MITNA Annual All-Members Meeting

Tue 25-Jan-2022

18:00-20:00

Results

MITNA Meeting Minutes

January 25th, 2022

 

Report by Sailing Master: Fran Charles

• Rec Sailing / Learn to Sail: 

  • There has been record enrollment and interest in the sailing at the Pav (Sailing PE, Rec sailing, Learn to sail classes, etc.)

  • PE sailing classes in catboats went really well; 2 people per boat allowed sailors to sit farther apart

• Expected COVID-Related Policies for 2022

  • Over the past two years, fewer events at the Pav (other schools using our boats, parties, etc.) have caused a loss in revenue

  • Events should increase this spring as COVID policies (hopefully) relax

  • Goal: increase events at the Pav, host high school sailing events, etc.

• New Fleet Dedication Event

  • In the spring, we’ll have 30 new Techs and 21 FJs

  • In late August, the 21 new 420s will be delivered 

  • In the meantime, we’ll keep whitecap FJs so we have 2 fleets of boats

  • The sailing team will be involved in hosting the dedication party

  • We plan to remake bulletin board in the lower lobby into a digital display with lots of different photos

  • All fireflies sold! 

 

Report by Dockmaster: Stew Craig

• Membership: 

  • Normally 2500 members in rec program (with sailing card)

  • There was a decrease in membership due to COVID, but it should increase this coming semester

• Dock Staff: 

  • During 2020 - 2021, we had fewer members on Dock staff due to COVID policies who did a lot of work (sanitizing boats, lifejackets, etc.)

  • This year, we should increase the number of Dock staff to keep up with the demand for sailing out of the Pav

• Pav Rentals: 

  • Normally have ~100 Pav rentals for events, but this number decreased due to COVID policies 

  • 2020 season: 0 events

  • 2021: 43 events (0 rentals until mid-july, then the majority of rentals took place in the fall) 

• 2022 Recreational Sailing Program 

  • There was a decrease in rec sailing in 2020 and 2021, but we are expecting an increase this coming year 

  • This year: 

    • Tech Dinghy Racing

    • Learn to race classes 

    • CRO team race (registration date not set yet, but the regatta will take place June 11-12)

    • Brass rat regatta

  • From Matt Lindblad: Special thank you to Hannah Agate and Mike Kanare and all of the other Dock staff for working hard to normalize sailing out of the Pav! 

 

Report on Mashnee/Bluewater sailing: Adam Traina & Ryan Conway

• Mashnee: 1902 sailboat

• Mashnee had a decrease in use due to COVID policies, but still did several races in Maine this year and the Corinthian classic in Marblehead 

• Mashnee is a great opportunity to sail a bigger boat, please get involved! We are currently looking for more skippers and crews 

• If you are interested in Skippering, Crewing, or learning more about Mashnee:  interested in skippering Mashnee! 

  • Bluewater mailing list will post whenever Mashnee is being sailed (https://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/bluewater)   

  • Learn about Crewing on Mashnee http://sailing.mit.edu/wiki/index.php/Bluewater_Crew_Rating 

  • Learn about Skippering Mashnee http://sailing.mit.edu/wiki/index.php/Bluewater_Skipper 

• Lots of great equipment improvements: Head sails, riggings, David Larson designed a faster centerboard that will also help with pointing 

• Question: Where we will keep Mashnee over the summer so it is still accessible? 

• Mid-April to mid-May: Mashee will be on the river for the commissioning ceremony: please come for a sail! 

 

Report on sailing team: Nika Silkin

• 2020: 

  • left campus in March (team stayed close via Zoom / online games) 

  • Fall 2020: only seniors practiced in techs

• 2021: 

  • Spring: frosh, soph, juniors on campus in pods and sailed lasers and single handed FJS - Thank you DAPER for helping us fund/get Lasers!!

  • Fall: back to normal practices and regattas

    • Both the Coed and Women’s Sailing team qualified for and competed at the Atlantic Coast Championships

    • According to the nationals qualification rankings, the Women’s Team is ranked 5th and the Coed team is ranked 24th 

    • 7 sailors went to the singlehanded champs! 

 

Sailing Classes: Hannah Agate

• 2020: 

  • Sailing was by appointment and there was a boat capacity limit of 1 person

  • A provisional rating was required to sail to reduce risk of one on one instruction 

  • Hybrid program allowed people to ask questions over zoom, complete an on water skill assessment, and then sail! 

  • Over 25 new people got provisional rating!

• Spring 2021: 

  • Learn to sail classes took place in Cat Boats (4 cat boats were sailed with 2 people in each)

  • April: over 200 people signed up for these Cat Boat classes, and we were able to take ~60 of these people (8 person classes so great one on one coaching)

• Summer 2021: 

  • We can sail doublehanded! 

  • Fireflies used for the learn to sail classes

  • 285 signed for up learn to sail over summer

  • ~200 sign up for catboat learn to sail 

  • When techs arrived, there were rigging demos, and then 3 weeks of learn to sail classes and races (117 people signed up for the learn to sail classes), and we had space for 50 people to take the class) 

  • Thank you to the volunteers who helped run the learn to sail classes! They allowed us to ramp up the learn to sail classes and take as many people as possible!

 

Windsurfing: Ali Alrayes

• 95 signups to learn how to windsurf

• Thank you to Hannah and volunteers who helped run classes (6-7 instructors) 

• Equipment is quite old, could use a refresh, but it was still a very successful year 

 

 

Expectations for the summer:

• Will depend on MIT restrictions, we will learn more in April / May 

 

Note from Perry Grossman: 

• If you can, please contribute to CRWA to help us work with the DCR on invasive species removal. Thanks! https://www.crwa.org/donate.html 

 

MITNA Exec elections: Nominations and Voting

• Commodore: (MIT student) 

  • Nominations: Grace Mao

  • Elected: Grace Mao

• Vice Commodore: (MIT student) 

  • Nominations: Sam Bruce

  • Elected: Sam Bruce

• Secretary: (MIT student) 

  • Nominations: Sam Karlson

  • Elected: Samantha Karlson

• Treasurer: (MIT student) 

  • Nominations: Julius Heitkoetter, Gavin Neal West

  • Elected: Julius Heitkoetter 

• 5 Members at large: (Any MITNA Member) 

  • Nominations: Paige Omura, Gavin Neal West, Ali Alrayes, Emily Haig, David Larson

  • Elected: Paige Omura, Gavin Neal West, Ali Alrayes, Emily Haig, David Larson

• Fleet Race Chair: (Any MITNA Member) 

  • Nominations: John Pratt

  • Elected: John Pratt

• Team Race Chair: (Any MITNA Member) 

  • Nominations: Zach Shapiro 

  • Elected: Zach Shapiro

 

Hatch Brown Service Award: Nominations and voting 

• Background:

  • Highly respected award that goes to a person who goes above and beyond what is expected as a volunteer at the sailing pavilion

  • Award is named after Hatch, who was the 3rd sailing master at mit (sailing master for 29 years) 

  • There can be multiple awardees per year 

• Nominees: 

  • Yichi Zhang: helped/volunteered with catboat classes, joined dock staff and his help was critical throughout the season 

• Awarded: Yichi Zhang

Organizers

Questions about this event should be directed to the organizer(s): MITNA Exec