Fred's Position on NA Class Dues
If the class send somebody to collect dues and that person wants to enforce the NA Laser Class membership rules, I will not obstruct that effort.
explanation:
As of late 2003 I was considered to be a paid member of the NA Laser Class until 2054. That condition changed sometime and when I could not sign up on line for the NA Masters event in 2007 District 15 secretary Renee solved that problem and I eventually entered and sailed the event.
In March of 2008 I received a renewal notice from the NA Class office informing me I have not been a member since 2006.
The class could have sent me a letter saying the following:
Dear Mr Schroth,
We have decided not to honor your membership expiration date which was passed on to us by previous administrations. We did not find out how or why your membership was extended all the way to 2054. We simply terminated it.
Sincerely,
insert officer name here
NA Laser Class Association.
Having never received that letter or any other communication explaining why the NA Class has decided not to honor 48 years of membership ($1920 value in 2008 dollars) , I was somewhat reluctant to have anyone from the North American Class attempt to collect membership dollars from friends of mine who were about to sail in the 2008 Easter Laser regatta.
I asked North American Vice President Eric Faust, who wanted to verify membership status and collect membership at our regatta registration table why a decision to terminate my membership had been made.
He said, "I have no idea."
I replied, "You are the Vice President of the Organization. Are you not involved in decisions of that sort? The class failed to pay me the last $20,000 of my contracted pay. They conspired to cut off funding from the builder and the advertisers. They left me stuck with over $13,000 in operational bills. They only partially paid for the shipping costs to Annapolis and now they have stolen my membership dollars and the Vice President doesn't know why. Sooner or later somebody has to grow the fuck up and take charge. I am still paying off debt from bills those motherfuckers stuck me to pay. I really do not appreciate taking part in anything that sends more money to those thieves."
The moments that followed were not particularly enjoyable for either of us, Eric and I have been friends for over 20 years. For whatever reason, he does not share my position that anyone who was involved in the Laser Class management dispute of 2002 should long since have been forced by the sailing community to prove any accusations that were made, publicly apologize for a failure to prove accusations made, or be permanently banned from all competitive sailing forever.
I can live with that, but occasionally I think about the $100,000 it cost me to "serve as Class secretary for three years" and I get really really PISSED!!!
We had a regatta to run and I suppose a tenth of a million dollars isn't all that important. Friends are more difficult to accumulate than money anyway.
Normally, if I weren't totally pissed at those who run the association, we would have had each person confirm membership BEFORE accepting their registration.
I managed to tell each registrant as he signed up for the regatta, "Now you need to see Eric and confirm that you are a member of the Laser Class."
In fact, I went up to my shop and retrieved the form that came with my new boat which grants a year a free membership for those who are "new to the Class Association." I filled it out and gave it to Eric. For that day it got us past the moment.
I suppose, with great reluctance, I will give them ONE MORE fresh start.
If the NA Class runs the FULL PAGE EASTER LASER REGATTA ad in the next nine issues of the winter issue of the Laser sailor as we agreed when we settled our dispute about $1000 they failed to pay for shipment of the class property to Annapolis in 2002, I will have Eric check memberships first and take registrations second.
It will be even easier to accomplish that task if the class officers will take the time to actually describe to me EXACTLY why they decided it was proper to terminate my membership 38 years before my membership card says it it expires.
PS to the Class officers.
If you are so short on funds you need money from me. Why not send a form saying something like, "We know your membership does not expire for a very long time but we need some money now. Could you contribute $40 this year to defray the expenses of your membership?"
You see, I know each class membership costs MORE than $40 to service. ILCA dues, Membership card distribution, Newsletter printing, Newsletter distribution, bookkeeping, bumper stickers, and the renewal solicitation process consume more than $40.
On the other hand, pissing off a person who has unselfishly supported the game of Laser sailing for a quarter century is priceless.