TCA Annual Meeting Minutes Jacksonville Nationals
Wednesday May 18, 2022
1.) Meeting called to order at 10:11 AM (EST) by First Vice President Nicole Shedden
Present: Nicole Shedden, Warren Duckworth, Tom Hubbell, Wayne Pignolet, Aaron Holland
Treasurer: Sarah Paisley
Secretary: Dianne Duckworth
Absent: John Howell
Regional Vice Presents: Craig Koschalk GL, Dave Hanson AC
District Governors: Diana Young-Pavia C, Paul Abdullah FL, John Gilmour CA, Wayne Balsinger PNW,
2.) Minutes from the last Annual Meeting in Cleveland, OH: Motioned, and Approved (337) yes
3.) Roll Call of Fleets: 27/54 in person or on zoom; quorum declared based on pre-submitted electronic votes
4.) Officer’s Report:
a. Treasurer, Sarah Paisley
i. Current Total Income for April 2022 is $7,560.00 and current Total Expenses for April 2022 is $
8,072.80 for the TCA.
ii. Bagpipe savings from 6 to 5 issues and less color pages is about $5,000. This will help to cover
the deficit.
b. Secretary, Dianne Duckworth
i. Membership for March 2022 there were 501 memberships and in April 2022 there were 534
memberships.
ii. Clubspot 2 nd upload ready then RVP, DG, & FC will have access.
c. Third Vice President, Aaron Holland
i. June 18-19 will be the Women’s and Junior’s Nationals at Crescent Sailing Yacht Club in Grosse
Pointe, MI. Working on a list of available boats for this event. Would
ii. like new sailors to think about boat ownership.
d. Second Vice President, Warren Duckworth
i. Working with Nicole and Inshore Marketing to put a Regatta results form on our website that
will allow people to submit results so they can be posted more quickly.
ii. Google Group membership is about 450; many of great conversations on a variety of topics
e. Chief Measurer, Wayne Pignolet
i. Measurement Committee: Wayne, John Howell, Howard Mendlovitz, Bob White, and Ollie Kunz
ii. Rewrite for specs and CMR have been submitted for voting
iii. Mast and boom supply is about 2 years, looking for new manufacturers
iv. CMR #65 was clarified and simplified
v. Looking ahead:
1. working on a CAD conversion for a 3-D model of Thistles
2. Researching Jib wire, hiking line for forward crew, and mast shimming
f. Clean Class Incitive: Mike Ingham
i. Program is known as Sailors for the Sea: The Thistle Class is the prototype for 1 Design Sailboats
ii. Thanked Jody from Florida Yacht Club for making Nationals a clean regatta
iii. TCA had 26 clean regattas: we far exceeded other classes in the program
iv. Forward: Help to increase our # of clean regattas, keep metrics (statistics on impact of
clean regattas), and get local fleets and yacht clubs to participate
v. Committee: Mike Ingham, Carin Krafft, Trudy Hudson, Danielle Buehler, Laura Graham, Kerrie
Seberg (Lalli), John Duckworth, John Yingling, Mary Pat McNulty, and Jack Mahaney
g. Past President: Tom Hubbell
i. Officer Slate: Motion Approved
1. President: John Howell, 1 st VP: Nicole Shedden, 2 nd VP: Warren Duckworth, 3 rd VP: Aaron
Holland, Chief Measurer: Wayne Pignolet, Past President: Tom Hubbell
2. Nominating Committee: Tom Hubbell, Kevin Arrow, Kyle Finefrock, Alison Gillum, and JD
Reddaway
h. First Vice President, Nicole Shedden
i. Working with RVPs from Great Lakes, Atlantic Coast and Southeast so Interdistricts don’t
overlap in 2023 and beyond.
ii. The 77 th Nationals will be July 14-21, 2023, hosted by the North Flathead Yacht club on Flathead
Lake in Somers, Montana. They’re already planning childcare, tent and RV camping, green
regatta; info will be on the TCA website.
iii. Looking for Nationals venues for 2024 and beyond; Chautauqua has mentioned interest,
and we’re going to talk to Sayville.
iv. Read President John Howell’s report.
1. Thanked Nicole Shedden for taking his place at Nationals, thanked Paul Abdullah and
the FYC for all their work hosting the 2022 Nationals, and the National Race Committee,
Greg Griffin, Kevin Arrow, Aaron Holland, and Tommy Glenn
2. John also thanked his officers for all their hard work this past year.
a. Dianne and Warren Duckworth-reviewing all boat registrations
b. Sarah Pasley- reconciling the books over a 10 year period
c. Tom Hubbell and committee- working on the constitution updates
d. Wayne Pignolet and committee- working on specs and CMR’s updates
e. Aaron Holland- with Women’s and Jr.’s Nationals
3. Thanked Tom, Alison Gillum, Kyle Finefrock, JD Reddaway and Kevin Arrow for updating
the Constitution and Bylaws, making them current and consistent with class behaviors.
Thanked Scott Griffin, Amendments Chair, for processing amendments efficiently
4. Electronic voting and validation have gone without any significant difficulties. Reaching
3/4 and 2/3 thresholds for the amendments have been extremely challenging. The class
may need to review the thresholds required by the Constitution since these thresholds
are VERY DIFFICULT to achieve.
5. John also reported that the TCA is in excellent shape.
5.) Ratification and revocation of charters, Nicole Shedden
a. The Delta district has 0 fleets, so the governing board voted to suspend the district during its March
2022 meeting. If the district gains a fleet, we can vote to reinstate it.
b. Charter reinstatement:
i. Sandusky has threshold of 3. DG Tim Vining looking for FC
ii. Fleet 72 in Memphis expects to have 3 dues-paid boats, so the GB may be able to vote to renew
fleet 72 at the next GB meeting
c. Motion was made to put these fleets on probation in accordance with the bylaws. Motion Carried
i. Baltimore Fleet: 28, District: CA
ii. Chicago Fleet 44, District: LM
iii. Tennessee Valley Fleet 45, District SA
iv. Razorback Fleet 146, District: MA
d. Motion made to delay action on fleets 96, 113, and 139. Believe fleets will maintain at least 3 active
members with boats. Motioned Carried
6.) Ratification of executive committee rulings: The following were ratified by the GB at the March 2, 2022, GB
meeting
a. Ruled to hold Women’s and Junior Nationals on a separate weekend (10/13/21)
b. Ruled to make Bagpipe changes: 5 issues (not 6) saving up to $4,000/yr. (12/16/21)
c. Ruled on Measurement Committee: Bob White, John Howell, Ollie Kunz, and Howard Mendlovitz.
(2/23/22)
d. Ruled to clarify CMR #65 on electronic compasses (2/23/22)
e. Ruled to approve extension of roles from 30 days before Annual Meeting to the day before the meeting
to allow members to pay dues and vote. This was done by email vote.
7.) Unfinished business: None
8.) Instructions to Measurement Committee: None
9.) New Business
a. Voting Results of UPDATED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
i. Constitution: Passed by 340 yes votes and 1 vote against out of 442 voting members (required
3/4 positive vote to pass)
1. Amendment 14.5.e.i, New Constitution and Bylaws take effect at the end of Nationals,
May 22. 2022 (the amendment to 14.5.e.i. adds past Thistle National Champions to a list
of Automatic Nationals Qualifiers).
2. Excom extends huge thank you to FC and DG who made sure their members voted
3. Constitution passed, so Bylaws (updated and Approved by GB March 12, 2022) pass
4. New Constitution and Bylaws will be posted on the TCA website in “Class Resources”
section
ii. 2022 CMR and Materials replace: Passed by 335 yes votes out of 442 voting members (required
2/3 positive vote to pass)
b. Ian Hunter: have more races at MWE, MWW, and Nationals; make those regattas shorter or over
weekends to make it easier for people with less vacation
c. Ben France: agrees with more races, shorter regattas. Would join a committee to investigate more races
at MWW, MWE, and Nationals, he likes trying different things, like Nationals in May
d. Dates for MWW: Mike Poltorak reported no dates at this time
e. Election of New Officers: Slate Passed
i. President: John Howell
ii. First VP: Nicole Shedden
iii. Second VP: Warren Duckworth
iv. Third VP: Aaron Holland
v. Chief Measurer: Wayne Pignolet
10.) Meeting Adjourned: 11:07 AM (EST)
