Master John Butler's Proposal to Combine Jibsheet and Mainsheet into a single monthly publications.
From the Minutes of the 9 November 2025 Board and Afterguard Meeting:
Communications Committee
John thanked David Shinkfield for 10 years of service as editor of the Mainsheet and then presented a proposal to merge the Jibsheet and the Mainsheet. The Mainsheet costs about $6,000 per year ($4,000 for printing and $2,000 for layout) plus mailing. The ClubExpress website now fulfills some of the original purpose of the Jibsheet to publicize events. There is overlap between the content of the Jibsheet and the Mainsheet. After conversations with David Shinkfield and Dick Marsh and considering how many members view these publications on their mobile devices, he proposed converting the Mainsheet to a more mobile-friendly format, increasing its frequency to monthly or every other month, and foregoing printing it. A higher frequency might address the difficulty of getting authors to write about our activities and achieve the goal of getting more articles in front of people when the content is fresh. The proposal makes sense only if we stop printing and mailing the Mainsheet, and David suggested a trial in January before deciding on the frequency.
The lengthy discussion addressed going paperless, providing an easy method for members to print the new Mainsheet for themselves, letting members subscribe to a paper version of the Mainsheet, providing a short list of upcoming events with links to website to see details and flyers, the costs (layout, printing, and mailing), using new technology to produce the Mainsheet and make its content available in a variety of formats with a minimum of labor, making the Mainsheet more prominent on the website, encouraging members to make better use of the website for information about events, using the Mainsheet as a marketing tool, and how to maintain an archive of past Mainsheets for reference and research. John recommended tabling the proposal, creating a subcommittee to study the alternatives, and making another proposal in 2026 for an online publication. Joe and Hank volunteered to join the subcommittee.
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