Minutes: BAOC Board Meeting

Monday, September 22, 2003

by Meg Gerstner

PRESENT: Scott Aster, Jean Beuerman, Everett Beuerman, Mark Blair, Bob Cooley, Nick Corsano, Evan Custer, Natasha Gelfand (Stanford Orienteering Club), Meg Gerstner, Dan Greene, Gary Kraght, Jeff Lanam, Nancy Lindeman, Cheryl Madson, Syd Reader (Stanford Orienteering Club), Ian Tidswell.

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 pm at the Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University.

1. Approval of Minutes - Ian Tidswell

The minutes of the June 2, 2003 board meeting were approved.

2. President's Report - Ian Tidswell

Ian welcomed Natasha Gelfand, the President of the Stanford Orienteering Club, and thanked her for the use of the meeting room. He commented on our successes in the past few weeks, including the US Champs, thanking Evan, the meet director, and reporting on the excellent feedback. We also had between 600 and 700 participants for the three events held during the National Orienteering Day weekend, including excellent attendance at the Presidio. James Scarborough, a club member, participated in the World Champs.

Ian then asked what do we want to do in 2004? What should be our goals? As we went around the room, the following items were mentioned: improve our training programs (e.g. have weekend workshops for intermediate orienteers); think of non-traditional orienteers when making announcements on the web; attract more adventure racers (e.g. by emphasizing the "team" aspects of the sport or using names such as "navigation challenge" or "adventure orienteering" rather than "rogaine"); grow the Stanford Orienteering Club by participating in the activity fair; increase club membership (e.g. limit training events to club members?); expand Trail-O events and seek out groups that might be interested this and other events (e.g. veterans, students at the Fremont School for the Deaf located near Lake Elizabeth), with a goal of having at least one Trail-O event each year; create a new map board; have a new banner with the club name and website; increase training for juniors; increase adventure racing connection by having clinics at B meets and "long" Orange events; defer big mapping projects for the year to concentrate on smaller locales; have more come-and-try-it events on a more regular basis; have more sprint events (which can make use of smaller maps); consider radio spots for advertising; tray real-time tracking of top competitors at an event; have some "alternative" events (e.g. kayak-O, rollerskate-O; cellphone-O) or a Metrogaine-type event; create and encourage volunteers; have more low key/small events near where people live; increase sponsorship and tie into a series of events (e.g. have a "youth championship" series similar to the Ski-O championship series); improve the internal transition from intermediate to advanced orienteers (e.g. help set advanced courses); establish a "curriculum" for knowledge needed for different course levels and for meet directors; have a "map walk" for beginning orienteers after a beginner's clinic to familiarize people with the map and sport.

3. Big Blue Adventure Debrief - Ian Tidswell

Ian reported a successful series of clinics on orienteering presented at the Big Blue Adventure series of events. He set an orange-level course at Northstar and presented a clinic. Of about 300 competitors, about 200 made it to the orienteering segment.

4. US Champs - Evan Custer

The event was successful and received good reviews. There were about 350 attendees (and less than 50 recreational runners each day). Comments about the event included the fact that it was logistically difficult, including remote starts and finishes on the first day; terrain with deadfall/slash that was unevenly mapped on day 1; 30-inch tall aluminum stakes were not tall enough for some of the control placements (thus creating some bingo controls); demanding courses on day 1; and the expenses of buses, toilets, and awards. Camp Concord was very accommodating and a nice site for the dinner and for those who stayed there.

5. Event Coordinator's Report - Evan Custer

Evan is looking for a replacement for this position. Events set for 2004 include Nisene Marks, Ski-O, sprints at Point Pinole, and "Adventure-O" at Sunol in March. There will be come-and-try-it events at Coyote Hills, Joaquin Miller, Spring Lake. The planned Tahoe 2-Day Meet scheduled for June has a permit and course setters, but still needs an event director. The Long Course/Short Course Champs scheduled for November 5-6, 2004 will be held at Joe Grant North (long: George Minarik course setter) and Morgan Territory (short: Evan course setter). Cheryl Madson will be event director. After a discussion of whether to seek approval to hold a World Ranking Event in connection with this event, the Board decided against it. Although a WRE does give elite orienteers the opportunity to get ranking points, it requires an IOF advisor (and local IOF advisors Vlad Gusiatnikov and Evan are not available due to conflicts of interest) and setting up a model event, which the Board decided not to do for this event.

6. Treasurer's Report - Ian Tidswell (for George Minarik)

George had sent an e-mail message saying: "On the Revenue side we are doing OK and should be approaching plan by the end of the year. In the next few weeks we should be receiving $6000 from the US Champs Silva Grant as well as strong receipts from the National Orienteering Day events and the Scout O. As far as Expenses are concerned for the rest of the year, we will add at least $13000 in mapping expenses and this figure could be quite higher. We still have several thousand in US champs expenses to pay. Given the uncertainty of our expenses, it is probably best if we limit any expenditures that would exceed budgeted figures." A meeting to discuss the 2004 budget will be held (probably sometime in November). In attendance will be the club president, treasurer, mapping director, event coordinator, and any other interested club members (Gary Kraght volunteered). Contact George if you are interested.

7. Mapping Report - Bob Cooley

Bob reported that although he expected to hear some complaints about the 1:15,000 inkjet (not offset) printing for the US Champs, he did not receive too many. Scott reported that rangers at Foothill Park in Windsor (Sonoma County) have indicated that they will not allow any off-trail courses. Bob may map this anyway, as it may be useful for some come-and-try-it events. Field checking of North Joe Grant is done (the terrain is steep; about 18 sq.km), that at Briones is on-going, and corrections are being made to the Calero map. Bob reported that there is no major mapping project we need to do during 2004, and suggestions of small "nice" places for mapping include Lime Ridge, the DeAnza campus, areas between Shell Ridge and Mt. Diablo, Mitchell Canyon (which was previously used, but has been expanded), Black Diamond, Central Park in Santa Clara, the Sonoma State campus, the U.C. Santa Cruz campus, and the St. Mary's campus. Another suggestion was Tilden Park which may not be big enough for a blue course. Scott is working with the Presidio Trust to set up a permanent O course.

8. Future A-Meets - Evan Custer

A discussion of what our long-term plans should be for A-meets was deferred to a future board meeting. Among the questions are: Should we continue to hold two each year? Should one be in Tahoe? (The best time for such events is between Labor Day and October 1st in Tahoe, and in the Spring and Fall in the Bay Area.) A question was raised as to whether there might be good locations on the west side of the Sierras in sno-parks, and whether Bear Valley might be appropriate.

9. Proposal for Cash Awards at 2004 US Short and Long Champs - Gary Kraght

Gary reported that $3500 from the money provided by Silva for being title sponsor at the US Champs had been given out as cash awards at Fallen Leaf Lake ($1000/$500/$250 for 1st/2nd/3rd place US Championship-eligible finishers in M21 and F21, respectively). Gary proposed that a similar type of award be made at next year's Short and Long Champs. Questions were raised concerning what benefits were achieved by making such awards (e.g. did more/better quality competitors come because of the cash awards?), whether such awards should go the US Team, rather than individual winners, and whether future awards should be in the form of competition grants (i.e. the winner will be entitled to use the money for competition; any remaining money goes to the US Team). A motion to award $400/$200/$100 to the 1st/2nd/3rd place US Championship-eligible winners of M21 and F21 at each of the Long Course and the Short Course events failed with a vote of 4 for, 4 against, and the rest abstentions.

10. Directors' Reports

There was no report for Membership (Steve Beuerman), Social (open), or Training (Steve Gregg).

Registration (Jean and Ev Beuerman): Tee shirts are needed. Short sleeve shirts in both CoolMax and cotton will be ordered.

Equipment (Mark Blair): Mark will be ordering banners with the club name and website, and will replace or augment the Start, Finish, and Registration banners. Directional signs will be replaced for the North Bay equipment kit.

E-Punch Cadre (Evan Custer for Robert Lewis): In Robert's absence, Evan reported that we have 10 new e-punch controls. One was lost at Fallen Leaf Lake, leaving the club with about 58 controls.

Event Quality (Dan Greene): Dan, who is new to this position, reported that he wants to be sure that courses are vetted, and that he is seeking feedback on what went well and what went wrong at events. The Technical board position has been consolidated with Event Quality.

Juniors (Nick Corsano): Nick reported that the Club now has three junior US Champs, Jukka Karras, Malcolm Wyatt-Mair, and Lauren Wolfe. The 11th annual Scout O will be held next month at Briones. Nick also is thinking about what type of training events would be useful for juniors. One suggestion was to have a training weekend. Tamarancho was suggested as a possible location.

Permits (Evan Custer for Rosemary Johnson): In Rosemary's absence, Evan reported that Al an LaVergne, who has been handling permits for the South Bay, will be resigning at the end of this year.

Publicity (Nancy Lindeman): Nancy reported that 37 press releases were sent out for National Orienteering Day, resulting in articles in the Argus, the San Francisco Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. A subscription for City Sports ($220/11 issues) will be renewed. Nancy would like to have a flyer for Scout Events, and would like to add a Reno/Tahoe contact. In addition, she would like to have the calendar of events that is used for the flyer be posted on Bayonet.

Bulletin (Jeff Lanam): The deadline for the next bulletin is October 17th. Jeff requested that write-ups be done as soon as possible after the event, and be more exciting than just listing the winners in each category. Jeff raised the possibility of posting the bulletin in PDF format on the website. To do this, he would need a copy of Adobe Acrobat. Copies of the bulletin have been being sent to new participants by Chuck Spalding. Changes to the schedule should be sent to the webmaster, Jeff (for the bulletin), Chuck (for the monthly announcement), Marsha Jacobs (for the flyer), Nancy (for publicity), and the Hotline.

Website (Ian Tidswell for Ben Wahlstrand): As Ben will be moving to North Carolina, a new webmaster is needed. Interested parties should contact Ian.

Outreach (Scott Aster): Scott reported that there have been a number of clinics at REI around the Bay Area, including Berkeley, Fremont, and Santa Rosa. Scott has also been contacted by a high school in San Rafael that is starting an orienteering module for its physical education classes.

USOF Report (Gary Kraght): Gary reported that Syd Reader is the new Pacific Region representative on the USOF board, with Gary the alternate.

11. New Business - Ian Tidswell

There has been a suggestion from Judy Koehler that there be a sign indicating the course closing time for each event. A suggestion was made that the closure time also be included on the clue sheet.

12. Next Meeting - Ian Tidswell

The next board meeting will be Monday, December 8, 2003, at the Alta Bates Imaging Center in Oakland at 7:00 pm. The meeting adjourned at 10:03 pm.