The SAYRA annual meeting was held in Hilton Head January 28-30th 2011. I was asked to represent the Club this year. I’ve attended in the past but felt a report of why this conference is important and what we learned would help ASC members understand SAYRA, our relationship, what they offer and the support that’s out there. I hope the 2012 event brings more ASC sailors to the conference. Joining the Durant’s for the week-end were the Holders: Jim attended the 5 hour Race Management training session on Friday and the Junior Meetings on Saturday. Elise Annis and John Lovin drove in for Saturday meetings- John the Commodore Meeting and Elise joined Jim Holder at the Junior Meeting.
Friday night was registration and a cocktail party at the hotel. Many clubs had hospitality rooms and Ed and I tried to visit as many as possible to represent ASC as a friendly can-do kind of club. Saturday Morning opened with a general membership meeting. The SAYRA organization was explained, we are District 4 of U.S. Sailing. It was mentioned throughout the week-end that when SAYRA sailors attend US Sailing events we, with the Scholarship funds, are the envy of the Country. Our contributions each year to the Helen Hanley fund enable sailors to attend regional and national events, for juniors to train under expert coaches plus extend many opportunities for training in our region. From the website “The Helen Hanley Memorial Fund: The South Atlantic Yacht Racing Association, through the Helen Hanley Memorial Fund, encourages its members to (1) participate in US SAILING sponsored championship events and (2) conduct and encourage participation in training programs, especially those directed principally toward the development of the sailing abilities of our youth and the training of youth instructors. This encouragement is expressed by means of financial assistance to qualified applicants from this Fund.” Helen Hanley Fund: ASC donated $500.00 to the fund, Ed and I pledged another $50.00 in the name of our new grandson. We raised $12,000 this year; the ante was raised to cover a new woman’s event. http://www.sayra-sailing.com/pages/hhanley.htm#HHtraining Brian Swan will be posting clear information on the Track to the Nationals. If you are thinking of competing and could use some financial support please check this out! I did not know there was a Training Scholarship: Training Scholarship Application US Sailing Level Training Course Fee: Participants in US Sailing training courses who belong to a SAYRA member organization qualify for reimbursement of one half of the early registration course fee upon satisfactory completion of the course, unless the fee was paid or is payable by the member organization. Funding up to $500 may be provided to Instructor Trainers and Regional Training Coordinators who attend the National Sail Training Symposium on behalf of SAYRA. A copy of the certificate of satisfactory completion must be presented with the application for reimbursement under this section. The application for funding under this sections will be reviewed and payment authorized by a sub-committee of the SAYRA Executive Committee made up of the Training and Youth Chairpersons, the Treasurer, and the Commodore of SAYRA. There is a Race Management Seminar is Savannah on February 15th. Open The Junior Program is using Facebook, shutterfly and the SAYRA website to keep in touch with the juniors. I encourage the Augusta Juniors to join in and become a part of this community. Awards were given out for SAYRA One Design Championship Series:
Do you see your Class or Fleet? Any/every class is encouraged to participate. At the beginning of the season Katy Perrin emails all fleets/classes that she has contact information for – Encouraging them to organize their schedule. The schedule for each participating class is listed on the SAYRA website on the One Design Page. I do remember sitting in one a few of these planning meetings. Ed and Jeff would get together the MC sailors and pick 3 inland and 3 coastal races that would count for the One Design Championship. They would track the results all summer and send them in to SAYRA. This year the first place winners and were recognized at the annual meeting and took home a nice trophy. To get more information or get registered: Katy Perrin katy@perrinwoodworking.com Meetings: I attended the shorter, Race Management Seminar on Saturday. J.D. Rosser talked about steps to hosting a regional or national event. I think ASC has that figured out. #1 Get Race Committee. Divide the Committee into Racing and Hospitality. I checked the Regatta Schedule and the Halloween Regatta was on the schedule for the 2nd week-end in October “How to right a turtled Lightning: Safety boat attaches a large snap shackle w/ chain (for weight ) to 3/8" line to the back stay. Play out line allowing shackle to fall to top of mast. Then the safety boat backs away from mast head pulling the top of mast to the surface. The rest is easy... Respectfully Submitted Brenda Durant |