2006 NE District Winter Meeting Minutes

Call to Order
The 2006 New England District winter meeting was called to order by Commodore Bob Shapiro at 12:24 on Sunday, December 3, 2006. The meeting was held in Manchester, NH. 

Roll Call
A roll call of fleets showed that 7 fleets were represented.
121 – Newburyport
145 – Spofford
189 – Marblehead
273 – Massabesic
301 - Mallet’s Bay
332 – Squam Lake
493 –Bow Lake
There being 9 paid fleets and 7 fleets present, a quorum (25% of paid fleets) was declared. 

Secretary’s Report
A copy of the minutes from the 2006 summer meeting was available. Walt Colantuono motioned, and Margo Krukonis seconded the motion, to dispense with the reading of the minutes from the last meeting.

Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer reported that all active fleets had paid their dues in full. The balance as of December 3, 2006, the balance was reported as $989.31. Bill Fastiggi motioned, and Margo Krukonis seconded the motion, to accept the treasurer’s report as printed in the meeting agenda. 

Old Business
The fleet continues to have a goal to find the old trophies. Bill Fastiggi will return the District Championship trophy with a new base to the 2007 District Championships. Pat Gallagher returned the Sportsmanship trophy. 

The Pratt Trophy for service to the district was awarded to Bill Fastiggi. The Sportsmanship Trophy was awarded to Dan Egan. Bill and Dan have agreed to return the trophies to the 2007 Winter Meeting. 

Status of Trophies is as follows:
Women’s: Presented to Kelly Millane. Beth Holland has responsibility to bring it back to Districts.
Master’s: Trophy is missing: Ned Hinds won this past year. The trophy may be in Dave Gorman’s possession. Bill Fastiggi will check with Doc.
Junior’s: Nick Aswad won this past year. This trophy is missing.
Pratt Trophy: Bill Fastiggi will return at 2007 Winter Meeting.
Sportsmanship Trophy: Dan Egan will return at 2007 Winter Meeting
District Circuit Trophy: Brian Gibbs won this past year. This trophy is missing. 

Ability to have more than five races at a District Championship
A proposal was made by Bob Bush to change the District bylaws to allow more than five races during the District Championship. A review of the bylaws determined that there were no explicit guidelines in the bylaws for a maximum number of races. Bill Fastiggi made a motion, and Pat Gallagher seconded the motion, to not change the bylaws. 

Schedule changes for District regattas
A proposal was made at the summer meeting by Bob Bush to consider sailing regattas in warmer locations (small lakes) at the ends of each year in order to allow for sailing in the Outer Bay in Burlington. Bill Fastiggi noted that they are confined by the yacht club schedule for 2007. He will discuss the possibility of moving the fall regatta into September for 2008 with MBBC. 

New Business

2008 Districts in Marblehead:
Maura Power and Rick Humphrey represented the Marblehead Racing Association (MRA) at the meeting to discuss holding the 2008 District Championship in Marblehead. A tentative date of Friday July 12 for the WJM and July 13-14 for the championship. MRA has arranged for Corinthian Yacht Club to host the event and run races on our own line. Any questions or concerns about the event being held in Marblehead should be directed to Bob Shapiro, Tris Wallace or Maura Power (mpower@remoultoninc.com)  

Topics discussed include:
Wet Sailing: All boats will be wet sailed for the duration of the weekend.

Launching: There is a single hoist at Corinthian that can be used. This hoist is also used by multiple fleets on Saturday’s for regular fleet races. Maura strongly urges all Lightnings to launch on Friday. A staging area for measurement and rigging may be possible and is being investigated.

Race Area: An image of the race area can be found at www.marbleheadboater.com

Housing: Very reasonable housing (approx. $25 per room per night) will be available at Salem State University. Otherwise, housing will be very expensive. Maura is looking into finding housing for the juniors.

Parking: Maura and her team are looking into overnight parking for trailers for Thursday night.

Insurance Riders: There will be a fee for insurance riders in the registration fee. Maura is looking into waiving or paying for this fee for junior boats. 

2007 District Schedule:
The following proposed schedule for the New England District was approved.
June 2-3: MBBC Spring Regatta – Mallets Bay Boat Club (MBBC)
June 23 -24: Dave Fitch Memorial Regatta – Spofford Lake
June 30 – July 1: Brian Hughes Leukemia Cup – American Yacht Club
July 13: Women’s, Junior’s and Master’s NE District Championship: MBBC
July 14 – 15: NE District Championship: MBBC
August 25 – 26: Squam Lake Annual Regatta – Squam Lake
September 8 – 9: Lake Massabesic Annual Regatta – Lake Massabesic
September 22: Ed Hinds Memorial One Day Regatta – Bow Lake
October 13 – 14: Leaf Peeper – MBBC 

Additional schedule discussions
A regatta might be added the weekend of June 9 – 10 at Newfound Lake in NH as a way to help grow that potential fleet. Dan Egan is investigating this with the Lightning owners on Newfound Lake.  Dan Egan has asked for the district to consider coming to Squam Lake for the District Championship in 2009. 

A discussion was also had in regards to the future of the Brian Hughes regatta in order to increase participation. One suggestion was scheduling the regatta on a static date and changing the location each year. Another was having the Brian Hughes regatta rotate between fleets every year, including it as part of their annual regattas. A third suggestion was to host it in Marblehead on the years that the tides do not cooperate in Newburyport. Pat Gallagher is going to review these suggestions with John Hughes and AYC. 

Bob Bush suggested that an either an unofficial or official challenge between fleets within the district be considered for future scheduling. Bill Fastiggi noted that a Vermont/NH Challenge used to be in place. This will be discussed at the summer meeting. 

A motion was made by Pat Gallagher and seconded by Bill Fastiggi to pay Moe L’Hereaux’s dues as thanks for hosting the district meeting. The motion was approved. The possibility of hosting the meeting at Lake Massabesic Yacht Club was mentioned and will be considered for the 2007 meeting. 

Ten Reasons to Leave Your Lake
A slide show and open discussion was had to brainstorm reasons to travel to away regattas. Tris Wallace will write these up as an article and post to the NE District Web Site, as well as possible submit it for flashes. 

Adjournment
Walt Coluntuono motioned, Rick Humphrey seconded, to adjourn. Bob Shapiro adjourned the meeting at 2:46 PM.