On January 10, we had a Masters' Committee meeting in Olympia.  
(The Masters' Committee is composed of any master rower or coach who 
shows up for a meeting.  It's open to any master rower or coach.) 

Attendees:
Tony Andrews (Sammamish)
Nate Clement (Green Lake)
Barb Cummins (Lake Stevens)
Bob Cummins (Lake Stevens)
Peter Edwards (StationL)
Hannah Floss (Sammamish)
Pasha Stewart (Everett)
plus James Rawson (USRowing and Lake Union Crew) and me.

Here's a summary of what we discussed and what we have recommended to
USRowing for Regionals.  All ideas, comments and suggestions that were
sent to me were discussed.

--James will have the date and venue of Regionals for us within two 
weeks.  We had two bids this year, Lake Stevens Rowing Club and Lake 
Euwana Rowing Club.

--James will rewrite the Regionals entry packet with the support of 
a group of masters rowers, coaches and program administrators to 
clarify issues ranging from the weight of lightweight men to the 
first-come, first-served policy to the distribution of medals.  Most 
of the items below will be spelled out in the packet.

--We are requesting that James/USRowing publish the entry packet 
earlier this year to allow more time for Round 2 registration.  
(This will mean an earlier registration deadline.)

--We have 129 events in  the regatta, and there will be a maximum of 
14 slots (2 heats) per event, which will be filled on a FIRST COME, 
FIRST SERVED basis, with a limit of two entries per event per club 
and four entries per athlete for the regatta.

--Peter Edwards will work with the LOC/refs to add an adaptive 
rowing event to the regatta.  If you have rowers who might be 
interested in such an event, please contact him at pdxpje@comcast.net

--After the registration deadline, club contacts (NOT individual 
rowers) may add entries above the 2 boats/event and 4 events/athlete 
limit to available races by checking on RaceTrak.com and registering 
through James, not RegattaCentral, again on a first-come, first-served
basis, as long as the entries do not result in additional heats.

--Rather than eliminate events that are still undersubscribed, James 
will tweak the schedule so that they run at the same time, i.e., two 
separate races (with two sets of medals) on the course at the same 
time.  This may not work out for everyone, but we felt that it was 
better than simply axing the events.

--Each event will have medals for one first-pace winner (gold), one 
second-place winner (silver), and one third-place winner (bronze) per 
event, regardless of the boat's club, state, or country of origin.  
This is the same as regionals 2009.  There will be no plaques.

--At Regionals 2010, we will be using roughly the same schedule as we 
have for the last five or so years.  It's a good schedule, but the 
same events are close to each other every year, making the same people
able to enter only one of those events.  If we had two schedules and 
could run them in alternate years, those individuals would not be 
impacted every year.  Is anyone willing to work on such a schedule 
for 2011?

--Please, please, please:  Pick one coach/administrator per club/team.
All lineup changes, scratches, questions, and concerns should be 
directed to that person, and that person should contact James.  This 
will be enormously helpful in simplifying communication and avoiding 
duplicate and possibly confusing messages.

I think that's about it; many, many thanks to the folks above who 
drove a couple of hours to attend the meeting and then contributed so 
much to the discussion.  It was the most productive meeting we've had.
If I've forgotten anything, I'm sure one of them will chime in and 
help me out. (Please???)  --Kathy