Dec. 22, 2008 -- Recently, each NJCA was asked to vote on a change to the IJCA Class Rules and the results of the vote have now been calculated. The vote on the proposed change to rules 3.6.2 and 3.6.9, allowing aramid fiber in the construction of the J/24 genoa, was approved by a vote of 17 in favor and 5 opposed. Sixteen countries voted with the number of votes reflecting the weighted votes by countries with large memberships. See the IJCA Constitution for the details.

The next step is to submit the rule changes to ISAF for approval. I expect this cycle to take about four weeks, which would give us an answer by the third or fourth week of January 2009. If there is any change in this date, I'll post an update to this information as soon as I know.

Our current assumption on the effective date is the same: the earliest the change would be in effect with the expected timing is March 1, 2009. This means it will be in effect for the 2009 World Championships in Annapolis, Maryland during the first week of May, but not in effect for the North Americans in Valle de Bravo, Mexico during the first week of February, 2009.

Lorne Chapman
Chairman - IJCA Technical Committee