Sunday, March 20, 2016
Re: Catalina 34 International Association Year 2016 Annual Officers Meeting
Dear Catalina 34 International Association Members, Officers and Board Members;
The Annual Meeting of the Catalina 34 International Association Officers was held via telephone conference call on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 5:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time. The meeting concluded at 9:50 p.m. EST.
The 2016 International Officers are listed after these meeting notes. Participants in this teleconference included Rick Allen, Sue Clancy, Jack Hutteball, John Nixon, Stu Jackson, Ray Irvine and Ken Heyman. Dave Sanner, and Past Commodores Paul Erb, Lance Jones, Ken Juul, Michael Shaner and Dave Davis were absent.
Also present were Fleet Captains Dottie Toney (Fleet 13) and Bob Schuldenfrei (Fleet 14).
The meeting was based on the emailed agenda, dated Wednesday, March 2, 2016.
MEETING NOTES
1. Financial Report & Projections – Treasurer Ken Heyman
a. Cash is approximately $11.9K down from the $15.1k in 2015, $12.7K reported in March of 2014 and $20.7K in March 2013 (as of December 31 the prior year).
b. Statement and projections accepted as presented.
c. Motion made and passed to not institute a dividend for 2016 and to look at it every year as a method for keeping the balance to a reasonable amount. [Dividend is defined as a free year of membership.]
d. Ken noted that PayPal constitutes almost half of the total dues, indicating the success of using PayPal.
2. Membership – Secretary Stu Jackson
a. 525 members of which 28 are C355s, 553 total C34 IA members; down from 2015 figures of 594 members of which 32 are C355s, 562 C34s; down from 2014 figures of 639 members of which 41 are C355s, 588 C34 skippers; 2013 figure of 560 members, of which 28 were C355 skippers, 532 C34 skippers.
1) John asked if there was any way to determine how many were Mark I or Mark II boats. Stu advised that a review of the File Maker Pro database could be made based on hull #s. Stu to review and send the statistics by email.
2) Bob observed that the website is the best recruiting tool.
3. Mainsheet magazine electronic distribution by PDF: Comments on PDF example (Please see 2014 and 2015 Meeting Notes for detailed prior discussion items)
a. Issues discussed:
1) Ken Kloeber’s email to Stu discussed the “key” to figuring out the Mainsheet password system.
2) PDF copies are available to all members, once the hardcopy is received, since the password is included on page 3 or 4 of each issue.
3) Presenting Options to Membership: Group agreed that a thread should be started on the Forum with a “Did you know that…?” message. Stu to do.
4. Website:
a. Tech Notes Online Update
1) Sue did a superb job in updating the TNOs, with help from Jack and John. She also improved the presentation by keeping the years on each index page to allow moving around between articles much easier.
2) The procedure for updating the TNOs will be for Jack (Association Editor) to send the new articles to Sue (now VC) for posting, and posting will only be done after the hard copy of Mainsheet is distributed. The reason for the delay is a courtesy to the publisher, who in times past would never include any material in the magazine that had been previously published. These were pre-internet days.
b. List of Website Administrators – Stu will develop and recommend any modifications.
1) Deferred, see Site Improvement Committee discussion below, Item 13.
c. Home Page Editing – deferred, not critical.
1) Deferred, see Site Improvement Committee discussion below, Item 13.
5. National Regatta
a. Ray reported that Fleet 1 declined for this year. Consideration for next year may be possible. As previously noted, the IA will support Fleet 1 if they were to choose to hold a National Regatta.
6. Fleets
a. C Rick Allen has transferred the Fleet Formation Package to VC Sue Clancy. Bob noted that the package was very helpful for Fleet 14 when they started. Bob thanked Dottie for her help when Fleet 14 got started.
b. Mainsheet magazine and [lack of] Fleet information (no list of fleets or contacts, no content). Should this Association comment formally to the publisher?
1) Dottie advised that “members of Fleet 13 were livid” when the publisher discontinued fleet news in the magazine. She reported that many of their members expressed no interest in Mainsheet without fleet information.
2) Stu noted that the magazine had even removed the information necessary to contact fleet captains.
3) Issues include the publisher’s repeated editorials regarding “Fleet support” while at the same time eliminating all information from and about fleets because of his mistaken assumption that the information is old or available elsewhere; not every Fleet has its own website. Rick noted that publications rely on advertisers and subscriptions and that fleet members may well be just a small percentage of the total number of magazines that the publisher has to consider.
4) Motion made and passed: Stu to draft a letter to the publisher for review and comments.
c. Deletion of Fleet 8 – Mike Smith has disappeared
1) No objections to discontinuing Fleet 8.
7. CD-ROM status & updates
a. Discussed and motion made and passed to discontinue distributing CD-ROMs. Technology is old and new computers do not even have drives for CDs.
8. C355
a. Discussed and motion made and passed for Stu to draft a letter to the C355 group suggesting that they assume full responsibility for their own Association.
9. Fleet Support
a. Motion made, seconded and passed to extend Fleet Support for $10 per boat as of April 1st with those fleets that choose not to accept OK, requires a discussion and a motion for renewal every year.
10. C34 Website Database – An extended and useful discussion took place that began with the Database on the website, which had been prompted by a recent personal message on the Forum to Stu from an IA member, the text of which was included in the agenda.
a. Stu noted that the original (“old”) Database was static and required the skippers to submit their input to an associate webmaster who then posted it. This was because of the old html formatting and passwords for access to the website which was not interactive. Sue noted in her experience that when she got her new boat it was one of the first places she went. Many agreed, but Stu noted that it was “a place where questions went to die,” because of the non-interactive nature of the old Database. A review of the messages in it show that a lot of questions were written, but no answers were ever forthcoming. This was, of course, prior to the establishment of the Forum/Message Board in 2001.
b. Stu noted that the old Database had been replaced by a newer one when the wiki was initiated (in late 2008/early 2009). The old Database was mothballed but remains on the site. He noted also that there are now two “Databases” and the Home Page needs to be corrected to at least distinguish between the old & new versions. The old one says that it is no longer maintained. The new one appears to have issues with content and the length or quantity of information that it can accept.
c. All agreed it was a useful tool and helpful to new owners, since many of us “went there first” when we discovered the website. Sue noted that the goal should be to have a better way to manage the Database and have the users do it all themselves.
11. Conference Call provider – Sue
a. Sue suggested we consider using the free teleconferencing at www.freeconferencecall.com
b. We’ll use it for the Site Improvement Committee and see how it goes, and report back to the Officers.
12. Fleets on the Forum – Sue
a. Sue pointed out the link on the Home Page to Fleets and noted that it is different than the Fleets on the Forum software of the site under General Activities.
b. She pointed out that the technology on the website, outside the Forum, is ancient and has evolved over the course of the many years the site has been around. She recommended newer technology be employed to allow more people to manage the content, like Word Press. She reported that she’s had discussions with Dave who agrees with the concepts.
13. NEW Site Improvement Committee
a. As a result of the discussion about the Database and the Fleets on the website, we agreed that it would be appropriate to continue to examine the possibilities of improving the website. Accordingly, this new committee was established with Sue, Rick and Stu.
b. Issues that would be part of their work would include the Home Page, appropriate technology upgrades, ease of use, ease of searching for information, and officers email contacts.
c. The goal would be to maintain the content by improving the experience for users.
d. Points were made to avoid massive changes (that haunted another association’s website a year or so ago) and to continue to provide the information that so many of our skippers and visitors to the site find so useful.
e. Rick noted that it is important for us, who are so used to the site, to be able to “see if from a new skipper’s” perspective to allow them to get engaged.
f. The Committee will meet and report regularly back to the Officers and Fleet Captains.
Editorial Comment from Stu:
Fleet Captains Dottie Toney and Bob Schuldenfrei (13 & 14) joined in this meeting as non-voting guests. While it had not occurred to me before, I recommend that Fleet Captains be invited to join in all future Officers Meetings. Their contributions were extremely valuable and their perspectives were vital to the discussions.
* End of Notes*
Re: Catalina 34 International Association Year 2016 Annual Officers Election
Dear Catalina 34 International Association Members, Officers and Board Members:
February 2016
The 2016 International Officers listed were duly elected by a majority of Fleet Captains and the Past Commodores in accordance with the C34 IA Constitution.
2016 C34 International Association Officers
2016 Officers
2016 Commodore Rick Allen (Fleet 1)
2014 & 2105 Vice-Commodore Rick Allen
#746 Painkiller
sailorick@gmail.com
916-718-3789
2016 Vice Commodore Sue Clancy
#272 Summer Rush
sueclancy@gigasloop.com
860-651-5945
2016 Secretary Stu Jackson (Fleet 1)
1999-2015 Secretary
#224 Aquavite
mraquaq@aol.com
(510) 698-4250
2016 Treasurer Ken Heyman
2007-2015 Treasurer
#535 Wholesailor
kenheyman@msn.com
(847) 422-3371 (cell)
Chief Measurer – position vacant
2016 Mainsheet Editor Jack Hutteball (Fleet 5)
2009 – 2016 Mainsheet Editor
#1555 Mariah II
JhuttebalL@comcast.net
360-558-4242
2016 Webmaster Dave Sanner (Fleet 1)
2005 to 2016 Webmaster
non-voting
#611 Queimada
2016 Technical Editor John Nixon
2010 -2015 Technical Editor
# 728 Otra Vez
c34hull728@gmail.com
817-341-1219
2014 Associate Technical Editor Ron Hill (Fleet 12) – no longer participating
#788 Apache (transferred boat to son – 2014)
non-voting
2004 – 2013 Associate Technical Editor
Past Technical Editor & C34 General Overall “Guru”
(540) 891-5297
ronphylhill@comcast.net
PAST COMMODORES
2014 &2015 Commodore Paul Erb
2013 Vice-Commodore
#1634 Yachta Yachta Yachta
erbsail34@Comcast.net
941-830-8802
2013 Commodore Lance Jones (Fleet 13)
2011 & 2012 Vice-Commodore
#622 Kitty’s Cat
lance1959@gmail.com
770-330-4010 (cell)
2011 & 2012 Commodore Michael Shaner (Fleet 12)
2009-2010 Vice-Commodore
#300 Queequeg
michael@augustasteel.com
540-569-0424
2009 & 2010 Commodore Bob Kuba – no longer participating
#1291 (sold in 2013)
Dave Davis (Fleet 1)
#707 Wind Dragon
Davis_707@yahoo.com
(650) 9483461
Jon Arck (Fleet 1) – no longer participating
#1346 Tweety Bird (sold in 2015)
2004 &2005 Commodore
2004 Vice-Commodore
Bill Jenks – no longer participating
#1484
2003 & 4 Past Commodore
2005 – 2006 Treasurer
2007 & 2008 Commodore Ken Juul
#1090 Luna Loca
kenandvic@cox.net
757-229-7611