Fairwind Class Newsletter - 8/8/02
Hello again, fellow Fairwind sailors. Sorry that this newsletter is a few
days late, but I wanted to wait until the Notice of Race for the Nationals was
ready to be included. There is a lot of great news this month. Enjoy!
Regattas:
The regatta season is upon us. Now is your chance to match skills with other
Fairwind sailors from around the country. There are currently two regattas that
are scheduled - the Region 4 Championship and the National Championship.
Region 4 Championships
The deadline is rapidly approaching for entries for the Region 4
Championship Regatta. The Regatta will be held on August 17th up in Edina
Minnesota. If you want to participate in this regatta you will need to fill out
an entry form and get it in the mail tomorrow. Edina has posted all of the
forms and information (including maps) on their website at http://www.emyc.org/.
This will be our very first AMYA event. I’m sure they will make it a good
one. If you have any questions or have trouble getting the forms, feel free to
contact either myself or Terry Mackey from Edina MYC.
National Championships
My club, Ann Arbor MYC, is hosting the National Championship on September
28th and 29th in Ann Arbor Michigan. It should be a great time to hold a
regatta. I have attached a NOR for this regatta with this email. I am going to
try and get this posted somewhere on the internet as well (perhaps on Rick’s
site, or the AMYA site). This regatta is going to be held at Gallup Park here
in Ann Arbor. This is a beautiful park on the Huron River (we will be racing in
a pond rather than the river itself). There are biking trails, paddleboats and
canoes for rent and play areas for the kids. Feel free to bring the whole
family to this event - there is plenty to do for everyone.
Remember that if you plan on competing in either of these regattas (or any
class regatta) you will need to be an AMYA member.
Club News
I have asked the fleet captains for each of our clubs to tell us a little
bit about what is going on in their local clubs this summer. Hopefully, this
will turn into a regular part of the class newsletter. If you have a group or a
club that is sailing on a regular basis and you would like to have your news
included in the class newsletter, please feel free to send me an email letting
me know what is going on in your neck of the woods.
News from Edina Model Yacht Club (EMYC) of Minnesota:
Happy to announce we're hosting the Fairwind Region 4 Championship on August
17, 2002. This will be the first ever AMYA sanctioned event for this new
class. This event has encouraged owners to bring out their dusty rigs and
begin to tune and race them on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lately we've
been having 6-8 boats on the water...we hope to get 20+ races in before the
Regionals.
A new member bought a used, but well-prepared Fairwind from a current member
who "had too many boats". He likes it much better than the Laser
he has since sold. Welcome aboard Judd!
One of our strong competitors has been transferred to Houston...he hopes to
start something there with Fairwinds. It appears IOMs are the boat of choice
right now. Our loss is their gain. Good luck Jerry!
Interest is peaking at EMYC after a respite of a couple years. Seems that
becoming a recognized class by the AMYA has stimulated some curiosity. The
fleet is alive and growing in Minnesota.
Hoping we all get those boats out on the water and start sailing/racing.
We're beginning at sea level...rules are being reviewed,
regattas organized, etc.. This is a perfect time to get involved, voice your
opinion, and have some fun. Thanks to everyone that helped establish the
Fairwind class.
PS. If you have a boat or know of one looking for a new home contact me. We
have sailors looking, thanks.
Terry Mackey <terry@mackeyszar.com>.
I hope to include some more stories from the clubs around the country in
future newsletters. If you have racing news to contribute, feel free to send it
to me and I will include it.
Membership
Our official class membership continues to grow. Including the folks that
have recently applied for AMYA membership, we now have 39 AMYA members. I have
gotten a bunch of inquiries based on the article in MY issue #127. I have been
conversing with several people that are in the process of building a boat and
plan to join soon. I have directed several people just this week to the website
to select a number. Also, it seems like several people are busy joining the
class and the AMYA so that they can compete in the upcoming regattas.
Including our non-AMYA class members on the registry, we have to 72 US boats
owned by 69 owners and 10 boats overseas.
Sail Numbers:
Previously, I mentioned that I would ask each of you to pay the $5.00 one
time registration fee for your sail numbers regardless of your AMYA status.
Several people have done so already (mostly the new registrations). I still
plan to send out noticies to everyone, but with all the work I have been doing
for the Nationals and the rules, I have not had a chance to work on that yet. I
hope to get some time to work on this real soon, so hold tight.
If any of you are worried about paying this $5.00 fee in order to compete in
a regatta, relax. For the Nationals, we will be accepting payment of this fee
at the time of regatta registration (it will save you the $0.37). I have not
yet talked to Terry about this, but I hope that he can do the same at the
Region 4 champs.
Like I mentioned before, I would encourage each of you to wait until I send
you a notice. I have the records from the AMYA as to who has already paid this
fee and those of you who paid this fee as part of joining the AMYA are all set.
Some of you may have even forgotten that you paid the AMYA. My policy is still
going to be to give you until January of 2003 to pay this fee (unless you are
competing in a regatta).
Rules:
We are currently conducting voting on the second set of rule changes. I hope
to have this wrapped up in a few days. The response has been good and we are
very close to passing all the proposals. Once we have a set of rules based on
the results this votes, I will get the official rules updated. Remember that
the “official” rules are the ones posted on the AMYA website on our class
page. Always refer to these rules if you have any questions about the latest
status.
Class Sail Dimensions (Rule 6.0):
I have gotten some good feedback from the mebership on how best to resolve
the rule on the sail size. Recall that the problem is that some suits of stock
sails violate our current maximum sail dimensions. The consensus seems to be
that it would be best to simply state that all kit sails are legal and that
only aftermarket sails need to conform to the sail dimensions listed in the
rules. Several people felt that the dimensions listed in Appendix #2 should be
updated to reflect the average size of the kit sails with a small margin (~5mm)
added to each dimension. I personally like this approach. Since aftermarket
sails are generally going to be made very close to the maximum legal size, this
rule would force those sails to conform to the average size of a kit sail.
Plus, as the de facto class measurer, I would only have to worry about
measuring aftermarket sails, which would save me a bit of work before any major
event. Plus, we do not want to be asking people to “re-cut” the sails that
came in their kit.
The only major problem with this approach is that there are many aftermarket
sails out there that were cut before the rules were in effect. These sails were
more than likely cut using the owner’s kit sail as a template. So it is
possible that these sails were based on a kit sail that does not meet the
rules. I would like to have all these “old” sails conform to the new rule
once it is in effect. But, I feel that it is only fair to give people a grace
period to perform such modifications. Most owners probably do not want to take
a scissors to their sails the morning of a major regatta. Many, I suspect,
would prefer to send their sails back to their sail maker to get the changes
made. Thus, I think it is fair to establish a grace period during which all
older sails will be given a chance to comply with the new rule.
So here is the plan: I will develop a new set of measurements based on the
average of all the kit sails that I am able to measure (with a small margin
added). I will re-word the Rule 6.0 to make all kit sails legal and apply the
measurement rule only to aftermarket sails. I will also add some wording to
indicate that all aftermarket sails made after a certain date must conform to
the new rule and that all sails made before that date will be given a grace
period to comply. I should have this new rule ready for discussion and vote by
the class about the time that the current vote is wrapping up. Hopefully this
new sail rule will be in place by the time that I have to measure sails for the
Nationals.
In an effort to find the “average” sail size, I have been busy measuring
as many suits of stock sails as I can get my hands on. My goal is to determine
what the “average” sail size is for the Kyosho sails and how much
variability there is around that average. I have measured about 16 sails to
date and would like to get a few more to have a comfortable statistical basis
for the average size. There are a couple of guys in my area that have new kits
and have not put them together yet, so I hope to be able to measure those sails
and have a good average number very soon.
After clearing up the sail size rule, I think our class rules will be in
really good shape. So, I would like to start conforming to the standard
practice in the AMYA for how rule changes are handled. I am still waiting for
some details from the AMYA on exactly how this works. Once I get it, I will
share it with you.
Finances:
The financial statement shows that we have a positive balance of $25.00 to
date. I still have not yet received the requested disbursement from the AMYA
for the money they have been holding on our behalf from people who paid their
boat registration fees to the AMYA. But we do not yet have any real expenses,
so I am not in a panic to collect that money. By the time we need it, I am
confident that it will be here.
Well, I wish you all fair winds in your summer sailing. Feel free to contact
me about any class issues.
Will Gorgen
Fairwind Class Secretary
Smart Groups web site: http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/fairwind
Our new Fairwind Class Rules
version 1.0
Fairwind Class Newsletter – 7/1/02
Hello again, fellow Fairwind sailors. This is the second monthly newsletter
for our class. I didn’t get much feedback on the first newsletter. I hope
that means that you were satisfied and not that you used it to line your trash
bins….
Regattas:
The big news this month is that Edina MYC has solidified their plans for the
Region 4 Championships. The Regatta will be held on August 17th up in
Edina Minnesota. I have attached the notice of race and entry form to this
email. If you don’t have access to MS Word, or for whatever reason would like
a hard copy mailed to you, send me a note and I will mail you these forms.
Edina has also posted all of the forms and information (including maps) on
their website at http://www.emyc.org/. It
looks like this will be our very first AMYA event. I’m sure they will make it
a good one. If you have any questions, feel free to contact either myself or
Terry Mackey from Edina MYC.
My club, Ann Arbor MYC, is busy sorting out all the details in our bid to
host the National Championship. Tentatively, the date will be September 28th
and 29th in Ann Arbor Michigan. It should be a great time to hold a regatta.
For those of that might be thinking of squeezing in a Michigan football game
while you are here, you are out of luck; we intentionally are scheduling the
regatta for a weekend when they are out of town (the traffic and hotel rates
become unbearable on game weekend). But rest assured, there will be plenty of
Michigan football t-shirts for sale in any one of several local shops. I will
be sending out more details when we have them available.
Remember that if you plan on competing in either of these regattas (or any
class regatta) you will need to be an AMYA member. It will be possible to join
at the event, but it would be a lot easier on all of us to join ahead of time.
Membership
Our official class membership has grown to 35 AMYA members after adding
Kerry Pebbles to our list this month. Welcome to our class Kerry. I expect to
see a minor groundswell once MY issue #127 hits the newsstands and folks that
have not found us on the internet get a chance to read our article and figure
out how to contact us. Fasten your seatbelts…
Including our non-AMYA class members on the registry, we have grown slightly
to 64 US boats owned by 60 owners and 10 boats overseas.
Sail Numbers:
Last month, I mentioned that I would ask each of you to pay the $5.00 one
time registration fee for your sail numbers regardless of your AMYA status. I
hope that most of you will find AMYA membership to be a good investment, but
even if you can’t, I hope you think that a one time $5.00 fee is acceptable
to have a class sail number. These fees will be used to pay class expenses, so
you should see the benefits.
I was not expecting to see anyone pay this fee until I got around to sending
out specific notices. But low and behold, I received a check in the mail from
Joe Bensinger. Thanks Joe! Well, this forced me to go out and buy a ledger book
and to write his name down in that book and put a credit next to his name for
the $5.00 fee. So Joe has broken the ice. I am now fully equipped to accept
registration fees.
I would encourage each of you to wait until I send you a notice. I have the
records from the AMYA as to who has already paid this fee and those of you who
paid this fee as part of joining the AMYA are all set. Some of you may have
even forgotten that you paid the AMYA. Like I mentioned last month, I will be
sending out a notice to the rest of you indicating that you have not paid. My
policy is still going to be to give you until January of 2003 to pay this fee.
But if you want to pay it once you get your notice, then I will not have to
remind you again next year.
Yacht Clubs:
We have not added any yacht clubs to our list of four AMYA recognized model
yacht clubs that race Fairwinds. They are the Sierra MYC (#55) in California,
the Ann Arbor MYC (#138) in Michigan, the Edina MYC (#192) in Minnesota and the
Villages RC Model Boat Club (#208) in Florida. I’m sure there are more clubs
out there. If you belong to a model yacht club and race your boat there let me
know what club it is. Also let me know if your club has a fleet captain for the
Fairwind class.
Rules:
As I mentioned last month, I will be conducting 2 votes on the rules. The
first vote is going on right now and is addressing very minor changes to the
rules (typos mainly, and a few clarifications). There has been a bit more
debate on these changes than I had anticipated, but mainly it is discussion
about issues that will be addressed in the second vote. I do not want to ramrod
anything through the membership, but I’d like to get these issues fixed as
soon as possible in order to help clarify some questions that people have come
to me with as they build their boats. I expect to have the results of this
first vote by mid July. As the voting stands right now it looks like most of
the changes will pass.
A second vote will cover some more substantive changes. There have been some
requests for rule changes that would change the intent of the rule. For
example, several people have asked about extending the length of the mast
crane. There are several others. These changes should be debated and time
should be given for due consideration. So I will allow a longer period for
discussion of these rule changes. I hope to conduct this discussion and vote
later this month.
One rule change that is not included in the current vote is an issue brought
up by the AMYA. They expressed some concerns that we mentioned the name of
Kyosho in our rules. This is in apparent violation with the AMYA bylaws (bylaw
7.13). In my discussions with them, I mentioned that several other class rules
mention the boat builder by name. The executive board of the AMYA will be
discussing how to handle this issue for our class as well as these other
classes. This may require a wording change to our class rules to remove the
name of Kyosho. I have been instructed to sit tight until they have had a
chance to discuss this.
I had been hoping to include this change with a list of other small changes
that are currently being voted on. But since the AMYA is still discussing this,
I have decided to move forward with a discussion and vote on the rest of the
changes and will issue a separate vote for the Kyosho issue when and if the
AMYA decides we need to change it.
I have sent out the email to the AMYA class members for the first vote,
which will cover the clarification rewordings. Since only AMYA members can vote
on these issues, I am sending emails only to the AMYA members with the drafted
rule changes. But, I will update everyone in the class on the rules status as
they change.
Class Sail Dimensions (Rule 6.0)
The other big rule issue that has come up recently is that some suits of
stock sails violate our current maximum sail dimensions. This was pointed out
to me by Will Hartje and since then I have measured a few other sails that are
larger than spec. There seems to be quite a bit of variability in sail sizes in
these kit sails. Out of the 6 suits of kit sails that I have measured only 2
jibs and 1 mainsail measure in.
This rule was never intended to outlaw sails that came in the kit. So, we
have a couple of options. We can simply increase the maximum dimensions to
include the range of sail sizes for kit sails. Or we could simply state that
all kit sails are legal and that only aftermarket sails need to conform to the
sail dimensions listed in the rules. The difficulty with the second option is
that it may be hard to tell which sails are from the kit and which are not.
I am still in the process of measuring the sails of the local sailors to try
and figure out how much size variation there is in the sails. In the meantime,
I would like to hear opinions on how people want to handle this. I am throwing
this issue out to the class as a whole (rather than just the AMYA members)
partly because I wanted to make everyone aware of this, and partly because I
consider this a big enough issue that everyone should get a chance to discuss
it. Ultimately, only the AMYA members will be given a chance to vote on the
actual rule change, but I would like to get feeling from the class as a whole
which way we should handle this. Should we increase the maximum sail dimensions
to encompass all factory sails? Or should we only apply the sail measurement
rule to non-Kyosho sails? Let me know what you think.
Finances:
The financial statement shows that we have a positive balance of $5.00 to
date (thanks Joe). In addition I have requested a disbursement from the AMYA
for the money they have been holding on our behalf from people who paid their
boat registration fees to the AMYA. This disbursement should be $75.00 (15
boats have been paid for according to my records). The funny part is that I
paid my fee to the AMYA, so now I am waiting to receive the money that I sent
them 6 months ago.
I didn’t get many suggestions on things that we should consider spending
this money on. One member suggested a keg tap (thanks Pete). A few other
suggestions came in ways to handle weighing boats with cheaper alternatives to
scales. Like I mentioned before, we don’t need to spend all our money, but if
there are things that will help our class to thrive and grow and function more
easily, we should consider spending our money on those things. Please send me
your suggestions. This is our money. Let’s put it to good use.
Masts
I have been pretty disappointed with the bend characteristics of the stock
2-piece mast. By the same token, I am not that interested in some of the simple
round masts that are available to replace it. I like having a sail track and
boltrope luff for my mainsail. There is just something not quite pleasing about
sail ties or clips around the mast. So, I've been looking into finding a
one-piece mast with a sail groove that complies with our class rules.
I started with Kyosho asking if they could make 48" length sections of
their extrusion available as a replacement part. I have not gotten a reply from
them yet. I'm guessing they are not interested.
So I scoured the web and found that SAILSetc over in the UK makes a 9.7mm round
aluminum alloy mast section with a sail groove (you can see a picture of this
mast section at http://www.gbmy.com/5.jpg).
I've sent them a note asking for some more details on fittings that they stock
(mast crane, gooseneck, spreaders, etc). They are sending me a catalog along
with a small length of the mast section. I will take a look at the section and
see if it would be possible to use the mast base / gooseneck fitting from the
kit with this mast.
The mast section itself is relatively cheap - Around $9 (depending on the
current exchange rate) which is very reasonable. But shipping one mast section
in a tube from the UK will cost about $40. But guess what? Shipping 10 mast
sections from the UK will also cost about $40. It is the size of the tube, not
the weight that is driving the shipping cost.
As far as a fully rigged mast goes, that will cost a bit more because of the
cost of the components. It looks like the gooseneck will be the most expensive
part at around $17 with another $6 for spreaders and $1 for a mast crane. There
may be a couple of other parts that are needed as well, but the cost of the
mast should be around $35 before shipping.
Here's the bottom line. If I can find 9 people that want to go in with this
with me, the shipping cost would be around $4.00 per mast rather than $40. OK,
I would need to ship it from me to you once it gets here from the UK, but that
cost should be a lot lower than $40! And if you can buddy up with a group local
to you that want, say, 3 masts then the shipping cost from me to you could be
split 3 ways as well. They can ship 10 masts in one tube, so the real price
break (on shipping) occurs at multiples of 10. If you can get a group together
near you that wants a total of 10 masts, I can give you the contact information
and you can have those masts shipped straight to you. It may even work out that
a smaller group of say 5 or 6 masts would be cheaper to ship direct from the UK
to you rather than shipping to me and then to you. We can figure that out once
people decide if they want one.
I am not trying to get into the business of becoming a local distributor of
masts for those guys. Rather, I am looking to save a few bucks on shipping for
a mast that I am probably going to buy and hopefully offer something to you,
the members of this class, that you might be interested in.
Like I said above, I am going to assess whether the stock Kyosho fittings
will work with this mast. I will give you my assessment of that in my next
newsletter (assuming I get the section piece and have a chance to see how it
all fits). At that point, I will have a better idea of what other components
people should consider buying with their mast. Right now, I’d like to get a
feel for interest level. If anyone is interested in going in on this with me,
let me know. We can work out the details later.
Well, I wish you all fair winds in your summer sailing. Feel free to contact
me about any class issues.
Will Gorgen wgorgen@williams-int.com
Fairwind Class Secretary
... Prior Month Newsletter ...
Fairwind Class Newsletter - 6/1/02
Greetings fellow Fairwind sailors. This is the first of hopefully monthly
newsletters that I will be sending out to bring you up to speed on class
business. Hopefully this newsletter will help to facilitate the process of
taking a bunch of local sailors and clubs and turn us into a national class.
AMYA Class Status:
We are now an official AMYA one design class. I never really got a notice
from the AMYA stating what date we became recognized, but somewhere along the
line it happened. I’ve had a few chats with various members of the AMYA
executive board and we seem to have started off on a pretty good foot with
them. Thanks to all of you for your help in making this happen. Those of you
with AMYA memberships can read all about class recognition in Model Yachting
issue #127.
We have been given a class page on the AMYA website http://www.amya.us/fairwind.html.
A photo of yours truly standing next to my boat has been affixed to the top of
that page. Hopefully that same picture will not be pinned to your dartboards or
burned in effigy. We will continue to maintain our web presence with Rick
Moynahan’s website http://fairwind.datsol.com/ as well as our Smartgroups
site http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/fairwind. If you have not been to those
sites lately, check them out. There is a lot of great new stuff there.
Membership
Our official class membership has grown to 34 AMYA members. I am still in
the process of reconciling our list with the AMYA list. They have a few people
on their list that have not made contact with me through the website registries
and we have a few people on our registries that the AMYA does not know own
Fairwinds. Hopefully we will be all straightened out soon and will keep
growing.
I should point out that as an AMYA class, participation at class events such
as regional or national championship regattas requires AMYA membership.
Including our non-AMYA class members on the registry, we now have 62 US
boats owned by 59 owners and 10 boats overseas. I believe that this is just the
tip of the iceberg. People are being added on a daily basis and once the
announcement of the Fairwind class recognition appears in Model Yachting
magazine, I expect to get calls from quite a few more folks.
By the way, I am attempting to keep a list of all class members with their
contact information (address, email, phone number, etc.). I know that many of
you have more than one address (summer/winter, etc.) and more than one email
(home/work). I would like to keep track of this info so that we know how to
reach you. If you fall into one of these categories, let me know what your
other address is and when it is valid so that I can keep in touch with you as
you move around. If you would rather not have your address posted on any of our
websites, let me know and I will keep your info confidential. Also, if your
address changes, please let me know so that I can update my records. I plan to
do most of my communicating through email but every now and then snail mail may
be needed as well.
Sail Numbers:
As most of you are aware, we have been issuing sail numbers on Rick Moynahan’s
website http://fairwind.datsol.com/ for a few years now. Numbers have been
given to both AMYA members as well as non-AMYA members. According to AMYA
bylaws, number should only be issued to AMYA members for AMYA classes. I’m
not about to upset the apple cart by revoking anyone’s number, so don’t
worry about that. But there are some changes I would like to make.
First of all, the AMYA charges a one time $5.00 fee to register your boat
and receive your sail number. This is over and above the $25.00 annual
membership fee to be an AMYA member. The $5.00 that the AMYA collects goes
directly to the class to support class activities, so it is money that comes
right back to you. I am not going to force everyone to join the AMYA to remain
part of this class (even though it is a really great investment in our sport).
If you want to participate in an AMYA sanctioned regatta such as a class
regional or national championship, you will need to join the AMYA and pay for
your sail number, but for local sailors, that issue will be up to your local
club to decide. However, I am going to ask each of you to pay the $5.00 one
time registration fee.
Those of you paid this fee as part of joining the AMYA are all set. I have a
list from the AMYA of who has paid for numbers and who has not. I will be
sending out a notice to the rest of you indicating that you will need to pay
this boat registration fee in order to hold onto your sail number. Now before
you groan too loudly, I am going to give you until January of 2003 to pay this
fee (no, my real job is not as a mattress salesman). This will allow those of
you that choose to join the AMYA to include this fee with your AMYA dues and
write one check instead of two. This will also allow those of you that are AMYA
members, but did not pay the fee, to pay it when you renew this winter.
Yacht Clubs:
Currently I have only four AMYA recognized model yacht clubs that race
Fairwinds. They are Sierra MYC (#55) in California, Ann Arbor MYC (#116) in
Michigan, Edina MYC (#192) in Minnesota and the Villages RC Model Boat Club
(#208) in Florida. I’m sure there are more clubs out there, but so far these
are the only ones that I have made contact with. It is a good start, and I’m
sure the list will grow from here. If you belong to a model yacht club and race
your boat there let me know what club it is. Also let me know if your club has
a fleet captain for the Fairwind class.
Regattas:
We got a late start on scheduling regattas this year because our class came
into existence relatively late in the spring. With only four clubs in three
regions, we don’t have a lot of options for who can host our regional and
national championship regattas. So far, Edina MYC has offered to host the
Region #4 champs. Sierra MYC is pondering the Region #6 champs. My home club,
Ann Arbor MYC, is talking about hosting the national championships. So far no
dates have been set for any of these regattas. As soon as any of these regatta
dates become firm, I will let everyone know.
Rules:
The rules can now be found in several places on the internet. Those of you
that work for companies who have been certified under the ISO 9000 regulations
know that it is not good to have too many copies of official documents floating
around. I have been working with the webmaster for the AMYA and we have decided
to make the AMYA class page the “official” set of rules. The rules that are
available from Rick’s website and the Smartgroups site will be kept for
reference, and we will make every effort to keep them up to date. But if an
issue arises where you need the official rules, you will want to go to the AMYA
class page.
Now that folks are starting to actually use the class rules, a few apparent
conflicts and some vague areas have been found. In addition to that there have
been some requests for substantive rule changes. I have been drafting some
changes to the rules to address these concerns. The AMYA had some concerns as
well, and I am still waiting for some feedback from them on what we need to do
to fix our rules. I will be conducting 2 votes on the rules.
The first vote will cover the clarification rewordings. Hopefully there will
not be much debate on these changes. They do not change the rule at all, only
clarify what the original intent of the rules were. For example, Rule 6.0
references Appendix #1 for the sail diagrams. But the sail diagram is in
Appendix #2. Oops! So I want to change the wording of Rule 6.0 to reference the
correct appendix. There are about half a dozen changes like this that I have
drafted. I do not want to ramrod anything through the membership, but I’d
like to get these issues fixed as soon as possible in order to help clarify
some questions that people have come to me with as they build their boats.
The second vote will cover some more substantive changes. There have been
some requests for rule changes that would change the intent of the rule. For
example, several people have asked about extending the length of the mast
crane. These changes should be debated and time should be given for due
consideration. So I will allow a longer period for discussion of these rule
changes.
Since only AMYA members can vote on these issues, I will be sending separate
emails to the AMYA members with the drafted rule changes. I am waiting for 2
email addresses from the AMYA for two members, but once I have that I will be
sending those emails out. Hopefully by the time the next newsletter comes out,
we will have finished the first vote and be in the midst of a debate on the
second vote. I will update everyone in the class on the rules status at that
point.
Finances:
So far we have no finances. In theory, we have some money coming to us from
the AMYA (from people who have paid for their sail numbers through them) and
eventually we will have some money from the sail number fees that I collect. We
will not get much money from these collections (60 boats x $5 = $300) and since
these are one time fees, we need to make them last.
There are a few things I think the class should invest in. One item would be
a scale that could be used at all class events to weigh in the boats. This
scale would be the official class scale and would be shipped from event to
event to support the activities of the designated measurer for each event.
Another item would be a sail template that would be used to measure the sails.
I’ve not done any research on those items yet, but I am confident that we can
get some very accurate equipment for a modest cost.
Assuming this email distribution works out as well as I think it will, we
should not have much by way of mailing expenses. I cannot really think of much
else that we would have for expenses.
I’m open to any suggestions on other things that we should consider owning
as a class. We don’t need to spend all our money, but if there are things
that will help our class to thrive and grow and function more easily, we should
consider spending our money on those things.
Well, I wish you all fair winds in your summer sailing. Feel free to contact
me about any class issues.
Will Gorgen wgorgen@williams-int.com
Fairwind Class Secretary
