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2009 Y-Knot Board Annual Meeting

November 7th, 2009 at Camp Chingachgook, 2:45pm

In attendance were Scott Stewart and Don Miller (co-Vice-Presidents), Rick Irvine (Treasurer), Becky Bonn (Secretary), Spencer Raggio, Trish McCluskey, Dan Byrne and George Painter.

Minutes from August 11, 2009 were accepted by Scott, and Trish seconded.

Treasurer's Report
Rick Irvine: the report is not totally up-to-date as of today. Participants were down. Miscellaneous expense was made up of travel expenses, mileage and lodging, new sails (should be switched to designated), apparel (should be set up as a line item, such as Y-Knot Store). A line item should also be created for regional regattas. Ti Race: nothing was raised but the Corinthians still sent approx. $200. Sailabration is an awesome end of the year event, maybe we should host a crew party at the opening season. Trish motioned to accept and Spencer seconded.

Committee Reports
Program Director / Camp Staff: Carol can reply to emails sent for volunteer and sailor registrations as confirmation. George says we are on autopilot at this point and through the slower times it is good that we have a good system in place and we will get stronger especially when the dock is in place. If more people show up then register we need to have a back up in place. We are comfortable with 22 sailors; maybe we can go later in the day depends on daylight. We can possibly go back to morning starts, depends on sailors and volunteers.

Membership
34 members currently; 40-50 in the past.

Publicity/Promotion
Dan will promise to have a plan in place by January's meeting concerning bus drivers and by February he will work on brochures/flyers to places in the Capital district. Trish's friend Peter Brady works with the Special Olympics and can possibly help.

Fundraising
Rick Irvine can make pens with our web address on them, magnets with dates, or calendars. LG Commerce Website and the Mirror and Chronicle would be great resources if we advertise. Online Store would be a great addition to our website.

Regatta
Spencer has all the pictures from the Regatta on Flickr. Rick donated glass picture frames for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner in each fleet. Thank you Rick, they were beautiful and appreciated.

Old Business
Keith has been keeping up the boats and they look good; running rigging is all color coded. Spencer put a spreadsheet together and Keith is working towards getting all the boats the same. BJ donated a single trailer that will be a huge asset to Y-Knot. Thank you so much BJ!

Regional Regatta Expenses should be a budget item; Trish will contact Mobil about possibly donating Gas Cards and check with hotel owners to see what they would offer. We need to work on publicity for regional regattas. Spencer tried after the fact for write-ups about attended events to update our website, with little luck. Spencer is working on defining policy and criteria needs to be set for sending boats and people to away events. The website calendar will list dates for regional regattas.

Waterfront area is still in the permitting phase and has 7 agencies involved. There is a 50% chance this could be built for next summer. The money is in place and a last appeal will be sent to add to it. $180K is for the dock and boat house and will have 3 additional lifts -- 5 in total. This will take Y-Knot to the next level and the community sailing.
Dan will present, in January, the idea of a competitive racing team and add a date to the calendar. George will send a draft of the calendar dates for confirmation.
Nyack: Steve and Pete want to go back to build upon the relationship started with them.

New Business
Marc will stay as President, Scott and Don will remain as VPs, and Rick will continue as Treasurer. Becky's term is up as secretary and must rotate off the board for one year. Dan Byrnes is elected as the new secretary and his role starts January 1, 2010. John Kershko would like to join the board. Dave Whalen would like to rejoin but has a hard time making the meetings. The board will try video conferencing. Scott motioned to accept the new board and Rick seconded the motion.

George said Aimee can check on availability on wireless capability and meeting at the Clifton Park YMCA. January 19, 2010 will be the first meeting. Meetings after that will be the third Tuesday of the month. Items to be discussed at the next meeting will be dates for 2010, extending the Y-Knot community sailing program season and 2010 NYS Governors Expo.

Meeting adjourned 4:30pm
Minutes submitted by Becky Bonn 12/9/09

posted by Becky Bonn @ 12/09/2009 06:20:00 PM 0 comments

Pierre Richard Repeats as Y-Knot Cup Winner

Another great showing from our Canadian friends, with Pierre Richard repeating as Y-Knot Cup winner. Consistent breeze on Saturday allowed for three races for each fleet that day. On Sunday, a perfectly still morning sent the Silver fleet back to the dock without racing, but the Gold fleet came out in the afternoon in a freshening breeze for two races to wrap up the regatta in style. We received some great coverage from the Albany Times Union on the event as well. Check out the complete results from our tenth annual regatta. And photos from the event have been posted to Flickr.

posted by Spencer Raggio @ 9/18/2009 10:24:00 PM 0 comments

Hilary Lister Completes Her Sail Around Britain

Exciting news from Martin 16 godfather and Y-Knot friend Steve Alvey: “For the past three years, I've been working with a very bright and committed quadriplegic woman from the U.K. — Hilary Lister. Her dream was to sail around Britain and when she started talking about this, it was a naive dream in my view. Nevertheless, I supported her dream by equipping her with a sophisticated sip & puff control system that allowed her to sail her Artemis 20 and control a Raymarine GPS autopilot with her breath. She's worked tirelessly since that time to put together the technology, support team and courage to complete the journey. I knew that she was giving it a go for the second time this summer, and she made it round last week. Hilary is to be commended for her spirit, drive and tenacity.”

There’s a brief article about her accomplishment in The Guardian, and you can read more on Hilary's website.

posted by Spencer Raggio @ 9/17/2009 10:24:00 PM 0 comments

Quadriplegic Sails Solo Around Britain

From BBC News: A disabled yachtswoman has become the first female quadriplegic to sail solo around Britain. Hilary Lister, 37, was applauded as she sailed into Dover harbour, in her home county of Kent. On arrival, she declared: "I'm so relieved to be home but looking forward to the next challenge.

Y-Knot Board of Managers Minutes

Y-Knot Board Meeting
August 11, 2009
Northwoods Health System, Niskayuna

In attendance were Marc Carnevale, (President), Scott Stewart and Don Miller (co-Vice-Presidents), Rick Irvine (Treasurer), Becky Bonn (Secretary) Keith Edwards (YMCA), Spencer Raggio, Trish McCluskey and Dan Byrne.

Financial Report
Rick Irvine. George would like to ask Y-Knot to donate the money in the designated fund ($13,025) to go towards the new dock at camp. Since Y-Knot has already received $100,000 from Betty Little towards the dock, the board decided to hold on to the designated fund for its original purpose. Spencer motioned to accept, Trish seconded the motion and all agreed.

The question to purchase a single trailer for the martins was raised. It would cost about $1900 from Yankee for a basic trailer, which would not be outfitted for a martin. A trailer could allow us to take a martin to a tradeshow or to Nyack, which in turn could generate sales. It would be easier to work on one boat at a time and it would allow some sailors who have small cars to tow one boat. Rick saw a used one but it would need to be refitted.

Y-Knot community sailing: $600 was pulled out of profit to cover administration fees. It equals about 40%. Spencer will look back further to see when admin fees kicked in.

Don motioned to accept the financial report and Scott seconded the motion.

Committee Reports
Keith Edwards is being groomed for the position of Program Director.

Membership
Where does the volunteer information go that is generated from the website? Is there someone that answers the YMCA inquiries that can also forward information from Y-Knot? Official invitation needs to be sent out prior to events. The board is wondering about Aimee Bousquet; Spencer will find out her role from George and follow up on where information and emails go.

Fundraising
PowerPoint, not sure where Pete is at with it. Dan will take the content and send it out to the group. Trish will be speaking in September to the Wounded Warriors and will talk up Y-Knot. Rick suggested the Prospect Child & Family Center on Aviation Rd. Rick has calendars and will have a mock up done for the November banquet. We can then take orders once the dates for 2010 have been set. Also water bottles will be given to participants and also available for sale at $10 each. Rick and Becky are working on new shirts as well for volunteers and for sale.

Regatta
Spencer will have NOR for Sept 12 – 13 out soon. Don will be on the dock. We will need to borrow flags from the LGC. This is our 10th annual regatta. Spencer will talk to Rebecca to find out if Canadian sailors will be in attendance. Rick will donate glass picture frames for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner in each fleet.

Boat 13 is beat up but salvageable, Keith is hoping to have it repaired by the Regatta but it is not guaranteed. The new sails are here and Rick is going to look into the process of adhering the logos to the sails. Rick and Don will measure the sails on Sat and start working on placement.

Spencer is still working on the Regatta Policy. Dan Byrnes will have more information by November concerning a competitive racing team. Dan will also be speaking with Rebecca and George about grant writing with the hopes of putting funding in place for transportation. Spencer sent a survey out in June concerning the structure and platform of the Y-Knot and heard from two people.

Year end banquet is November 7th. Becky will work with Aimee concerning the Silent Auction. Spencer will find out from Nate Dickenson if they, the Corinthians, are interested in attending. The Volunteer of the Year has been picked and the Trish is working on the gift that has also been decided upon. For surprise sake both items are left out of the minutes.

Next meeting is the annual Board Meeting on Nov 7 at Camp Chingachgook
Minutes submitted by Becky Bonn on 9/1/09

posted by Becky Bonn @ 9/01/2009 10:36:00 AM 0 comments

Y-Knot Sailors Finish in the Money at Burlington

Congratulations to Steve Mintz, Eric Rose and Dave Whalen, who represented Y-Knot at the NDAA Regatta in Burlington earlier this month. The results:

Steve Mintz (Lake George, NY)
Patrick Standen (Burlington, VT)
Eric Rose (Manchester, VT)
David Whalen (Albany, NY)
Andrea Kerr (Essex Jct. VT)
Charlotte Merle-Smith (Monkton, VT)

A note from NDAA President Patrick Standen:

“I want to thank each and every one of you for helping NDAA make the 7th Annual Lake Champlain Martin 16 Invitational Regatta such a big success. We had superb wind conditions yesterday giving us the opportunity to have 8 races!

“First, a big thank you to our corporate sponsor FairPoint Communications. Their generous sponsorship makes it all possible. Also, a big NDAA thanks to the Malletts Bay Boat Club for hosting the event and special thanks to Mark Gardener and crew for setting perfect courses as the Race Committee. Thanks, too, to the hard work of the boat crew spearheaded by Pete Hogg and Keith Williams. A special thanks to George Painter and Y-Knot Sailing from the YMCA Camp Chingachcook for the use of their Martin 16 boats.”

posted by Spencer Raggio @ 8/19/2009 11:22:00 AM 0 comments

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