Executive Meeting Minutes Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Executive Meeting Minutes

 April 9, 2024

Present: Nicole Shedden, Warren Duckworth, Aaron Holland, Wayne Pignolet and John Howell (non-voting member) Absent: Jenny Borshoff

Secretary: Dianne Duckworth

Treasurer: Sarah Paisley

RVP and DG: Ted Lischer (DG-MA)

Meeting called to order: 8:04 pm (EST)

• March meeting minutes: Motioned and Approved
• Secretary’s Report: Dianne Duckworth
  1. Membership: February 2024 – 351, March/April 411 2024 (+60)
• Treasurer’s Report: Sarah Paisley
  780. January to March P&L: Total Income- $26,780.20, Net Income- $11,364.80
  781. March 2024 P&L: Total Income $2,442.20, Total Expenses $6,043.11, Net Income $ -3,600.91
  782. March 2024 Balance Sheet: Total Assets- $ 81,499.57
• First VP’s Report: Warren Duckworth
  1. MWE
     1. MWE- 38 boats registered: All went well.
     2. Should we ask FWYC for 2025 or if Pensacola FL is available. Not sure if FWYC wants MWE every year.
  2. Inter-districts for Central America is scheduled for July 13,14 in Little Rock AR
  3. Nationals 2024
     1. 74 Boats registered
     2. 2 petitions for alternate qualification for Thistle’s National’s 2024
        • One person put their request on hold pending Districts
        • One met the qualification and no special request is needed
     3. National 2025
        1. Craig Koschalk presented a bid for 2025 at GB meeting on March 11, 2024
        2. Motion to accept the bid for 2025 National’s at Sandusky. Motioned and Approved

• 2026- Possibly Eugene Oregon

1. 2027- Starting to discuss possible Ventura, CA regatta

• Second VP’s Report: Jenny Borshoff- No report

• Third VP’s Report: Aaron Holland
  1. Youth Memberships (under 26) we have 8 at this time
  2. Expanding the under 26 regatta fee reimbursement to include chevron events. Motioned and Approved
  3. Getting Social Media teams together
  4. Received positive feedback on the FB posts from the photographer at MWE. Still need to meet about material for future class promotion
  5. Aaron proposed $200.00 to the Children’s Camp for 2024 National’s to buy first aid kit and art supplies. Motioned and Approved
• Chief Measurer: Wayne Pignolet
  1. April/May/June BP Article lists the class-approved electronic compasses
  2. Floatation specifications need to be re-written for clarification
     1. Ollie Kunz and Bob White will update CMR’s ruling on floatation
     2. Calculations can now be done on Flotation- thanks to Ollie Kunz
  3. Reefed main: JD Reddaway has responded; CM and committee will re-write to clarify ruling on reefing main
• Past President’s Report: John Howell
  1. Nominating Committee (John Howell, Greg Griffin, Mike Gillum) working on slate for 2024-2025 ExCom Committee and have a member for Minton Award
  2. Endowment Fund: Needs one more document then to ExCom for approval
  3. Fleet Boat Grant Program:
     1. Recipient for Thistle #3846 is Riley Reed from Newport, RI. Riley has a 3-person team for the season
     2. Thistle # 3846 will have new sails and boat cover

• Need to discuss how the boat will be registered

• President’s Report: Nicole Shedden
  1. Thanked ExCom for thorough prep for the GB meeting at MWE
  2. Special meeting called on Nationals Duration Committee recommendations on Monday, April 29. Should have 21 GB members in attendance. Member feedback (including from several past presidents) shows they’re generally impressed with the recommendations; haven’t heard any major negative feedback.
  3. NRC committee members: Chris Murphy, Doug Kitchin, Dave Hansen; working with Chris to find one more GB member and see who fits local rep role
  4. MWE trophies: Followed up with Corey Hall two weeks ago. Corey said she expected to be able to spend some more time on pulling deeds the week of April 1. Will send list of ’24 winners to engrave and ask the cost.
  5. Deeds: Created a google doc that has a list of the trophies and what we know about them that might help locate the deed. Sent list to GB and a few past presidents to see if anyone else has info that could help.
  6. Historian: Kat Mahaney finished her book and is starting a new project on Thistle history, maybe focusing on how the boats came to prominence and were manufactured in the early days. Talked to her about: how to create a searchable Bagpipe database, her willingness to do hull research when someone’s curious, her interest in finding a climate-controlled storage solution for class documents, and a few other things.
• Old Business
  1. Strategy Project Scopes
     1. Vote postponed on 3 new scopes because we lost quorum when Wayne left at 9:20; will vote in May on:
        • Generate list of successful growth strategies to share with fleets
        • Create an infrastructure to connect boat, skippers, crew for local, regional and National events
        • Plan to standardize guaranteed childcare across clubs and different regattas and decide TCA portion of funding

• Adjourned: 10:13 PM (ET)
• Next meeting: May 14, 2024, at 8:00pm ET/ 5:00pm PT