Minutes from the Nov. 12, 2011, Y-Knot Board of Managers’ annual meeting at YMCA Camp Chingachgook, Pilot Knob, NY, are submitted for consideration as follows: In attendance were Mark Carnevale (President), Spencer Raggio, Becky Bonn, Don Miller (Vice President), Dave Whalen, Scott Stewart (Vice President), Rick Irvine (Treasurer), Keith Edwards (YMCA Camp Chingachgook liaison), Billy Rankin (YMCA Camp Chingachgook) and Dan Byrnes (Secretary).
Minutes from the June 14 and August 18 meetings were read and approved.
Rick Irvine provided the Treasurer’s report and said the program ended up on the positive side by $2,508. Rick pointed out that some donations (Stewart’s Shops, for example) were listed under Member Dues. We agreed that those monies would need to be re-categorized.
We discussed one matter that at the Regatta, the program was charged $35.00 for each volunteer, for example, whether or not a person actually ate at the camp during the two-day Regatta. After discussion we agreed that this was a convenient way to account for the terrific food the Camp provides. This method of compensating the Camp for the food was better than trying to hand out and collect tickets or check names off of lists. Any difference in funds would be negligible.
Regarding boat maintenance, Keith said that on Oct. 4 when Mark Carnevale came up to the Camp to charter one of the Martin 16s, another pintel failed in a gudgeon disabling the boat’s rudder. We may be looking at a situation where we’ve reached the fatigue limit on that particular part for all of the boats, because we had the same failure during the Regatta. (Keith, by the way, had that gudgeon repaired and the boat back on the water in about an hour.) We agreed to pick up the topic of preventative maintenance at future meetings.
As to sailing operations, right now Y-Knot uses radios provided by the Camp. They work fine and are waterproof, but they use the same system as local fire and police departments use, not the frequency shared by the Camp’s operations. Spencer suggested we should just use ordinary Marine Radios and use Channel 16, which is what the nearby marinas monitor. We discussed the matter and decided to ask the Camp to commit to new water proof radios for Y-Knot to use that share the private frequency that the rest of the Camp staff listens to.
Keith proposed installing a new, larger bilge pump in each Martin 16, but placing it within reach of the companion in the rear seat. If the companion can pump without having to lean over into the front seat, then it would be possible to handle water coming in over the cuddy or gunwales more readily. Keith has his eye on a Guzzler 500 gpm pump that costs about $30 each. He said they have a very short stroke. We agreed that this is a great idea.
We have to replace one of the slings we use to lift sailors into and out of the boats, because it is torn. Keith would like to propose we get 3 new slings to enhance our ability to get all the boats out racing at the same time. Right now we have 6 slings, 3 mediums and 3 larges. Keith quoted a price of $250 each from Bruce Jackson, at a company called Barrier Free. The Board gave Keith the go ahead to spend $750 on three slings, two large and one medium.
The Board discussed a field trip to Piers Park Community Sailing Center in Boston, which also has an adaptive sailing program run by Maureen McKinnon-Tucker. We would like to charter a bus as it may be worth an overnight trip. Everyone agreed this is something we may try to schedule for next summer.
Do we need new sails? There were complaints about the sails used during the Regattas. The problem is that we bought three new sails two years ago, but there was still one boat at the Regatta that had a poor set of sails. We would like to buy at least one new set of sails, which would cost roughly $1,300. We also need to replace the roller furling jib on No Limit, and some of that cost can be shared by the Camp from its waterfront boat repair budget.
Dave Whalen brought up the Freedom auto helm with its battery motor that mounts on the tiller. It was made by BJ, a friend and volunteer of Y-Knot’s and allows joy stick control of the Freedom. Dave said want to tell more people about it and he’d like to see more people use it. It needs a 12 volt marine battery, and Keith said we have a couple of extra ones lying around. Dave asked that we arrange to have some photography or video taken so we can promote the use of it. The Board thanks BJ for his initiative and work and agreed the use of the auto helm should be promoted.
We also discussed getting the sip and puff controller into greater use. There’s a trick to zero-ing out the settings for the job and main sheets. Jennifer Davies sent a video on how to do that.
Keith presented a schedule of sailing days for 2012. We will host regular sailing days on Sat., May 19; Sun., May 27; Sat., June 9; Sat., June 16; Sun., July 1; Tues., July 3; Sat., July 7; Sun., July 15; Tues., July 31; Sat., Aug. 11, and Sun., Sept. 16.
The Board agreed to the following eight dates for its 2012 meetings: Tues, Jan. 17; Tues., Feb. 21; Tues., Mar. 20; Tues., April 17; Tues., May 15; Tues., June 19; Tues., Aug. 21; Sat., Nov. 10.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Clifton Park Library, at 6:00 PM.
Submitted by Dan Byrnes, January 17, 2012.
Note: http://piersparksailing.org/adaptive-sailing is the URL for the Adaptive Sailing program at the Piers Park Sailing Center, Boston.