2016 J/109 North American Championship Feedback Desired

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Vento Solare
Posts: 394
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm
Location: Newport, RI

2016 J/109 North American Championship Feedback Desired

Post by Vento Solare »

J-109 Owners, Associates and participants,

As a follow up to the 2016 North American Championship Regatta the executive board thought it would make sense to open a forum to discuss how best to utilize category three crew for one-design competition. The NA's saw 5 boats with category 3 sailors placed in the top 7 spots. While the board's general consensus is category 3 sailors should be allowed to complete at one-design events we have a concern that for championship events competition could be split between boats carrying "cat 3's" and those that do not. Additionally the caliber of cat 3 participants could escalate increasing the pressure on owners to buy more sails from their provider or hire at additional expense (see class rule 2.4 for allowable expenses).

The board would like your opinion on this matter. Some questions to consider:

Should we continue to allow cat 3 sailors to participate in J-109 class events?

Does it make sense to limit cat 3 sailors to events other than the North American championship regatta?

Should the class determine limits on cat 3 sailors are needed, rather than changing the class rules regarding cat 3 participation does it make sense to prohibit cat 3's at the 2017 NA's by writing an amendment to the race documents?

The class awarded a Corinthian Trophy for the first time at the 2016 NAs with eligibility being the best NA overall finish to the boat sailing with all category 1 crew, and no new sails within two years. The aforementioned limitations significantly restricted eligibility for the Corinthian trophy. How might be limitations be loosened to increase eligibility?

Your feedback is welcome.

Thank you,
The Executive Board
Last edited by Vento Solare on Wed Dec 28, 2016 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bmastror
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Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2015 12:16 pm

Re: 2016 J/109 North American Championship Feedback Desired

Post by bmastror »

I think it is important to have cat 3 sailors to help coach and teach to fleet overall. My recommendation is to allow cat 3 sailors in race events except for the NAs. At the level of the NAs, the hope would be that the crew has learned what they need and should be able to compete fairly with the rest of the fleet.
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