Youth Championships Committee Meeting

Youth Championships Committee Meeting April 1, 2005

The meeting was called to order at 2:31 pm.

Acceptance of the 2004 Meeting Minutes: A motion was made to accept the minutes of the 2004 October meeting. It was seconded and approved.

Staff Report – Liz Walker Numbers are slightly down for the 2005 event, but because of the posted selection criteria and a more complex resume system, quality of the event is up. The online application system is working fine. The grievance process is posted on the Web site. Some registrations do not appear online. There was a problem but the server will recover all of the registrations in question before April 4, 2005.

Coaching Report : Mike Kalen was in the US Sailing office to discuss coaching with US Sailing staff members.

Report and Update on the Olympic Development Regatta: Jerelyn Biehl reported that each individual class was organizing their own event.

2005 Cedar Point Yacht Club (Westport, CT) Report: Nelson Stevenson, Regatta Chair for the event, reported that they were on track for the event. The Notice of Race was posted on the Web site in January. They are prepared to house 150 participants and can handle up to 170 if the last 20 do not need housing. The entry fee was raised $50.00 to $300.00. They have gotten airport transportation from New York down from $100.00 to $50.00. They are pushing for Thursday arrivals of the participants. They are spending more money than Charleston but this event requires a Regatta tent as well as shower trailers. The race Committee is in place. In addition to Vanguard, who has been our major Natonal Sponsor for many years, we have recently signed on Nautica, Aquafina, Subway and Gowrie, Barden and Brett as additional National sponsors. Nautica, Aquafina and Subway will sponsor the event at least through 2006. Local sponsors are also signed up for either monetary or in kind sponsorships. On Friday there will be a Press Luncheon with local and regional press to promote the event. Several spectator boats will be available and they are trying to get the sponsors on the water. We have 164 applicants some of which are duplicates. The breakdown is 48 full rig Lasers, 54 Laser radials, and 62 420s.

2006 Invitations The Southern Yacht Club has put in a bid for the 2006 event. A motion was made and approved to accept the bid. 2007 Invitations Grosse Pointe Yacht Club put in a bid for the 2007 event. A motion was made and approved to accept the bid.

2008 Invitations The event moves to North California. Ida Lewis is looking for a bid from Sausalito. We are looking for bids.

New Business A motion to add 29ers to the 2006 Youth Championships was made and seconded. Discussion followed. Most 29ers are on the west coast. Is this fair? Motion was amended pending the review of Vanguard’s contract with US Sailing. A vote was taken and the motion passed. Should we house the entrants? Vicky Sedaro to get with Richard Feeney about housing the 2008 participants in North California. Housing a problem in North California. All participants are under the same discipline rules whether they area housed or not. Should housing be apart of the proposal for an event? Selectors should be able to look at a 420 resume and decide if the applicant would do well in a 29er. Sponsorship needs a bigger spotlight on junior and youth events. Event chairs should be able to “best the bushes” for sponsors. We either need to charge more for the events or cut people loose to drum up sponsors. US Sailing is trying to bring in sponsors with longevity. Longevity sponsors need to be run by US Sailing to maintain sponsorship compatibility. Larry White made the point that event budgets need to be reduced. The quality of an event was not improved just because money was available. Host clubs need to give sponsors something out of the ordinary for sponsored events.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted.

Chris V. Clement