Time: 5:30pm Location: SBYC
Call Meeting to Order by Lee 5:35pm Recorded by: JMB
Quorum confirmed, Boat owners attending: L. Cushman, Al, GT, G. Slaff, T. Pinner, J. Barrett, R. Miller, B. Sheridan, H. Webb, J. Yabsley, By Proxy: W. Rosing (Greg Hopkins), B. Atwater (Rich). 12 boats represented.
Old Business/Action Items
• Evaluation and decision on using North Sails vs Ullman On-the-water trials, followed by discussion and debate by the H20 sail committee has resulted in their recommendation that we change sail manufacturers to North Sail. This will include Main, jib and spinnaker. All points of comparison, advantages and disadvantages have been recorded in the attached report from the sail committee. After further discussion during the meeting a motion to adopt the sail committee’s recommendation to change to North sails was proposed, voted on and approved by the fleet. Current Ullman sails can be used to compete throughout the 2023/24 competitions. Please refer to the attached report for further details. The modification to the Fleet 4 By-laws will be written to reflect the change that was approved by the fleet and will be reviewed by the board to finalize. The fleet discussed the recommendation in the report to allow owners to decide whether to opt for a Bolt rope or slides when ordering mainsail. There was a motion that the recommendation be adopted which was voted on and approved by the fleet. Lee will get a count from fleet in order to get the numbers of sails that we intend to order and ask North for best possible pricing based on the anticipated order. Lee will also contact Kevin at North to confirm whether spinnaker will be an A2 build from Norlan 0.75 cloth. The intent being that there is a Standard Santa Barbara Fleet4 spinnaker built by North.
• N-S/Fiesta Regatta: Update on preparations and budgeting. Geoff updated the fleet on plans and preparations for the North-South/Fiesta Regatta. Spin clinic, practice races and dock party on Fri. Racing and Fiesta Beach Party Sat. Racing and awards presentation Sun. Competitors fee $190 ea. which, so as not to impact the fleet budget dramatically. Volunteers among the fleet helping with accommodations for out-of-town competitors.
• Update on H20s volunteered for the regatta. A full list of boats generously being made available for the N-S/Fiesta regatta was provided by Trey Amounting to 12 total H20’s. There was discussion as to necessity of keeping consistency of sail manufacturer that will be used. General agreement that Ulman Sails should be used for the Regatta as that is what most boats will be equipped with at the time of the regatta July 22-23.
• Clarification on lending boats to participants in SBYC Women’s regatta. TABLED. Competitors for the event will request use of individual H20s through Brad prior to the event which will then be communicated to Trey.
• Update on the process of petitioning PHRF for a review and modification of the H20 Rating. The fleet is laying the groundwork to petition the regional PHRF committee to be given a more realistic rating for the H20. In order to do this, we’d like as many boat owners as possible to register their boat and compete in PHRF events in order to create data that will be used in our petition. An email will be sent out to solicit participation from the fleet.
• Feedback from participants in the Spring Regatta re: the recent change to limiting the length of race for the H20s. There was mixed feedback on whether the shorter time on the water during regattas was helpful or not. Suggested to make start time for the H20’s later but that could prove difficult to manage. Reported that Brad may also have suggestions that would allow for bathroom breaks for competitors by using a committee boat or a skiff to the harbor restroom.
• Scheduling of a new Rules Seminar September was identified as a good month to aim for next Rules Seminar.
• Fleet Party Bill Sheridan will get back to the fleet with a date.
New Business/Discussion
• Clarification of bylaws, discuss whether points go with boat or skipper during regattas that count toward fleet championship. TABLED. Clarification on this topic as per fleet bylaws will go out to fleet by email. If any subsequent follow-up or discussion is warranted/requested it will be added to next meeting agenda.
• Bill Sheridan brought up the following Discussion items.
1. As Fleet has agreed to switch to North sails, there should be a realization and action item to teach fleet members how to effectively depower the sail plan to provide control and ultimately speed to their boat performance in higher wind range. Lee suggested having North provide this as part of tuning guide and at dock/on the water training. In addition, Steve Seals Made himself available to sail with anyone who would be interested in hands on Training.
2. Outhaul modification to include more purchase which will allow for adjustments while under sail, the group agreed that this is a pitfall with the boat. Bill along with Steve Seals have incorporated a prototype on Webster. The group agreed that this idea was worth developing and Bill was tasked with coming up with a written modification that could be incorporated into Fleet by laws.
3. Similarly, he suggested that the current modification to the backstay system in the Fleet bylaws be modified to incorporate more purchase Both SOD and Webster are currently testing prototype. The group agreed that this idea was worth developing and Bill was tasked with coming up with a written modification that could be incorporated into Fleet by laws.
4. Production boomvang bracket is a source of corrosion and boom failure Steve Seals who has run Sealsspars for several years has a recommendation of a bail that eliminates the high potential of corrosion and has offer to help anyone who is interested in installing one. Steve has measured the bracket and is confident that the angle of the vang is in alignment with production bracket and therefore meets the Class rule.
Reports
• Treasurer’s Report Rich provided a verbal report, stated bank balance as $2580. Report approved.
• National Class News, Rich, Lee The H20 Class board has provided the specs for the broader limits of allowable rake of masts and has referred any additional limitations of specifications be made by each local H20 Fleet.
Next Fleet Meeting Will be held beginning of July in prep for the North-South/Fiesta Regatta.