Notes taken and written up by Mark Sloan: (A
BIG HEARTY THANKS TO MARK FOR HIS EFFORTS AS THE '99 FLEET CAPTAIN --editor):
Last night, November 18, 1999, the Santana 35 Fleet met
to conduct our annual fleet business. The
official meeting notes are below. Please
have your calendars out because there are a lot of dates to remember:
1. Attendees:
Flexible Flyer, Ice Nine, Breakout, Spellbinder, Dance Away, Bluefin and Spirit
of Bombay by proxy. A quorum was
established and the meeting began.
2. Fleet Measurer:
Joel Davis was Nominated and Seconded. Vote
was for Joel was unanimous.
3. Fleet
Secretary: Lloyd Ritchie was Nominated and Seconded.
Vote for Lloyd was unanimous.
4. Fleet
Treasurer: Mike Whalen was Nominated and Seconded. Vote for Mike was unanimous.
5. Fleet Captain:
Brendan Busch was Nominated and Seconded. Vote for Brendan was unanimous.
Brendan is preparing for an extraordinary adventure.
He has entered the Worrell 1000
as “Team California”. This is a world class event that races from Ft.
Lauderdale to Virginia Beach in Inter20s.
He will need our support during the coming months to pick up some of the
responsibilities of Fleet Captain until he arrives back in California at the end
of May. Good luck Brendan and
don’t hesitate to ask for help from the fleet.
6. Year 2000 Buoy
Racing Schedule: The following
schedule was voted on and the vote was unanimous.
First Half: May 20 (2 races circle), June 10 (2 races city), June 24
(Knox Long), July 30 (Encinal Second Half Opener at TI).
Second Half: August 12 (2 races Circle), August 27 ( 2 races City), Sept
16 (2 races City). These dates are subject to change by the YRA so Brendan will
have to keep us up to date.
7. Drag Races:
This is 5 short races to be used as a tune up in the spring.
Owners must sail in Drag and we will incorporate the Speed Seminar by
UK/Doyle sailmakers. GGYC has
encouraged us to use their YC. Lloyd
and I will organize the details and forward the info to the fleet.
This will be a great day so please plan to be there. We will have plenty of laughs at the expense of the owners
and the crew will get a great opportunity to up their game. The venue will
include a chalk board in the AM and in the afternoon sailing short courses with
instructors. The focus will be on
boat speed, boat speed and boat speed!
Also, mark your calendars,
January 15 Bill is having a sail trim seminar so call him at 510 523 9411 for
details.
8. Year 2000
Nationals: Everyone thought the
Shock regatta was great and the SFYC is a great place to have it.
If the Shock Regatta returns we voted unanimously to do it again. If
not, then we voted unanimously to ask SFYC to host the Nationals for us.
That is my action item.
9. Joel Davis
asked about corporate sponsorship for the Nationals and he was asked to
investigate.
10. Long Distance
Race Schedule: April 8 Light Ship, May 6 & 7 Vallejo, July 29 Encinal
Opener. Dates are subject to change
by YRA. In addition, one throwout
if all 4 races are completed and there is a Lightship race in August that will
be used as a substitute for the April 8 race if the April 8 race is canceled.
These issues and dates were voted on and the vote was unanimous.
11. Jeff Thorpe of
Quantum Sails presented the fleet with an outstanding proposal, (please call
Jeff at 510 234 4334 to get a copy), and spent 20 minutes talking about the
loft.
12. Glen Hansen of
Hansen Rigging dropped off tee shirts and business cards for the fleet.
13. Bill Colombo and Roy
of UK (soon to be Doyle) sails spent 20 minutes with us going over the change to
Doyle Sails and the two seminars they are going to put on for the fleet.
The Speed Seminar has been covered.
In February, ( my action item to work out date with the loft), on a
Saturday, Bill will host a rules seminar for the fleet and friends.
The seminar is free and I encourage everyone to participate. The rules to be reviewed will be determined by input from the
fleet. Bill would like that input
ASAP so that he can do the proper research.
Rules thus far: Rule 16, Definition room, Definition keeping clear, Rule
10, leeward mark rules and how to prepare for a protest.
Please e-mail Brendan with your requests.
Bill would love to see lots of people so don’t be shy about inviting
friends.
14. Mike Rettie of
Encinal YC spoke to us about the changes Encinal has made to their racing
program and the consulting effort by Matt Jones. The fleet was encouraged by the new approach and wants to
sail the Encinal Spring tune-up (called the “Spring Fling”) on March 18 and
19 instead of the St. Francis One Design Invitational. Please mark your calendars for the tune-up.
15. Amendments to the
fleet rules:
Limit headsails to the #3 only for Buoy Racing
and the Nationals only. Voting was
6 for and 1 against. The Amendment
was passed. The remarks by fleet
members during the preliminary discussion was that this rule change should be
reviewed in 12 months. There
are compelling arguments on both sides and we will revisit them next year.
Crew weight: The
vote was to change the current weight limit from 1800 lb. to 1600 lb. for buoy
racing and the Nationals only. The
vote was 4 against, 2 for and Mike Whalen’s proxy abstained.
The motion did not pass and therefore the current weight limit of
1800 lb. will remain for all venues.
16. Number of
professional crew allowed per boat. We
did not have enough time to properly review the subject but will spend time on
it at the spring meeting. This is a
difficult issue and goes to the core of why we race and therefore deserves to be
reviewed in depth at the 60,000 ft view as well as the 10,000 ft view.
17. Annual Dinner:
January 22, 2000 - Everyone wanted to go back to the “Fat lady” and
Joel volunteered to organize the dinner and trophies.
The treasury is broke so please pay your dues before the first of the
year so that Joel can order the participation glasses and trophies.
18. After a hurried
discussion the fleet decided not place an ad in Latitude.
I really appreciate Fast Friends and Carnival’s support for the ad even
though they do not actively participate in all of the season racing.
There are 5 boats for sale so please tell all your racing friends about
our fleet.
19. Lloyd will be
sending out an e-mail about a match racing regatta that sounds like it could be
a blast.
20. Motion made,
seconded and passed to close the 1999 meeting.
In closing, I would like to thank the fleet for your
support while I was the Fleet Captain. It
actually was fun and I look forward to doing it again when my schedule is less
demanding.
Have a Happy and Peaceful Holiday Season......sloane