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Draft Copy of Governing Board Minutes MWE

Draft Copy of Governing Board Minutes MWE

Thursday March 05, 2026

 

1)     Meeting called to order at 8:09 PM (EST)

2)     Roll Call: 19/26 voting members present – Quorum is made ( 17 members); (2/3 per Constitutional Article XII.3.h)

  1. ExCom: Aaron Holland, Chris Murphy, Paul Cone, Wheeler Sutton, Dave Hudson, and Warren Duckworth(6 votes)

               Parliamentarian: Joy Martin

               Treasurer: Sarah Paisley

               Secretary: Dianne Duckworth

  1. RVPs: In person: Tommy Glenn (SE). Dave Hansen’s Proxy Joy Martin (AC); Via Zoom: Craig Koschalk (GL), Blair Dryden (CS), Phil Gordon (PC) (5 votes)
  2. DGs: In person: Phil Christman (LM), Bobby Sessions (LE); Via Zoom: Paul Abdullah (FLA), Stan Smith (SCAL), Brian Bauman (NCAL), Scott Meyer (NF), Mark Udell (MICH),) Tom Lawton (LIS) (8 votes). 

Absent: Douglas Kitchin (NJ), Ted Lischer (MA), Kevin Sheenan (C) Adam Young (SA) John Gilmour (CA), Kevin Crandall (PNW), Scott Vogel (NE)

3)           Minutes: GB meeting for Monday August 4, 2024, at Sandusky: Aaron moved to accept, seconded, and approved

4)             Officers’ Reports

    1. Secretary, Dianne Duckworth Membership-Positive Growth
      1. Membership Numbers 2026- January #283, February #392 (+109)
      2. Previous years: February 2024 #351 and February 2025 #380
      3. As of today March 2026 #421, and in March 2024 #387 and March 2025 #401
  • Treasurer, Sarah Paisley
      1. Budget is about balanced (-$30)
      2. TCA Budget 2026 will be voted on by email at a later date
      3. Operating Account Balance  $38,648.60, G&P Account Balance $130,933.12  $102,000 is Endowment
      4. It would help if we could increase our Associate Membership.
  • First Vice President, Chris Murphy
  • The recent MWW were by all accounts a smashing success. Thanks to Paul Cone and his team. 
    1. MWE is underway, thanks to Tommy Glenn and team for all their hard work organizing.
    2. Planning for Nationals 2026 in Eugene appears to be well advanced, with the team meeting regularly.
    3.  All district championships appear to be on track
    4. The site selection committee is considering two sites for 2027 Nationals 
      1.  North Cape YC and Chautauqua.
      2. Site selection committee will evaluate the options and come back to the Governing Board with their recommendation
    5. Interdistricts 2026:
  1. PCCs in Eugene Memorial Day Weekend May 23/24
  2. SE Interdistricts is April 11/12 at Lake Lanier
  3. Great Lakes is June 27/28 in CHicago
  4. Central Southern Interdistricts is mid-June in Little Rock
  5. ACCs is July 11/12 at Westport
  • Second Vice President, Paul Cone
  •  Marketing
        1. 88 tickets for $440 sold for Sailteck compass raffle so far.
        2. Need to send a reminder email about raffle sent before MWE.
      2. iWebsite and Google Group
        1. Working with Jerry Pignolet to move to a new host.  Migration had to be done manually but is mostly complete.
        2. We went from a D to B grade with GTMetrix.
        3. Will continue with performance tweaks.
    2. Third Vice President, Wheeler Sutton
      1. Reminder to RVPs and DGs to promote U26 reimbursement program for upcoming Interdistricts regattas (Blue Chevron) and 2026 Nationals
      2. Standardization of Growth and Promotion fund usage policy
    3. Chief Measurer, Dave Hudson
      1. Corresponded with Allen Boat Works about the status of mast building. Waiting to hear back
      2. Working with Chip Balough on Nationals measurement
        1. Leah Murray, from the Seneca fleet, has volunteered to be part of the measurement committee and is working on a Bagpipe article about making the measurement process go smoothly, from the competitor’s point of view..
        2. Here is the proposed list of items to be measured at Nationals:
          1. Hull weight + CMR 43 corrector weights
  • “J”
  • Mast weight + CMR 60 (mast corrector weights) If we do mast weight, we will need to provide weight for owners to remedy the defect since it may be difficult to source near the venue
  • Distance between gooseneck and main halyard Sheave 23’-2” +0” -2”
  • Sails (not stamped)
  • CB thickness
  • “X”
  • CMR 69 traveler track height (Not TH) Min. 2” above sheer.
      1. Continuing to work on John Howell’s “B” dimension question and tracking down information about digital plans with Ollie Kunz. Basically, the digital plans he created are probably not suitable for any official, accurate measurements of the hull at this time. (Insert long discussion of how Thistles were lofted 80 years ago and how that could be replicated in CAD).
    2.    Digital Race Management Committee 
  1. The DRM committee has met twice via Zoom and discussed the issue of cost, size of events where it can be useful, and effects on R/C and regatta NORs.
  2. We also discussed how the widespread adoption of OCS detection could affect the format of events. This is a far-reaching question about the future size of Nationals and whether we maintain the championship/President’s fleet structure.
  3. We plan to gather more information/data after the two MW events and the Orange Peel regatta. We also would like to re-activate the survey after those two events, and finally, we are considering a Zoom “Town Hall” event open to all to gather more opinions. We have proposed the week of April 20th for that. We can discuss this at the next ExCom.
  • Past President, Warren Duckworth
  • Update on Endowment Fund
        1. The Endowment Committee has regrouped and is meeting regularly with Jess Murphy as Chair, Blair Dryden leading investments, along with Mike Ingham and Sarah Paisley.
        2. Financially, we currently have just over $100,000 in the Endowment. Blair has been evaluating Fidelity and Schwab for investing.
        3. In summary, our immediate priorities are:
          1. Get the funds properly managed and earning interest
          2. Define a clear 3–5 year vision.
          3. Demonstrate early, measurable success with the assets we already have.
  • Update on Fleet Boat Program
        1. The Fleet Boat program is designed as a fleet-driven initiative supported by the class. Fleets manage the boat locally while the class can assist with things like insurance. 
        2. The committee: Chairman Noah Craciun with Mike Ingham, Phil Christman, and Jerry Pignolet. 
        3. The committee is working on designing the program to operate more like a rotating recruiting platform. Instead of assigning a boat to one sailor for a year or two, boats will be managed regionally and made available to sailors for one or two regattas.
        4. The focus is to attract three types of participants: sailors from other classes, current Thistle crew who want to move into skippering, and college or high school sailors.
        5. Our goal is that about 20% of participants who use the boat more than once will ultimately purchase a boat within 12–24 months, and sailors who use the boat regularly will also be expected to become class members.
  • President, Aaron Holland
  • Fleet 72 donation recognition $7200; $2,200 operating, $5,000 G&P
  • Created a committee to draft a digital race management amendment. Dave Hudson (Chair), Phil Gordon, Judy Gesner, Greg Griffin
    1. Re-appointed Scott Griffin as Amendment Chair
    2. Voting and actions since 10/25
      1. Moved for hubcap plaque resale to be set at $50.00. It was seconded and approved.
      2. Moved for the price increase for the TCA pennant/flags to $50 (small) and $100 (large). It was seconded and approved.
      3. Moved for the “Under 26 Dues” to be free for 2026 and will be paid by the G&P. It was seconded and approved.
      4. Vote on Trophy Eligibility List (Nationals) –2025 Eligible Trophies and Keepers
        1. The trophy log did not have all trophies listed. Once we went to ordering trophies, some of the data was lost
      5. Moved to change Bylaw 14 6 e.2a from “race at any district is the qualifier” to read as “race at any district championship is the qualifier.” It was seconded and approved 
    3. Shout out to Stan Smith who got participation from ALL districts for his winter series. 
    4. Charge to solicit feedback from fleet members; encourage discussion
  2.  Old Business- National Race Committee Chair,  Joy Martin
    1. Nationals at Eugene, OR July 25 -31, 2026-Update
      1. The National Race committee has been appointed by Joy Martin and consists of Sara Paisner, Craig Coshalk, Phil Gordon, Kevin Crandall and Joy
      2. Our PRO will be Matt Bounds, who was PRO for the 2021 Cleveland Nationals  as well as several other TCA chevron events.
      3. Our judges panel has been appointed. Thanks to Wayne Balsiger for facilitating the procurement of our panel. Edith Collins will be our chief judge and has applied for a “No Appeal” ruling for our qualification series at Nationals.
      4. The NOR has been published at   https://theclubspot.com/register/regatta/VP4PtPlzgJ/class
      5. This will be a race sense event.
  3.  New Business- No new business
  4.  The next meeting will be at Eugene Nationals, watch for date and time.
  5.  Adjourned at 9:08PM EST
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