2015 PHRF-NE Spring Meeting, April 15, 2015

Boston Yacht Club, Marblehead, MA

The meeting started with a Call to Order at 7:06 p.m.

Commodore Matthew Delaney presented a summary of the “Developing a Collaborative Vision and Plan to Grow Sailing” brainstorming session that was held in Atlanta, Georgia on February 5th and 6th. Industry stakeholders discussed an approach for growing sailing and to develop a framework for a plan to engage the entire sailing community The leaders from the industry, local sailing organizations, associations, the media, and            other key stakeholders from across the nation were directed to consider how to:

• Create a Common Message for Sailing that can be used on a national level to trigger increased interest, excitement and energy around learning to sail, becoming a sailor.
• Develop and disseminate a nationally recognized powerful “Sail First Experience” that organizations deliver locally to transform curiosity and interest into excitement and action.
• Create a collection of tools that enable each of us to translate a national interest in Sailing into people engaging in a “Sail First Experience” locally.
• Establish pathways, connections and practices to translate a “Sail First Experience” into a long-term relationship.

US Sailing will assume a leadership role to secure funding and manage the process. The proposed timeline will be as follows:

• Plan Development: H1 2015
• National validation: Q2-3 2015
• Resource commitments, pilots: Q2-3 2015
• Testing/piloting: H2 2015
• Official announcement: February 2016
• Launch: Spring-Summer 2016

It was asked why we have not adopted Robert's Rules of Order (RRO) as well as why the minutes of the 2014 PHRF-NE Fall Meeting were not distributed to the governors for approval. It was pointed out that all members are welcome to contact PHRF-NE regarding the accuracy of the minutes posted on the website. However, the By-Laws do not state that we operate under RRO and approval is not specified or required. Both the request for a change to the adherence to RRO and requiring approval of the minutes by the governors at the following meeting would necessitate a By-Laws modification, something that could not be voted on at this time because it was not published in advance in the meeting notice. It was agreed for these two concerns to be placed on the Agenda for consideration at the 2015 PHRF-NE Fall Meeting.

Dave Curtis resigned as Vice Commodore, but he agreed to continue providing advice and expertise as a member of the Handicap Committee. It was proposed for Doyle Marchant to move up from Rear to Vice Commodore and that Jack Slattery become interim Rear Commodore until the elections in the Fall. The governors in attendance agreed by a unanimous vote.

There was no official PHRF New England Championship scheduled in 2014. It was suggested that the PHRF New England Championships be incorporated into different regattas in the future, changing locations each year. Another thought discussed was to select and endorse several regional regattas as contributing to the Championships with the overall points leader at the end of the season determined to be the New England Champion. In any event, for this year it was decided to have the 2015 New England PHRF Championship included as a part of the Buzzard's Bay Regatta run by the New Bedford Yacht Club in Padanaram. Blair Tracy attended the governors’ meeting in order to ask questions and provide information about the BBR. She stated that the PHRF-NE Championships are planned to be part of a 3-day event within the regatta and, depending upon the weather, the Friday race is intended to be a distance race.

The postponement for the application of the asymmetric spinnaker adjustments that were voted at the fall meeting was discussed in detail. The study presented in November only looked at boats that added asymmetric spinnakers. It did not address boats that came with asymmetric spinnakers like the later J Boats. In order to ensure a fair application, these will require a re-examination on a time-intensive and detailed case-by-case basis. It was confirmed that the adjustments will be applied to 2016 certificates, as noted in emails to PHRF-NE Governors and the membership by email on three different occasions.

There were two members who stated that they did not receive some or all of the emails. It was not clear why the emails were not going through if they were correctly entered on the list. There appeared to be some other emails to members that also demonstrated inconsistent delivery, After some discussion, Walter agreed to look into the reasons for the delivery errors.

It was requested that the update, clarification, and confirmation of the asym study be presented to the membership within 30 days. The governors and members will be invited to provide input regarding the application of the adjustments. It was noted that this had been previously submitted to them with few responses, but the general membership will be asked, once again, as part of the email update.

The meeting adjourned at 8:56 p.m.