Minutes from August 17, 2010, Y-Knot Board meeting in Clifton Park.
In attendance were Scott Stewart (Vice President), Mark Carnevale (President), Don Miller (Vice President), Rick Irvine (Treasurer), George Painter (acting YMCA Camp Chingachgook liaison) and Dan Byrnes(Secretary).
The June 15 minutes were reviewed by Spencer and approved by the Board.
Keith Edwards’ synopsis from the North Country Access Clayton event and Marc Carnevale’s report on AQVA in Montreal have been posted on the web site.
At Clayton, Don says he took out about 6 people and there were other volunteers there who took out maybe another 20 people. Don reported that two paraplegic sailors from Buffalo took the Martins out at the same time. The wind built from mild to the 15-20 knot range and they turned out to be knowledgeable about bringing on the Cunningham and outhaul and began racing very seriously. Don said that was pretty impressive to see these sailors pushing the boats this way.
Marc Carnevale reported based on a report from Keith Edwards that donations for this year appear to have been pretty strong. George Painter confirmed that we’re in good shape this year as in previous years — including a $1,200 Americade Lake George Rotary grant.
Participation is just about the same as last year, George said, in terms of sailing days. Expenses for traveling to regattas is up a little. Sailors are going to more regattas and that’s good.
Don asked whether there was budget flexibility to help with VHF radios or tarps for the boats. As it is now, the boats fill with rainwater between uses and they’re getting a lot of algae in the bottom and the running rigging. We have covers for traveling, but not for at the docks. George said the answer is we have a budget for equipment and since expenses are pretty much on track, we could spend for equipment whatever the board deems is necessary. The camp has nice tarps on Rainbows and other boats, and we could have something custom made. George thought that would be a good investment while the Martins are sitting at the dock. George agreed to have Keith Edwards check into that.
VHF radios were also discussed. We decided that since sailors sail within sight of the dock and there’s also at least one crash boat on the water at any time, we would be better off keeping track of the sailors visually.
Rick Irvine reported that he and Keith proposed the slogan (“Accessible Sailing”) in six-inch high letters on a 40-inch wide banner to attach to the sails. Keith suggested (Rick said) that we should put the website URL (yknotsailing.org) on the hull. The phrase “Camp Chingachgook, Lake George” will appear on the transom.
Discussion came up with options such as Y-Knot Sailing or YKnot Sailing. George said it makes sense to put our web address up on the sail. We agreed to put yknotsailing.org on the sail.
George said that if we put “Camp Chingachgook” anywhere in our art work, it should be presented as YMCA Camp Chingachgook.
Spencer Raggio agreed to look into registering the domain name Y-KnotSailing.org and having it point to yknotsailing.org, to take care of the hyphenated alternative spelling.
Don brought up telltales and whether we could do anything to place them somewhere else on the sails, perhaps lower down, so our sailors could see them more easily. Don agreed to work with Keith to make sure sailors have telltales where they can see them, on shrouds as well as at the luff of the job.
Don said Yankee Marine has agreed to lend us three pontoon boats again and a group will be there again for fishing using two for the pontoon boats.
Also Don asked if we are going to insist on everyone being a companion, or will we let people go out alone if they want. At past regattas, Spencer said, the organizing authority (Y-Knot) has not taken any extra steps to enforce the weight rule, but that the weight rule will be in effect. If anyone were to file a protest, it would be handled according to the Racing Rules of Sailing.
Rick agreed to create a lanyard or a carabineer for a participation gift at the regatta, along with the awards.
Don said that Kyle Lavoy approached him about doing something with the Chowder Cup, a sailing event previously sponsored by the Sagamore and held Memorial Day Weekend. The event was a fundraiser for Y-Knot and tied in to a dinner at the Sagamore Hotel that weekend. It was proposed that if we wanted to organize an event, there’s an opportunity. Don said Kyle thought possibly the Algonquin might be interested in doing something similar. Do we want to form a committee to organize it and promote it? Mark agreed to take the lead and contact possibly interested parties.
Spencer suggested that we should have a formal warning for rare events where a sailor may disregard safety in one way or another. Spencer offered to write a first draft of a generic sort of letter and we will review it at the next meeting.
We discussed the upcoming Volunteer of the Year award and what gift we would select this year. Dan and Rick agreed to research the selection of the recognition gift.
Mary Ellen Rudolph reported to Dan that she had taken the initiative to make small business card sized handouts that invite people to sail with Y-Knot. Dan said he would contact her about getting those into the hands of Don Miller for distribution.
Our Fall Banquet will be at the camp November 6, 2:00, followed by dinner. We will call it SailAbration and have another silent auction. Spencer will contact Nate Dickerson about whether anyone from Corinthian would like to attend. [Note: THIS DATE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO OCTOBER 30, 2010.]
George Painter thanked the board for volunteering and for its time. He presented the latest waterfront plans in development for 6 years where there would be a platform for Y-Knot accessible sailing use. He showed renderings and photos with observation area, accessible via a lift to the 2nd floor. There are plans for 3 hoists, tool storage, and a control center–enough space to possibly handle 40 people in wheelchairs.
It would allow us to double our regatta size — 40 sailors, 20 boats, 2 fleets, even when the YMCA Camp is in session with 250 kids on a summer day. A representative from the NYS Commission on Advocacy for People with Disabilities was acknowledged during George’s presentation.
Plans are under review by the Lake George Park Association and Adirondack Park Agency. The Agency staff did a beautiful job in preparing their recommendation to park commissioners. There will be a hearing and also it will go to the town of Ft. Ann for site plan review. [UPDATE: the site plan has been approved.]
From a volunteers vantage point and working within the club, the space isn’t adequate at all. We spend hours on a hot dock, crammed together. Sometimes people spend an hour waiting to get into a boat. There’s also potential for other water activities — canoes with outriggers, water skiing, with the expanded shore-side space.
George said from the disabled sailors’ perspectives, they want their family and friends to come along and be able to watch. There’s only so much room on a spectator boat. So we need the second floor, and we need a roof for sun and other elements. Both allow for active participation, whether you’re sailing or not, for family members to watch you and for friends to cheer you on. We have 2,000 kids/year at the camp, and now we’ll be able to have 40 people in wheel chairs at a time enjoy beautiful Lake George.
With the new structure, George said, we could have sailing any time the campers are there. So we could sail more often.
Read about the plans in the Glens Falls Post Star.
Dan suggested that Lake George really suffers by lacking a community sailing center. George said this facility would become such a center.
Submitted by Dan Byrnes, 2010-10-29