Commordores Column(Jim Baumgart).
Hi everyone! We're making a real effort to reach out to everyone in the
International Association in this issue by email. It's really important
to all us officers that those people who don't participate in our great
on-line forum have a say in the running of their club. That said, our
web site and our International Association forum is really our on-line
"virtual" clubhouse. Please visit often. We've completely redecorated
the clubhouse for you (IE. We've built a whole new website).
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/
OK, so the main purpose of this issue of the TellTale newsletter is to
get out the vote! Yes, it's that time of year again and we need your
nominations for office. If you want to serve, just email me at
james.baumgart@sdsheriff.org and I'll be more than happy to nominate
you. Please email a little bio about yourself and your boat. You must
be a valid member of the International Association to nominate someone
or to be nominated. The very next Telltale you receive will contain the
ballot. Don't forget to vote. The Association is only as strong as
you.
In this issue you are going to read about the State of the Association,
and you are going to see a financial statements. There is also a
message from just about every officer. This has been a great year and I
am looking forward to an even better one next year. Working together,
this group adds tremendous value to our fine little boats. Most people
I know that own a C25 chose that boat because of this group and because
parts and supplies are readily available from Catalina and shops like
Catalina Direct. But the availability of a strong owners association
really helps with retaining your boats value and "resale-ability".
Jim Baumgart
SDlaw/eSUN Program Manager
858-571-4221
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From our VC (Frank Hopper)
In the last issue I made a call to our members to step up and run
for office, I hope you will reread it; now to the issue of having
those elected represent as many members as possible. It is election
time and that means time for the annual call for nominations, (and
self-nominations). It also means it is time to face the single
greatest failing of the best sailing community in the world. As of
last count we have over 750 members, that is up about 100 odd folks
over last year, (pun intended). That makes us one of the largest
sailboat ownership organizations in the world. (We did cheat a
little last year when we broadened our organization's scope to
include the Capri 25 owners, and we hope to see an even larger
percentage of growth this coming year as the word continues to
spread to Capri 25 owners.)
Our association's website is the cornerstone of our community. As
the world has become more computer literate the paradigm of the
association's focus has changed. The Catalina Mainsheet quarterly
magazine was once the primary conduit for information to our
members but with the website our members now actually communicate,
when they want, with who they want, and do it in the form of a
community conversation rather than just exist as recipients of
information. This change in the way our association functions has
been a huge event. It has marginalized we officers and that is a
good thing, people now discuss and debate issues that affect us all
and we officers get to use that input to finalize the wishes of our
membership. This TellTale is a case in point. We now use the
TellTale as a means to ensure that every member who wishes to hear
from the association receives that communication via email. Our
research led to killing the hard copy for all but a very small
number who wish to receive it via the post office. That has made
our TellTale more timely and effective as a means of notification
to our complete membership. It still does not however provide the
opportunity for discussion. Of course anyone who wishes to has the
ear of the sitting board, (using our personal emails is preferred),
but once a member comes to the website and experiences the real
value of our community I believe they will become regular
contributors. And that gets to the heart of an association, being a
contributor increases the value of your association membership many
fold.
So what is that "single greatest failing"? Apathy about elections.
It is the same for any volunteer organization so we are not alone
in this issue but we have a better means of dealing with it than
most; we have http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org . Get more out of
your membership than you ever imagined possible, become an active
participant in your own association's website. Oh, and hey, so vote
already. (You would not believe how few votes it took to put me in
office, and that is just plain sad!!!)
Frank Hopper, fhopper@cox.net
Vice Commodore
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2005 Financial Report
Financial Spreadsheet
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Catalina 25/250 Nationals (By Duane Wolff)
With this year’s Nationals I set out to accomplish 3 things. Provide quality sailboat racing, show our members what a large event is really like and meet new friends. The event, which took place during Cleveland Race Week, June 22-25th, would really take care of itself. Edgewater Yacht Club Hosts, on average, one to three major events each season from regional’s to world’s and they have the experience necessary to get the job done. Making friends was easy, especially with the commonality of a very, very slow boat and an owner that likes to race.
The hard part was the part that was out of my control - providing quality sailboat racing. The course was going to be good, and I knew that, however the wind is provided by up above. Racing in June in Cleveland is a coin toss, you rarely get the 12 knot breeze. It is either 3 or 33, each bringing their challenges. This year we saw the full gamut of conditions. After a storm on Day 1 that brought a delay we started in relatively light air which progressed to 22 knot gusts coming out of the South. One word describes these conditions – RARE. Lake Erie rarely gets 22 knots out of the South on a stormy day.
Day two was light, but building followed by about an 8 knot average for the rest of the week. The guy upstairs helped me out on my third goal.
I don’t’ want to bore you with repeating details – the winners are posted online, Bill Meinert will have a column coming in the November Mainsheet (we missed the sept deadline) and there will be the obligatory story online for posterities sake. I think I can say everyone had fun and enjoyed their stay.
I did spend a lot of time bantering about our sponsors, and I need to give them one last plug - I had tons of stuff to give away. The Shremshock’s won new standing Rigging from Catalina Direct, Mike Humphries the overall winner walked away with a new storm job from Ullman Sails. Bill Meinert won a 110 jib from Cruising Direct. Harvey Peterson – a new hand held radio from Mauri Pro Sailing, Dave Turner received a $200 dollar discount from MauriPro Sailing’s sail loft. Betsy Casad also chipped in and provided a nice program for the event. There was a glut of other stuff too. Thanks again to sponsors, benevolent donators and everyone else who helped. Also thank you to all who attended the event.
I look forward to seeing you at next years Nationals.
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Secretary's Report
A officers meeting was held via teleconference on 5/8/06.
The officers welcomed Kevin Mackenzie as the new secretary.
Jim went over the duties of secretary, to set expectations for Kevin. They are primarily:
1.) To take minutes at board meetings.
2.) To respond to member inquiries about magazine subscriptions, membership area access, etc.
3.) To email the Telltale to the membership promptly.
Kevin agreed to make a proposal at the next meeting about the best mechanism for mass emailing of the Telltale.
The officers unanimously declared that:
1.) It is important that all members be given an opportunity to vote in association elections.
2.) Best efforts should be made avoid the association being dominated by racers or frequent web posters.
A discussion of the current financials for this years nationals was held. The event will either break even or have a tiny profit (less than $100) based on current income and expense projections.
Next meeting is preliminarily set for 6/6/06.
(signed)
Kevin Mackenzie
Association Secretary
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From the Editor
Get out and sail!
When you look at the forum threads, it seems that many of us spend way to much time responding to others comments. But is this a bad thing?
Perhaps it is in fact a good thing. Our membership seems to gain a lot of pleasure communicating with each other about the wide variety of subjects, all mostly aligned with sailing, sailboats, and things that keep them sailing.
It's amazing at how often a new forum member appears on the scene, nearly always introducing themselves as 'bin lurking around here for a while' and with gracious thanks for the assistance they have obtained before even making a post.
Simliarly, the value that new members make to the forum is amazing. Most likely it is due to asking a 'dumb' question that really has not been addressed before, or someone bringing years of experience with them to the forum.
In short, the value of the forum is increased with every new member.
So to everyone, on behalf of everyone else ... Thank you!
Now, go out sailing! That's why you own a sailboat isn't it?
Paul
Association Webmaster.
which column does this copy belong to?
State of the Association, What We Have Accomplished
Picking up where we left off last year, the officers and staff would like to make this statement part of the annual business as usual. We are approaching another year as an association and again and although I said this verbatim last year, I can honestly say we’ve done more this year, than any of the previous years I’ve served. Frank Hopper mentioned that we are one of the largest sailing organizations in the US. I also think we have the most to offer of any national association out there.
Most if not all of you have seen the website, some of you might even be reading this via the internet. But that isn’t all we do or all that we are about. We set a rather lofty agenda at the beginning of the year, and we not only accomplished it, we exceeded our goals. Again as the longest sitting officer, I bring to you our accomplishments –
Listed below is what we’ve done:
Website Redevelopment – The new site has a lot to offer. A better and still developing members section, more organized tech tips. More developed racing area and an entire new look and feel. With approximately 60+% (see below real numbers coming soon) of our members using the web, it has become our virtual clubhouse we felt in important to invest in it.
Capri 25 incorporation – We started with an idea and now have a larger more diverse association. The Capri 25’s a Frank Butler/Catalina Yachts one design class now has a home. They are racers and with it, bring a new perspective on many things. We welcome them and look forward to a long relationship.
2006 Nationals – The Nationals were held in Cleveland this year. With over $3000 in donated awards, door prizes and raffle items it was one of the best on record. The operating budget was essentially break even (as it should be) with about $1.15 in the black. 9 boats competed over 4 days and all had a great time.
Kept dues increase to only 2 dollars – okay – so the dues went up. They should have gone up by more than that, but with some solid planning and projections, the treasurer was able to create a pro-forma that showed we had the cash reserves to weather a small hump from website increases.
Retail Discount Programs – previously a weak area, we negotiated a deal with Online Outboards to give our members rather healthy discounts on outboard motors. Look for more of these.
Bylaws Revisions and Class Rules Revisions – in the first of at least two phases the Class rules were re-written to bring them up to par with the racing community. The next phase will begin to put some proverbial meat on the bones.
Bi - Monthly Meetings officers and Staff meetings – We switched to these, but we still kept meeting. We reduced expenses in this area and developed a great knack for still getting stuff done via email.
Increased Membership – Yes, we added the Capri’s, but we’ve also retained more members. The ease of online payments by far helped this cause.
Affiliate Programs – About 240 dollars was garnered from affiliate programs that really only ran for half the year.
Outsourced Ships Store – We’ve kept a few key items which can now be paid via PayPal – but the bulk of the clothing and embroidery was outsourced to Embroidery Authority. They’ve run some periodic discounts and have given a pricing structure that enables guys with crews our size to buy small quantities at a reasonable rate.
Operated in the Black – We did not lose money this year
In Process and soon to be complete – and we challenge the new officers to pick up where we left off
Further Affiliate Development – The ability to constantly change our links page to keep up to date items being discussed on the web at the forefront. Development with additional programs and companies we see this as a revenue stream and a benefit to the membership.
More Group Discounts – We are big, we should be treated like it. We will work to get more of these and pass the savings to you
Class Design Rules amendments
2007 Nationals – It hasn’t been selected yet, but there are a number of locations looking to submit bids. We have a regatta development booklet coming soon that will detail the steps hold nationals or any other class sponsored event.
Better Cruising Calendar – Everyone knows I’m a racer, but even I know that we are only about 20 percent of the group. The cruising section of the website needs development, as to the opportunities to gather for cruisers and cruise.
Better Racing Calendar – Its been asked for on the web and we will work to get a formal calendar for races just for us. Regattas big and small will be featured here
More Fleet Development – Fleets are our life-blood. Development of the fleets is paramount to our continued existence. Next year we need to renew our eagerness for development of local Catalina 25 foot boat fleets.
Respectfully posted
2005 - 2006 Flag Line
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