Fellow Class Members,
We currently have 16 boats registered for Block Island Race Week which will serve as the venue for the 2011 J109 East Coast Championship. While the J109 Class currently has the most boats registered for any one design class I am hoping we can grow participation further to a 20 boat fleet! If any of you are still on the fence about doing this event, it’s time to get off the fence, and commit to doing the event!
I have posted a letter under Regatta Documents reminding owners that we will be following Class Rules for this event. The letter spells out details behind sail and crew registration, sails allowed while racing and reminds owners that anyone driving a J109 during the event will need to be a Voting Member (owner) or Associate Member. That means their class dues need to be paid for 2011 before the first day of racing (June 20th, 2011)
Please submit crew lists to me no later than June 15th so I can check them against the ISAF database. As noted in the letter, all crew members will need to be registered with ISAF and be categorized as a Group 1 or Group 3 competitor. Sailors without a registration default to Group 3. Please don’t wait to the last minute to have your crew register as ISAF occasionally takes several days to determine a status.
Please confirm that all of your sails have royalty tags affixed to them. If they were built before September 2006, please have your sail maker complete a sail declaration form attesting to the sail’s dimensions and compliance with Class specifications. Sails will be inspected on Sunday June 19th. I will circle back to set up times to visit your boats, record royalty tag numbers and sign your sails.
We hope to have a Class party on Wednesday June 22nd. We will need a volunteer to host the party. The Class will provide the basic ingredients (burgers, dogs, rolls, condiments, paper goods, beer, soft drinks) but we will ask each boat to bring a food item (appetizer, salad or dessert) and to volunteer crew to help out with set up, cooking or clean up.
This should be a great event. I look forward to seeing you out at Block Island.
Please call or email me if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Rick
