Minutes of March 1997 BAOC Meeting
Attendees-- Aileen Abernathy, Allison Bennett, Ev & Jean Beuerman, Mark
Blair, Bob Cooley, Evan Custer, Sharon Evans,
Thorsten Graeve, Dan Greene, Marsha Jacobs, Gary Kraght, Tapio Karras, Greg &
Kathleen Lennon, Robert Lewis, Nancy Lindeman,
Derek & Steph Maclean, George Minarik, Tony Pinkham, Mike Poulsen, Joe
Scarborough, Lans Taylor, and Dennis Wildfogel.
Minutes from both the 09/16/96 and 12/10/96 meetings were approved. The
board also approved a budget amendment to allocate
$3000 for photos and base map of Morgan Territory and a retroactive payment of
$221.23 to Gavin Wyatt-Mair for Scout-O' awards.
President's Report-- Evan first thanked George Minarik for setting the
memory-O' at Shell Ridge and announced that Gary
Carpenter planned to set one at Sunol or Briones. He then discussed the China
Camp event on May 3rd and 4th. Saturday will consist
of a USOF-sanctioned B-meet, followed by relays on Sunday, both of which will
use new pre-marked maps. Camping will also be
available. Evan then announced that George is stepping down as chair of the
Juniors committee. Possible replacement candidates are
Werner Haag, Nick Corsano and Esther Heller, or John Pagendarm.
Treasurer's Report-- Sharon distributed copies of both the 1996 final and
1997 year-to-date (through March 3) budget reports.
She also provided copies of the transaction detail report for 1996. The final
figures for the Big Basin A-meet show a net revenue of
$2500. Based on our forecast of $1000, the 1996 A-meet was a clear success!
Board Nominations-- As previously announced, our current Treasurer (Sharon
Evans) and Event Coordinator (Tony Pinkham)
will be stepping down from their positions in June. George Minarik has
expressed interest in the Treasurer position, and Scott Aster is
a possible candidate for Event Coordinator. Tony commented that the Event
Coordinator position may involve too much work for one
person and suggested that we consider alternatives for spreading the work. He
proposed having either two Event Coordinators (one for
the East Bay and one for the South Bay) or having multiple area coordinators
who report to a single Event Coordinator. The
nominating committee (consisting of Evan, Marsha Jacobs, and Gary Kraght) is
currently soliciting interested candidates for these
positions.
Events-- Tony distributed the latest 1997 schedule and highlighted the
following changes:
Las Trampas - was 6/1, now 6/8
Joe Grant - was 6/8, now 6/1
Presidio - was 8/3, now 8/24
Wilder Ranch - 9/7 (NEW)
UC Berkeley - 9/14 (NEW)
Gary commented that we should avoid changing published event dates if at all
possible. If conflicts arise with meet director
schedules, he suggested switching meet directors rather than changing the
date.
Mapping-- Bob reported that China Camp is done and that Point Pinole and
Golden Gate Park are ready to use. George Kirkov's
updates to Annadel are being drawn and are almost finished. He plans to
continue researching potential areas in the Sierra.
1997 A Meet (Annadel)-- Tony reported that Evan has volunteered to set
courses, Derek Maclean is directing vetting activities,
and Scott Aster has agreed to be Assistant Meet Director. All are eagerly
awaiting the finished map. Camping will be available at
Spring Lake, but because of limited space, people must make reservations
immediately. Bob suggested that camping might also be
available at Sugarloaf. Tony said he is looking for lodging and restaurants
in the Annadel area and welcomes help from anyone in the
club who knows the area. He plans to send flyers to other A-meet directors,
as well as place an ad in the July issue of ONA. The
ONA deadline is in early May, by which time Tony can include information about
fees, accommodations, and dinner. Anyone with
ideas for the ad should contact Tony. Dennis Wildfogel suggested we also
submit an article since there is no cost to publish articles in
ONA.
1998 A Meet-- The location for this meet must be decided as soon as possible
because we are already past the official USOF
deadline for A-meet submissions. Although people were concerned about using
Big Basin due to the physical difficulty, Evan felt that
George successfully demonstrated that courses can be set which minimize the
challenges of the terrain. After discussing potential
dates with the goal of maximizing attendance (i.e. avoiding conflicts with the
Big Game and Thanksgiving), the board voted
unanimously to request USOF sanctioning for an A-meet at Big Basin on November
14-15, 1998.
2000 Sierra O'Fest-- The O'Fest task force (Evan, Gary, Bob, and Ron Gross)
met and determined that an event of this scope
would require another large map or two smaller maps. Evan outlined the
schedule required to accomplish this task:
1) Decide area to map by end of summer 1997.
2) Obtain photos and base maps by winter 1997.
3) Map and field check area during 1998.
4) Set courses during summer 1999.
In discussing event format, Gary proposed championship meets on both weekends
with three A-meets and two off-days during
the week. Dennis was philosophically opposed to having both championships at
the same time and place. Marsha agreed that the
terrain would probably be too similar. Joe Scarborough expressed doubt about
the club having enough volunteers or expertise to host a
whole week of championships. Both Derek and Tony agreed, feeling that
championship meets on back-to-back weekends would be too
much work. Derek proposed holding the event from Sunday to Saturday following
the format of the Scottish 6-Day. George thought a
6-day format would decrease attendance.
Discussion then focused on logistics and whether we really have the capacity
to hold such a large event in a distant location.
Evan stated that he, Bob, and Steve Gregg would be available full time for
course setting and event preparation. He felt that an event
of this scope would require full club participation but that it could provide
a large international draw. Gary agreed that it was a large
endeavor but that after our success at Big Basin, BAOC was clearly one of the
best-equipped clubs in the country to take it on. He
argued that hosting a large-scale event would draw Europeans, would bring the
club together, and could bring in a significant amount
of money. Gary thought we could probably expect 1000 people to attend and so
would plan to hold the USOF convention at the same
time. Finding an effective Facilities Coordinator would be critical with that
many participants.
Tony stated that he was not satisfied that we would find enough volunteers
willing to put in the time and effort to run a successful
event in the Sierras. Thorsten suggested that we go through the exercise of
mapping out job assignments just to see if we have the
resources, and Mark agreed. Dennis said that overall he was in favor of
holding the event but thinks we must start planning now,
agreeing with Thorsten and Mark that we should outline who would do what. The
group agreed that not having the needed map(s) was
a significant risk. Mark said the risk was of greater concern since we don't
even have a plethora of possible areas identified. Mike
Poulsen added that whatever maps we decide to pursue could also be used for
future ski-O' events.
Thorsten and Steph both raised the issue of whether mid-week championship(s)
would lower attendance. Joe felt that we would
not draw all top-level orienteers even if we held them on the weekend because
the Sierras are just too far west.
After significant discussion, the consensus appears to be against a full week
of championships. Gary stated that time is of the
essence if we want dibs on the U.S. and North American Championships so the
board needs to decide whether or not to pursue this
seriously. The group debated the merits of committing now and withdrawing
later, with both Gary and George stating that they think
people will volunteer once the club commits to the effort. Gary made a motion
that BAOC submit a bid for the U.S. and North
American Championships, to be held in conjunction with some number of A-meets
in the Tahoe area in the year 2000. The board
approved his motion by a vote of 10 to 3, with 1 abstention. The group
decided to start advertising now since publicity must be in full
swing by the World Veteran's Championships. Evan agreed to bring a tentative
staffing plan for board approval at the next meeting.
Web Site-- Greg and Kathleen reported that many people have been checking out
our Website, with other clubs calling to ask
how to link us to their sites. Both "City Sports" and "Competitor" magazines
have asked for articles about orienteering and BAOC or
information which they could expand into an article. In addition, numerous
groups at Outside Magazine's Adventure Sports & Travel
Festival agreed to link our site. The transition off Sonet is progressing but
is not yet complete. We have 25MB of space for our new
site, compared to less than 2MB for the old one. Please send pictures from
meets for posting on our site! Along the same lines, please
contact Greg and Kathleen if you have a digital camera.
Publicity-- Nancy reported that overall attendance at the Adventure Sports &
Travel Festival was significantly down this year,
primarily due to lack of publicity, but our booth was relatively well-
attended. The smaller crowd allowed BAOC volunteers to interact
more with other exhibitors, many of whom want to add orienteering to their
agendas. One of these groups, Wildflower Productions,
provides interactive maps on CD-ROM, and Greg talked to them about helping us
put our maps on the web. To learn more about their
product, check out http://www.topo.com. In other news, Nancy announced that
Bruce Wolfe will present a map and compass clinic on
May 3. She also reported that the Senior Games want to add orienteering as an
event in next year's competition.
Equipment-- Mark reported that our 300-series bags are falling apart so we
need to purchase approximately 60 more Silva bags.
Based on his informal survey, color-blind participants have a clear preference
for the blue-striped bags while other participants had no
preference. USOF has not yet officially sanctioned controls with the blue
stripe, although Gary said he expects they will. There is no
significant price difference between bags with or without the stripe. While
Silva does offer striped bags, Mark felt that the bags from
the Czech Republic are sturdier and better made. After some discussion, the
board voted to purchase 60 of the blue-striped bags made
in the Czech Republic.
Technical-- Joe reported that he plans to hold a workshop later this year and
is looking for subjects of interest to members. He
also mentioned that James is looking for financial backing to attend the World
Championships and would appreciate any assistance the
club can offer.
Juniors-- George repeated that he is stepping down from his role as chair of
the Juniors committee. Based on his experience, he
reiterated the importance of recruiting kids at a young age (8-10).
Social-- Steph reported that there will be a picnic at the 3/29 Egg-O' at
Shoreline Park.
Training-- Dennis needs ideas! If you have ideas for expanding our training
efforts, please forward them to him. Steph asked
whether we had had much success with the mentor effort, and Dennis reported
that we had more mentor volunteers than people
requesting them! The group felt that the interest still exists but people
(especially new people) don't know about it, so Greg and
Kathleen will post the information on the web.
Bulletin-- Robert reported that the current issue was at the print shop and
would arrive imminently. The deadline for the next
issue is April 17.
Membership/Event Quality/Registration/USOF Liaison-- Board members
representing these committees were either absent or
had nothing to report.
Next Meeting-- The next Board meeting will be on June 9th in Oakland. We
will meet in the conference room at the Alta Bates
Imaging Center at 5730 Telegraph Avenue. Pizza will be available at 6:30, and
the meeting will begin at 7:00. All BAOC members
are welcome to attend.