Rick, et. al.
I remember discussing the possibility of a NAMSA newsletter at our annual meeting, and the same subject was discussed on another forum. Have we considered soliciting articles from class associations (like Shark, I-20, A-cat, H-16 and the other big fleets)?
This might give all sailors tidbits of what is happening in each class, results, tech tips, and other relevant news. It would also keep NAMSA's workload lighter - only doing the editing rather than the creation...
In addition to class related articles, how about region/division news?
I guess the only challenge with this would be designating contact persons who would be responsible for submission of the information.
NAMSA itself could concentrate on specific issues (like the politics of beach access or regatta setup) and present that.
Perhaps start out small with quarterly publications, and see what type of feedback we get?
Or would this be a duplication of other efforts already in production?
I definitely like the idea of getting something to our constituents. Do we have enough substance yet for our own content?
Bob
Mary had an idea last night that sounded pretty good. She is going to paly with some numbers and see what she can do.
Rick
She is going to raise the price of the magazine to $20, of which she will send $5 to NAMSA for membership. So, a subscription includes a NAMSA membership.
While this is less than the nominal $10 we have been asking, it will be solid funds. We have 1800 paid subscribers (by the way I believe NAHCA membership is under 800) and that would aboumt to $$9000 per year for us.
On the other hand, we must ask for $20 per member and that would include the magazine.
The magazine would have a special section just for NAMSA for each issue.
I think this sounds like a plan.
Come back with something, OK?
Rick
Using Catsailor's existing infrastructure sounds best, as it would minimize the resources needed by NAMSA to "get the word out"
I think in today's e-world, it might be easier to produce an e-zine rather than a paperback... But I'm not in the publishing business!
I agree - sounds like a good idea.
Do we go ahead and include the magazine for the existing NAMSA members this year? (we're only talking about what? 20?).
I like it! Count my vote in!
Bob
I agree with Mary's Proposal. Sounds like a good plan. BTW there are many of us that have Hobies that want to see NAMSA succeed for the non Hobie Multihull boats as an alternate venue for them. We will continue to participate in Hobie Events, but want to see our friends that race other boats also have a place to race.
Caleb Tarleton, Seattle
Hi Caleb,
Nice to hear from you.
Any thoughts you might have will certainly be welcome.
Rick
The more I consider the catsailor deal, the more hesitant I become. I think it dillutes who is Catsailor and who is NAMSA and begs the question - am I buying a Catsailor subscription or am I joining NAMSA? Twist it further and it could be that "I am being forced to join NAMSA if I want to continue the magazine"....OK, that would be a minority but we don't want to look like we are forcing people to join anything...and trying to get votes from a quorum of members that just wanted a magazine subscription would be difficult if not impossible (we may want to take a second look at that in our by-laws). I'm not saying we shouldn't do it but that I'm riding on the fence on this one...somebody convince me.
I do agree that we didn't have much money last year and that the Catsailor option would give us great resources - but what programs did we want to start that we couldn't because it required money? Insurance and newsletter is going to be the major items that will require money (that I can think of) and we need to know what that will be for this year and as quickly as possible.
We really need to establish our goals for this year and I propose that we get our regions setup, get our insurance available to paper fleets, and get a points series started even if it starts in June or July. These three things will give NAMSA validity and bring it to the local shore lines around the US. If we can get a few key goals going that are popular with local fleets, this ball will start rolling so fast we'll have a hard time keeping up.