Minutes of Registration Meeting – May 2010

The fleet held its spring meeting on Thursday April 15th at the home of Jeff Shoreman & Lynn Mangiarcina. Kim Pandapas called the meeting to order at 7:45PM, acknowledged the generosity of the hosts, and expressed appreciation to the many members who keep our fleet running.

The first order of business was the 2010 sailing calendar. Kim highlighted the spring series, and encouraged sailing that regatta. Other points of emphasis included east coasts on June 25th, the junior keelboat on August 15th, and Nationals on August 18th. Junior keelboat organizer Maura Power provided specifics and encouraged members to contact her with questions. The fleet held votes on four scoring issues.

1. On how to score MRA series 1, day 4 on Saturday June 26th (during East Coasts), members voted to award byes (average points) to boats who go to East Coasts. This bye would be in addition to the optional MRA bye discussed in the MRA NRSI 18.7, but boats cannot use two byes in one series. [Editor’s note – to be awarded this bye, you must notify MRA scorer Jim Whipple (jimwhipple@aol.com.) of your intent to sail east coasts by no later than noon Friday June 25th.]
2. On how to score MRA series 3, day 3on Saturday August 21st (day after Nationals), members voted to score that day as usual.
3. On how to split the Twilight Series, members voted for two 6-day series 5/27-7/1 and 7/8-8/26, with no scoring on 8/19 (during Nationals).
4. On whether to adjust a boat’s race week finishes for season scoring (i.e. eliminate out-of-town boats), members voted not to adjust those scores.

Next, Kim provided and an MRA update, noting that fees were held flat for the second straight year. Charlie Pendleton discussed MRA’s new web site and online registration process, an initiative he led with Mike Lane. Charlie also discussed how close MRA came to enforcing USSA’s life jacket rule (on at the start and finish), which they ultimately did not. He cautioned members to be alert to the RC’s more frequent use of the Y flag. Next, Kim reviewed the social event schedule, highlighting the upcoming clinic and the post-race cocktail party at Lydia and Rick Smyers, which had been moved up a week from June 12th to June 5th.

Next the fleet discussed whether to expand our race days from two races per day to three. A motion was made to leave our number of races at two for the long MRA series, but to allow the RC the flexibility to run a third race for everything else. Points made against the motion (i.e. in favor three races) included the shortness of the season. Points made in favor of the motion (i.e. against three races) included the length of the sailing day, the added congestion at cranes and the distance Parker’s users must sail. Members voted to approve the motion.

Class measurer Jerry Blouin discussed measurement, and emphasized that sailing a compliant boat is required for all racing, and not just Nationals. He set up two spring measuring days, the first on Saturday April 24th and the second on Saturday May 8th, both to be held at Parker’s Landing.

Finally, Mike Lane provided an update on Nationals, the organizing process and the need for additional volunteers. He asked that anyone interested in helping out contact him, Steve or anyone the committee.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at about 9PM.