A periodic Town Hall Meeting for JSA of LIS program leaders was held virtually on the evening of March 24, 2025.

The scheduled March 24 meeting was cancelled after when multiple uninvited persons displayed disruptive video and audio.  Therefore, future JSA public meetings that use video meeting services like Zoom will have enhanced pre-meeting security settings and in-meeting procedures to promptly lock out disruptors.

A replacement meeting on March 24 that started twenty-eight minutes later ran normally for over fifty-five minutes. The recordings from that meeting may be viewed at this link.

Topics discussed during the meeting included:

• Upcoming Events and Scheduling Challenges: Tim Clark provided an overview of upcoming events including the Event Management Workshop on April 23rd, a Dave Perry webinar on April 29th about racing rules revisions, the Spring Meeting on May 28th, and the Head Instructor Workshop on June 5th at Indian Harbor YC. The All Instructor Symposium is on June 21st at SUNY Maritime, however a few clubs based in Connecticut indicated they are unlikely to attend because of the need to pay overtime after the first full week of summer programming.
• Supplemental Skills for Next Generation Sailors: Tim discussed enhancing supplemental skills for the next generation of sailors. Stamford YC has noticed a trend where more kids are interested in adventure sailing rather than racing (non-racers are about 80%). Therefore, STAM has a certification program for Ideal 18 users and introduced powerboat handling and snorkeling skills to the program.
• Sailing Event With Skills Competition: The group discussed the idea of organizing a sailing event with a destination. And they considered the possibility of having a skills competition, where participants would be challenged to execute maneuvers in a non-traditional way. The idea of an “un-regatta,” like the O’pen Skiff class, was discussed where participants would be allowed to think outside the box and try different sailing techniques.
• Parent-Child Sailing Event Discussion: Tim proposed the idea of organizing a parent-child sailing event, which Stamford and Noroton agreed to. They discussed the possibility of using the Melges 15 and Ideal 18 boats for this event. Noroton mentioned that their club has been organizing parent-child racing events for years, which have been successful. Tim also mentioned the possibility of organizing a parent-child race with Sonar and Storm 18 boats. The clubs agreed to work together to organize this event, which would be a fun, non-competitive event.
• Boat Transport for Junior Sailors: Stamford YC discussed the challenges of transporting boats to events, particularly for new parents of junior sailors. They recalled a previous attempt by local providers to establish a boat delivery service, which was unsuccessful due to logistical issues. The group suggested improving communication with parents about available resources and creating support groups for parents of sailors. They also discussed the need for teaching parents how to transport boats safely.
• Town Hall Meeting Frequency: The group discussed the value of having monthly town hall meetings. They also considered the idea of a bulletin board or forum for sharing questions and solutions among clubs. They also discussed the importance of networking and support within the JSA community.
• Virtual Meeting Security and procedures to promptly lock out disruptors will be in effect for future JSA public meetings that use video meeting services like Zoom.