Division event and fall under their coverage. US Sailing language makes it very clear (to me) that the Hobie Division, is a regional sailing authority and not a club. Each club is required to purchase their own liablity insurance. (The information is posted on the US Sailing web site)



I know that many hobie fleets do this because its cheap. I think that it is irresponsible to recruit volunteers for your clubs events while you hope that their potential liablity is covered.



I wanted to acknowledge your efforts Roger and Joe's for organizing some really fun events on the Island.



Take Care

Mark



ps I will be in touch re the portsmouth numbers after I finish the sailing season.

I would like to suggest that the group join NAMSA as a Chapter of the organization. We hope to sanction regattas for next season and should be able to offer some sort of insurance packages by then.

The cost is $10 per member.

Rick

nm