2003-4 MidAtlantic Scholastic Sailing Association Annual Meeting Minutes

January 11, 2004

The meeting was held in the Annapolis Yacht Club Junior Clubhouse.

Attendees were: Bill Schneider, Geoff Schneider, Greg Kiely, Brian Hull, Michael Spark, Joan Pietro, Steve LaBuzetta, Steve Wilde, Jason Evans, Randy Stokes, George Linzee, Susan Weber, Roger Weber, Gene Nuth, Ian Burman, Todd Kana, Mike Mueller, Larry Shireman, J.T. Baker, Chase Hillyer, Stovy Brown, and Molly Everdell. This group constituted a good representation from all areas of the MASSA district.

Directors Report: Membership is up to 47 from 43 in 02-03 and 42 in 01-02. The bank account currently has $1610.08 in it, up from $1380 at this time in 2002 and $1183 in 2001. Dues income so far this year is $705 and the anticipated expenses are for fall, spring and overall championship trophies (3 places for each) to cost about $500. There may be some small incidental charges for stamps and copying, but none so far this year.

The spring schedule so far has an April 3^rd regatta at ODU, April 24-25 Mallory Qualifiers at USMMA Kings Point, May 1-2 Baker Qualifiers probably at Georgetown University, May 8-9 Mallory Nationals at Southern YC, New Orleans, and May 22-23 Baker Nationals at the US Naval Academy.

General Information announcements: Connecticut open high school – coast guard academy in the fall was highly recommended. It uses all 3 divisions for scoring. 2 day event .. Notice is posted on ISSA web site

Southern Yacht Club regatta for new schools is available also.

Ocean County College is expecting to get maybe 6 new boats – 18 total

St Michaels Maritime Museum is considering purchasing newer boats.

Consensus on rules for this meeting - Each person present gets one vote (no proxy votes)

  Cressy – should personal equipment such as compasses be allowed or not ?

Motion: MASSA will be divided into 5 local leagues .. amended to “3” leagues:

Unanimous passed to divide Massa district into 3 local leagues

Motion: The names of the new regions will be the north, central, and south leagues: unanimously passed

Motion: new schools applying for membership will be assigned to leagues by Massa director: passed

10 min break to discuss school / league division

Motion:  North league will consist of New York and New Jersey

Central league will consist of Maryland,Northern Virginia and Delaware

South league will consist of Virginia, except for the northernmost part.

Unanimous Passed

Motion: At least 3 MASSA events will be scheduled in the spring and at least 3 in the fall, to be distributed among the leagues. They would use a minimum of 18 boats: Unanimously passed. (Director’s note: although not clearly explained in the official motion, the discussion of this proposal, and the following motion, explain that the events would be standard double-handed A&B format regattas.)

Motion for 1 spring event, preferably the second, be named the Mallory Qualifiers:  Passed, 1 opposed

Motion: School teams to represent MASSA at the Mallory Championship Nationals will be determined by a Mallory Qualifier regatta. If the regatta can’t be sailed, the immediately preceding MASSA regatta will be used as the qualifier, unless another scheduled MASSA regatta has previously been designated as the backup qualifier regatta. If neither of these regattas could be completed, the national-qualifying teams will be selected based on MASSA District championship points as being kept to determine the overall MASSA school year champions: Passed, 1 opposed

Motion: In order to count as a member school for the allocation calculations for the number of schools from each league to attend massa events, they must meet 3 conditions: (1) The ISSA membership form must have been completed (now on line at www.highschoolsailingusa.org). (2) Dues must be received by the MASSA director by Dec 31st. and (3) The school must have demonstrated that they have enough sailors to participate in double-handed regattas by having sailed as a full team in at least one double-handed league or MASSA regatta in the previous 2 school seasons: Unanimously passed

Nominations for MASSA officers and local league leader/directors to handle organization of the leagues – it was recognized that the MASSA director nomination would be forwarded to the ISSA for a confirmation vote as a board member for the 04-05 school year, as required by ISSA:

MASSA Director: Bill Schneider

Assistant Director: Geoff Schneider

North league Director: George Lindzee

Central league Director: Stovy Brown

South league Director: Randy Stokes

Vote: For the above nominations to serve on a provisional (pending establishment of bylaws) MASSA board of directors which would include the 3 league directors, the 2 ISSA at large members from MASSA (which could hold one of the other board positions), the assistant MASSA director, and the MASSA director:  unanimously passed

Motion: The provision board of directors will establish bylaws to be in place by the start of the fall season: unanimously passed. (Director’s note: All the discussions regarding establishing bylaws indicated that there was a consensus that the bylaws would be based on the AYC committee proposal and that the final draft would be presented to the full membership for vote, probably at the fall meeting.)

Motion: Spring Championship to be the total best 2 out of 3 MASSA regatta using low point scoring system: unanimously passed.

Motion: If extra boats are available at a MASSA regatta resulting from boats left over after the remainder are evenly allocated to the leagues according to the ratio of member schools (e.g., if of 20 available boats, 7 would go to the North league, 6 to the Central league, and 5 to the South league for a total of 18 used, the remaining 2 odd boats would be allocated to the league in which the regatta is being held. In addition, if there are any drop outs or cancellations 5 days or less before the regatta they would also be allocated to local league: unanimously passed.

Motion: Discussion about reevaluation and enforcement about Cressy nationals rules postponed for next meeting: unanimously passed.

Motion: Norfolk Academy to be granted season points according to the formula for the fall championship for the ODU regatta since they were not able to attend the fall championship through no fault of their own: unanimously passed.

Motion: MASSA will continue to award trophies for the best 3 teams in the fall, the spring, and the overall school year (fall and spring combined): Unanimously passed.

Meeting adjourned.

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