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SCORA Report/Next Meeting Dates From Denise Shandroff
Date: 01/18/2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm finally getting around to reporting on the last SCORA meeting. Joanne & I attended together. It was Dec. 10, the morning after our club Christmas party, so no heavy partying for us, as we had to get up early and get on the road to Newport Beach for the 10 am meeting. However I left Mike, your new club president, quite hungover at home.

The important part of the meeting was voting on race rule proposals for the 2006 season. The outcomes are pretty much the way the race committee had recommended. Unfortunately, not all of the outcomes are what Pale Kai wanted.

There will be no changes to the age divisions. We voted to allign SCORA with Hawaiian age divisions, but for now it will remain 35+ womens masters, 40+ womens senior masters, 40+ mens masters, and 45+ men's senior masters.

The Bradley requirement has been removed from the Masters division only. Masters crews can now race any type of certified canoe they choose, but all canoes will compete equally, as there will not be separate awards for different canoe types. Senior and Golden Masters will still have to race Bradleys to qualify to place.

SCORA had incorrectly reported that the Bradley requirement had been added to co-ed and 19 & under divisions. This would've impacted Pale Kai significantly, as we will most likely have 1 senior masters womens crew and 2 co-ed crews racing at the same time this season. The votes have since been re-tallied, and that did NOT pass. Co-ed will still be able to compete equally in Spec or Bradley canoes. The only thing that has changed for co-ed is that the co-ed senior masters division has been eliminated.

Novice can continue to race Spec and/or Bradley canoes equally without separate awards.

The Open division remains the only group to have separate awards for racing and placing in Spec and/or Bradley canoes.

Other important items discussed at the meeting were....

A mandatory safety meeting, coaches clinic, and SCORA board meeting is scheduled for March 11, 2006 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at Newport Aquatic Center (NAC). I previously stated to a few people that it would be Feb. 25, but I was wrong, that date is a race committee meeting. Our new coaches, Jill, Gregg, and Jeff should plan on attending, along with other interested steerspersons. I think Pres and VP, Mike and Brian, should also plan on attending, especially for the safety meeting. And of course myself and/or Joanne will have to attend for the board meeting. Perhaps we should think about carpooling and possibly getting a couple of hotel rooms for 1 night. Let me know if you're interested. I've got info on a reasonably priced decent place to stay fairly close to NAC.

Race bids for the 2007 (& 2008?) season must be submitted to the SCORA race committee before February 25, 2006. They have shortened the deadline (it was by the end of the 2006 ironman season), which I believe is an intentional deterrent to submitting new race bids. Billy Whitford and Bud Hohl (of the race committee) both sort of discouraged Pale Kai from trying to get a race date in the ironman season for the Pineapple Express. It would mean "bumping" another host club from their long-standing race slot. They suggested we opt for an out-of-season date, such as mid-September, between the Catalina and Molokai races, in order to attract crews that are still training and interested in competing at that time of year. However, that would interfere with the Angel Island race, which is favored by some of our members, and would discourage Nor Cal clubs from participating here. So, it does not look very promising for Pale Kai and the Pineapple Express in the near future. That doesn't mean we can't challenge it and submit a bid anyway, if enough members are interested and willing to work on it. Another option worth considering (and also suggested by Billy and Bud) is hosting a non-SCORA-sanctioned "fun race" or "invitational". It could be a club fundraiser, and we could possibly split the proceeds with a local non-profit charity, in order to get interest and attention from the community and local media. There are lots of ideas we can kick around.

Heads Up.... Mike & I are trying to schedule a Pale Kai board meeting for next Tuesday Jan. 24 to get our new board on task for the 2006 season. Then we will hold a general Pale Kai pre-season meeting on Tuesday Feb. 21 to get all members thinking about the up-coming season. More info to be e-mailed soon on both of those meetings.