Minutes of Summer
General Membership Meeting
Hawaii Yacht Club
Tuesday, June 10,
2003
1. CALL TO ORDER: Commodore Doyle called the
meeting to order at 1832 hrs.
EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Commodore Dan Doyle, Rear Commodore John Spadaro, Treasurer
Doug Taylor, and Staff Commodore Frederic Berg.
COMMITTEE
CHAIRS PRESENT: Ken Morrison, Executive Secretary & Appeals; Pat Kudlich,
Safety & WYC; Tom Pochereva, US SAILING Events & KYC; Mike Welsh,
Offshore & WYC and Caroline Heinrich, HWYRA.
CLUB
REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Bob Armstrong, KYC; Dave Nottage, KYC; Clark Fremgen,
KYC; Charles Barclay, HYC; Sherry Vann, HYC;
2.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Moved, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the
minutes of the Spring General Membership Meeting of February 18, 2003.
3.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Taylor reported that we have a current bank
balance of $3687.91.
4.
COMMODORE’S REPORT: Commodore Doyle reported that we have a busy summer with
the KYC IRF summer Series already underway and the WYC 3-Day Around Oahu Races
and King Kam Race recently completed.
This
is a banner year for TransPac with 60 entries, the most since 1985.
KYC
is currently working on hosting the 2004 Adams Cup Finals in Hawaii. There has
been good attendance at US SAILING events by Junior Sailors and we are now
working on increasing attendance by adult sailors.
High
School sailing is a growing sport in Hawaii. Mid Pacific High School recently
won a trophy at the Long Beach Regional races and Hawaii had a good turnout the
high school event in San Francisco.
5.
US SAILING REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT: Commodore Doyle reported that both he and
Ken Morrison attended the US SAILING Spring Meeting in Cincinnati. It was the
Commodore’s first meeting as the Area H Delegate and he was very impressed with
the dedication and scope of effort put forth by the members of the various
committees.
6.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
a. Nominating:
Commodore Doyle reported that the Nominating Committee has not yet been
formed.
b. Publicity: No report.
c. Government Relations: No report.
d. Race Management: Commodore Doyle reported that US
SAILING Area Race Officer Susan Harper had informed him that the US SAILNG Race
Management Committee was working on standardizing the Attention signal to be
used under the RRS 26 starting system.
e. Appeals: Ken Morrison reported there are no
appeals at this time.
f. Racing Rules:
Ken Morrison reported that there was a change to the HYRA Prescriptions
that would be addressed under New Business.
g. Safety: Commodore Doyle reported that US SAILING
had made a change to the Offshore Regulations that Category 1 races would
require that PFDs and safety harnesses be worn by all crew at night when on
deck. This rule modification will be in effect for the TransPac Race in a few
weeks.
h. Offshore:
Mike Welsh asked AmeriCap Fleet Captain John Spadaro to report on
AmeriCap in Hawaii. Spadaro reported that the Leeward AmeriCap Fleet has
started to grow and the KYC Offshore Racing Fleet is now using AmeriCap as the
principal handicapping method for all their races. Ken Morrison reported that
there are currently 26 boats in Hawaii with AmeriCap certificates and another 3
are presently under review at US SAILING.
Mike Welsh reported that the Historical Trophies
Committee has announced that the Kalakaua Cup Races over the 4th of
July weekend will be handicapped using the AmeriCap system.
Mike Welsh asked HPHRF Fleet Captain Ken Morrison to
report on the Hawaii PHRF Fleet. Morrison reported that the HPHRF elected to
have US SAILING calculate upwind and offwind ratings for the fleet this year.
The fleet members selected an upwind course that had 90% beating and 10% at 52° reaching, with an offwind course that had
80% Running (Dead Downwind), 15% at 135° degree reaching and 5%
beating. These courses were based on
the Ko Olina races. US SAILING subsequently issued the ratings. However, a
problem arose while using these ratings for courses that do not have this exact
course content. When the ratings were used for the Hale O’Lono Return Race and
the Kaneohe to Kaena Point Race, the results were distorted because neither of
these races have a dead downwind leg. All of our offshore courses have now been
plotted using GPS coordinates and sent to US SAILING for review with a request
that the US SAILING Technical Director advise HPHRF what average course content
would best serve the needs of our fleet. When the answer to this question is
received, the fleet will be polled on what course content should be used and
new ratings will be requested from US SAILING.
i. One Design:
Pat Kudlich reported for Steve Thomas that WYC plans to use the
Portsmouth Yardstick rating system for small boat racing in club events next
year. This method will enable them to handicap a wide range of small boats such
as 420s and other dinghies. These events will be open to both juniors and
adults.
j. US SAILING Events: Tom Pochereva reported that last month KYC held the first Area
H-W eliminations for the US Match Racing Championship. This was a ladder event
for the US Match Racing Championship for the Prince of Wales Bowl. There were 4
teams competing and John Myrdal and his crew won the event. They are now
eligible to compete in the US Match Racing Championship hosted by Bayview Yacht
Club in Detroit, Michigan, September 2-6.
k. Single-handed Championship: No report.
l. State Championship: No report.
m. HYSA:
Commodore Doyle reported previously on High School sailing in Hawaii.
n. Women’s events:
Commodore Doyle reported previously that plans to host the 2004 Adam’s
Cup at KYC appeared to be on track at US SAILING. Charles Barclay reported that
HYC was hosting the Wahine Race this weekend in offshore boats and that was one
of the races on the women’s calendar this year. .
o. Budget: no report.
p. Audit: no report.
q. Awards Banquet: Doug Taylor reported that the
Awards Dinner will be held at WYC on November 22.
r. Trophies: no report.
7.
OLD BUSINESS: None.
8.
NEW BUSINESS:
a. Ken Morrison reported on a change
to HYRA prescriptions adopted by the Executive Committee. The change was to prescription A. RRS 42,
PROPULSION. The change modifies the second sentence in the prescription as
follows: “A late starter must, after its Start Signal, execute a full 720° turn on the pre-course side of the
starting line after shutting off its engine or dropping its tow before
starting.” The change is shown in bold italics. This change was approved to
prevent a late starter in a very light air starting situation from executing
her 720° turns on the course side of
the starting line and gaining an unfair advantage by positioning herself in
front of a fleet of boats that are starting correctly on time but that may be
becalmed near the starting line on the pre-course side. Charles Barclay
inquired how this could be applied if a Club elected not to use the HYRA
prescriptions to the RRS. He was informed that this statement would have to be
included separately in the club’s sailing instructions in that case.
b. Ken Morrison reported that a
proposed change to the HYRA By-Laws had been circulated to the membership in a
timely manner and required approval at this meeting. The proposed change to
Article 1 of the By-Laws is for the purpose of requiring US SAILING membership
for those persons applying for individual HYRA membership. Motion was made,
seconded and carried approving the proposed change to the By-Laws.
c. Ken Morrison reported that the
Executive Committee had approved changes to Section 7E of the HYRA Handbook
pertaining to the mission and responsibilities of the Offshore Committee.
Copies of the approved change were circulated. Charles Barclay from HYC
objected to the changes on the grounds that it did not include PHRF Hawaii. He
was advised that if he would be welcome to apply for recognition as an
“Offshore Fleet” if he wished. Barclay stated that PHRF Hawaii was not a fleet
of boats but rather a rating authority. Barclay then suggested that HYRA should
adopt a process of scoring season’s points for an offshore boat of the year and
all of the fleet season’s points should be abolished as they are a “conflict of
interest.” Discussion then ensued on the 1994 HYRA action to change the
season’s points scoring policy. Dave Nottage advised that he would like to see
all handicaps controlled by a central HYRA handicapping committee and that all
season’s points management should be returned to HYRA control. After lengthy discussion on these matters,
Commodore Doyle closed the discussion by asking that each Fleet submit a
proposal to HYRA on how the handicapping and season’s points scoring should be
handled. He will then report back to the membership at the Fall General
Meeting.
9.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 1935 hours.
Respectfully
submitted,
Ken
Morrison
Executive
Secretary