As I finish up my first year as your President, I am pleased with our class and how we are doing, but I am a bit concerned about keeping our fleets going as well as growing.  Some fleets are continuing to thrive and grow while others are dropping off.   Our membership is down a bit this year, and I am hoping we can bring the level back up to previous years’ levels.  I have tried to reach out to many of you myself, but there are things we can all do to help with fleet maintenance and growth.  Please feel free to reach out to me at any time if you have questions or need help with any Association issue.   My personal email address is dianekampf@charter.net and I make every attempt to respond to all inquiries that come my way.  If you don’t hear from me right away, write again, I may not have received your note.  And reach out to Membership Chairperson Mike Noone mjnoone@aol.com because he always has great ideas to share about being a member of FSSA.

Fleet Captains – Check in with your Fleet Members regularly to see if they are getting what they need from the boat, from the fleet, from the class and from the Association.  Schedule fleet meetings or events and invite as many fleet members and potential fleet members as you can.  Write a newsletter to your fleet members and remind them about Scots n’ Water, our FSSA.COM website, the District Governors, Officers and JEE, our management company,  as resources available to them.  It does not have to be terribly formal, it can include information about your fleet and activities as well as information you want to share with them about your Club.  Think about getting a group together to go somewhere besides your own Club – take a field trip to another area, another lake or another city.  If your fleet races, encourage your members to travel to other fleet’s races and regattas.  Encourage fleet members to join FSSA to keep the class strong, keep the value of the boat high and keep the one design intact. 

District Governors – Check in with you Fleet Captains to see how their fleets are doing, and encourage them to check in with their members.  Ask them if there is anything you can do to help or anything the Association can do to help.  Invite them to the District Championships and/or ask them to host one.  Encourage them to hold local events, both social and racing and to involve their fleet members.  Remind them about members who have dropped off the roster and see if there is anything that can be done to bring people back in.  Encourage them to add content to the website under your District, including regatta schedules and results, and stories of general interest to the members.  Encourage them to write articles for Scots n’ Water on any subject related to Flying Scot sailing – does not have to be about racing - articles about how to make the boat go faster, how to rig your boat, or just some fun event you have held or are planning are all welcome.

Members at Large - If someone at your club is thinking about buying a boat, let them know how much you enjoy your Scot and take them out with you.  If you race, take out potential members as crew or just for a pleasure sail so they can see how much fun it is sailing on a Scot.  Talk to them about how you got started sailing or racing your Scot and why you have stayed with it for as long as you have.

Officers – FSSA Officers all have a duty to ensure that we keep in touch with our members and address their concerns.  We all strive to do that but we can always do better.  Please make sure to reach out to any of us with anything you think we should know – if you, your Fleet or your District has a particular concern.  Don’t assume we know about it - we can only address your concerns if we know about them – so tell us.  I can promise you that every issue that is brought to our attention gets discussed.  I can’t promise you that you will get the answer you want, but I can promise you an answer.   If your District or Fleet has concerns, let us know so we can help get a resolution.

I hope these ideas are helpful and that you can employ some of these to encourage fleet maintenance and growth and help us continue many more years of a string class, great friends and some of the best sailors anywhere.

Thanks for a great year!