TISC Changes Update

[Sam Wheeler]

V15 racers,

I had a good meeting with Doug from TISC yesterday.  The key takeaways are: (1) I expect there to be storage for at least 36 V15s going forward; (2) the clearout of excess boats is scheduled for October; and (3) TISC is going out of their way to keep our fleet on site when in some ways it would be easier for them not to, and we should be prepared to pull our weight on giving back to TISC.  

More details:

As many of you know, TISC is temporarily downsizing during the TI redevelopment process and has asked most of their tenants to vacate.  But since having an active racing community on site supports TISC's mission of community sailing and TISC uses V15s in its other programs, some number of V15s will be sticking around.

Doug committed to provide space for 12 boats side by side, and supports our proposal to put three-high racks in that space, which means there will be storage for 36 V15s.  My goal is to modify the existing three-boat wooden racks (or use them as a template to build new ones) so that each boat in the bottom row will slide in on a dolly with the mast up and boom down, and the upper two boats in each slot will be stored upside down as on the current racks.  It will be up to the fleet to determine which boats stay on site, but with a cap of 36, I am cautiously optimistic that will not require hard choices.

Since TISC will no longer be in the boat storage business, they will no longer collect rent from us.  One thought is that storage might be a perk of participating in TISC racing programs, and boats kept on site could be expected to register for the Thursday series.  Registration fees may increase somewhat and/or also require a donation to youth program scholarships.  My impression is our financial costs will decrease as compared to the current system of paying rent.

TISC is more interested in sweat equity than money from us, though, and the other part of the plan is that the fleet will be taking responsibility for maintaining around six V15s that are currently owned by TISC.  TISC will be able to use those boats for classes and instructor events, and we will be able to use them as fleet charter boats when TISC is not using them.  If we are committing to the maintenance of six communal boats anyway, it might make sense for us to use those for team racing instead of our other boats and have regular team racers be in charge of their upkeep - that's something for further consideration. 

TISC is planning to auction off excess boats (e.g., J24s and extra V15s) and gear in a major yardsale the second weekend of October.  That may be an opportunity for sailors who are interested in buying a V15 to pick one up, or for anyone looking to sell their boat to get rid of it. After that, there will be a giveaway of anything that didn't sell, and then anything left after that will be scrapped.  More details on all of that to come later.  

After a roughly two-year transition period, TISC has ambitious plans to move into a very nice new facility.  Doug told me that while it's always possible plans could change in ways that are outside TISC's control, TISC is strongly committed to keeping the V15 fleet going through and after the transition to the new facility.

On a related note, we also discussed ways to get more sailors from TISC's other programs out in V15s, including getting instructors and promising students to come race on Thursday nights. That serves a number of interests - getting more boats out racing is good for the fleet, having more programs TISC folks can participate in is good for TISC and their people, and further cementing the bond between the fleet and TISC is good for everyone.

Details still remain to be ironed out, but overall this seems like a promising outlook for the fleet to get through a difficult transition period.  If anyone has thoughts, ideas, objections, hopes, fears, etc., please let me know.

Sam

Fleet Captain