The meeting was called to order by Commander Dave Baer at his home at 1859. A quorum was present.

Present:
Commander David Baer;
Lt/C Katharine Law, ExO;
Lt/C Thomas Griffin,AO;
Lt/C Michael Fontaine, SEO;
Lt/C Barbara Goddard, Secretary;
Lt Richard Barck, Member at Large;
Lt Karen Glaze, Member at Large;
P/C Bob Hubbard, Member at Large;
Lt Randy Smith, PR Chair;
Lt Tom Fota, IT Chair

Absent:
Lt/C John Isaksen, Treasurer
1st/Lt Catherine Isaksen, Asst Treasurer
1st/Lt Dan Carlin, Asst SEO
P/Lt/C Sterling Campbell, Member at Large

MINUTES: The minutes of the 7 June 2004, as amended, were approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Commander Baer announced that the San Luis Rey Power Squadron was to hold its annual barbecue the following Saturday and encouraged any members who could attend to do so. The next general membership meeting (GMM) will be on Sunday, July 11th, at the US Coast Guard Station across from Lindbergh Field. The Sail Fleet Race will be coming up on Saturday, the 10th.
Dan Carlin's Boating Class is coming to an end and members will be needed to help with plotting instruction and interview prospective members on the 21st. Commander Baer will go to the class to give a pitch for joining the squadron.
For the joint D28/D13 Fall Conference in Cerritos on October 22nd & 23rd, Dave has obtained the Conference raffle tickets, which will be available at Sunday's barbecue. The grand prize is a week in Hawaii at a time-share condo, plus the use of a car (11 tickets for $7 if purchased by the end of July, $10 thereafter).

OFFICERS' REPORTS:
COMMANDER Dave Baer had nothing to report, other than a matter to be discussed under new business.

EXO Katie Law noted that Bob Hubbard had spear-headed an excellent vessel safety check (VSC) day at Sunroad Resort Marina on June 26th and called on him for a report. Dick Barck had set up the event but was unable to attend, so Bob followed through and, with the help of P/Lt/C Gordon Parham and Katie, had examined quite a number of boats in the marina. P/C Ron Weiner was also present to solicit boat owners for exams and to schedule appointments for the examiners. Dave Baer, who dropped by to lend moral support, commented that we should look for other opportunities to promote VSCs at marinas and yacht clubs.
P/C J. Brockway Clark will lead a Coop Charting outing on Saturday, August 28th, at 1000, on Mike Fontaine's boat and--if needed--on Tom Griffin's boat. Having all Bridge Officers participate in a Coop Charting outing is a way to earn points for the District's Star award. Dave Baer reminded people that our squadron has "adopted" the San Diego Harbor chart, which implies that we will check aids to navigation and other marks in order to keep the chart as up-to-date as possible. Katie commented that the Coop Charting program is the most successful cooperation of any joint federal/citizen program, saving the government hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and keeping current information available to the public.

VSC Chair Lt Dick Barck reported that the squadron's examiners had performed 62 vessel safety checks as of early July, compared with only 56 VSCs for the whole of 2003. So far, SDSPS leads District 28 in this activity, having done three more than the next highest, the Phoenix Squadron. He congratulated vessel examiners on their diligence.

SEO Mike Fontaine stated that the Piloting and Advanced Piloting classes have been rescheduled to include the new software and Maptech charts. Piloting will run from October 6th through December 15th, and AP will begin next February. A Seamanship class, to be taught by Ken Glaze, will begin in mid-August, to accommodate 12 students from the current Boating course who indicated they would like to continue their education. Dan Carlin will need help with introducing chart plotting, and Dave encouraged anyone able to assist just to show up at the class. The squadron will also need people to interview students about joining USPS when the class finishes on July 21st. The Sail course (101 and 102) finished on June 15th, with all students passing. JN is scheduled to be completed in August and the N course will follow, beginning September 12th. The new schedule has been given to Jeff, the manager, and Roberta, the new banquet coordinator, at Southwestern Yacht Club. Weather is in progress. Mike is still looking for a teacher for the GPS course.
Commander Baer brought up the fact that R/C Ed Mraz is offering to teach a BoatSmart class in August if enough students can be recruited. Dick Barck suggested that, as a gesture of good will, the squadron give BoatSmart scholarships to SWYC members. Mike Fontaine said that, although members of the Mission Bay Yacht Club frequently attend the fall Boating course given at that site, relatively few SWYC members attend classes given there. Bob Hubbard noted that there is no "feeder" event for an August class, such as the Boat Show for the January Boating course or the "Day at the Docks" and Mission Bay Festival for the June course. After a discussion, it was decided that the three existing Boating courses are sufficient to serve the squadron's purpose of providing education to the boating public.

AO Tom Griffin reported that he had 35 reservations for the upcoming GMM and barbecue at the Coast Guard station and outlined provisions made to enable members to gain access to the premises. A number of ideas for activities were discussed.
Ted and Claudia Bowler will be the speakers at the September GMM, discussing their recent sail from San Diego to Hawaii as well as the logistics of having their boat shipped home by freighter.

SECRETARY Barbara Goddard had nothing to report.

TREASURER: In John Isaksen's absence, Dave Baer presented John's written report, noting that funds on hand were more than at the same time the previous year. The status of the individual funds was detailed. Dues tabulations have not been completed, and those will be reported at a future ExCom meeting.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Tom Fota deferred his report to be discussed under new business.

OLD BUSINESS:
Dave Baer asked that people who had called non-renewing members about sending in dues should compile a list of the results, including whether each person intended to renew and, if not, their reasons for dropping out. These lists should be returned to Dave and John Isaksen, who will collate the information and send it to D/Lt Connie Johnson, the District 28 membership chair.

NEW BUSINESS:
Tom Fota, IT Chair, reported that the laptop computer donated by Chet White was no longer adequate to accommodate the software needs of the new courses. Dan Carlin and others had complained that it was slow and not effective as a teaching tool. Tom recommended the purchase of another notebook with sufficient hard drive capacity to run Microsoft Office and Power Point. Dick Barck and Mike Fontaine both noted that, since education is our principal business, we should buy one. Mike Fontaine also pointed out that we could benefit from an optical mouse for classroom use. It was the sense of the meeting that a new laptop be acquired. Since this expenditure is not in the budget, Bob Hubbard recommended that the membership be informed, which Dave will do at the July GMM. Dave mentioned that donations could also be solicited to underwrite the purchase, as was done with the projector just purchased.
Tom also remarked that the squadron had no policy regarding use of our laptops, which resulted in abuse of at least one computer. He suggested that, rather than passing the laptops from one instructor to another, instructors should be requested to return each computer to the IT Chair after a course is completed so it may be cleaned and updated before being returned to service. Instructors should also be told not to add material, change settings or otherwise "customize" the laptops in any fashion. This policy was unanimously endorsed by the committee.
Finally, Tom noted that instructors should be given training in the use of the equipment, and he volunteered to provide several hours of training in connection with the Instructor Development class to be taught by Karen Glaze next year.

PR Chair, Randy Smith, suggested that the squadron consider developing a publicity pamphlet, apart from the materials supplied by USPS, which features "San Diego Sail & Power Squadron" prominently. All the materials currently distributed are generated by USPS and we need something to promote our squadron specifically. Such a piece could describe who we are, detail our courses to promote squadron membership, and refer the public to our website for further information. It was felt such an item would be a valuable asset and should be explored. Also on PR, Tom Fota noted that, when doing a web search for boating in the area, the SDSPS website is not even on the first page of results. He wondered if it would be advisable to pay to be included at a higher place on search engines.

The meeting was adjourned at 2048. The next meeting will be held at the commander's home at 1900 on 9 August 2004.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara A. Goddard, P
Secretary