Attendance
Attendees: Paul Scalisi – President (holding proxies for Districts 4, 7 and 3,) Kelly Holmes – District 14 (holding proxies for District 18 and N Zangerle,) Michael Whitfield – District 20 (holding proxies for Districts 19 and 21,) Tim Oelschlager – District 15, Eric Faust – Executive Director (non-voting.) 11 votes in attendance represents a quorum.

Call to Order
P Scalisi called the meeting to order at 0905.

Introduction of Attendees
Each attendee gave a brief introduction.

2007 Board of Governors Meeting Minutes
The Minutes of the 2007 meeting were reviewed.
K Holmes made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. The motion was seconded and approved.

President’s Report – P Scalisi
P Scalisi thanked all attendees for their time and acknowledged the many people who have helped and contributed throughout the past year, particularly the District Governors. The USJCA has had a successful year with qualifying events for the 2009 Worlds. There is concern of a post-worlds “hangover” as activity may decline with no World Championship in the U.S. again until 2012. P Scalisi said we should not be surprised to see a 5-10% decrease in membership numbers next year. The USJCA was well represented at the recent World Council Meeting in Annapolis and will be given later in the meeting.

Executive Director’s Report – E Faust
In support of the printed Executive Director’s report, E Faust gave a brief verbal report. E Faust indicated that membership numbers are on track to match last year’s membership, however overall membership has declined over the past 10 years. With the current economic climate and the current price of fuel, this will remain to be a challenge for the Class. Financially, the Class is good shape in spite of a $4,400 expenditure in support of hosting the 2008 World Council Meeting in Annapolis. Due to strong sales of royalty labels, the financial projections indicate the USJCA break even for the year ending December 31. E Faust reported that he had worked with the Financial Chairman, N Zangerle, to produce the proposed 2009 budget. P Scalisi suggested that a small dues increase may help offset the expected decrease in membership as dues have not been increased since 2002. After discussion, M Whitfield made a motion that, “The budget should be accepted as proposed with an amendment to increase the full membership dues to $65.” The motion was seconded and approved. In addition, the group tasked E Faust with developing pricing for multi-year memberships or other packages that would be attractive to existing and potential members. It was suggested that the prices could be $125 for 2-year memberships and $180 for 3-year memberships. Regattas this year have been relatively well attended with 35 boats attending the North American Championship, 54 boats at the U.S. Nationals and 43 boats at the Midwinters. Several long standing regional regattas also continue to draw a good turnout.

District Reports
Each District Governor in attendance gave a brief report on the activities in his area. Other District reports were printed and distributed for review.

Old and Unfinished Business
P Scalisi indicated that he would approach Roger Harden of the IJCA to discuss and renegotiate the reimbursement agreement for class management.

New Business
2009 Regatta Status Reports
The Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa will be hosting the 2009 Midwinters on January 7-11. This date is earlier in the year than the typical Midwinters due to a conflict with a local city festival. The intention is to move back to a February date in future years so as to leverage participation with the NOOD regatta. The February timing would allow sailors to compete in the Midwinters and then attend the St. Petersburg NOOD regatta immediately after while only taking one week off from work. R Stava will attend the regatta to oversee measurement and represent the Class.
M Whitfield gave a status report for the 2009 Nationals to be held September 23-27, 2009 at the San Francisco Yacht Club. Planning is going well with arrangements for towing boats to the racing area and docking coming into place. The racing area will be near the Berkeley circle. The regatta will be held subsequent to the Western Regional Championship (at the Berkeley Yacht Club) to help maximize turnout. Wayne Clough will be in charge of measurement for both events. The target number for the U.S. Nationals is 35 boats. Sponsorship has been difficult to obtain, so the regatta organizers have been attempting to sell individual activities within the regatta (i.e. cocktail parties) to multiple smaller sponsors.
The 2009 North American Championship will be held outside of the U.S. in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The 2009 regional championships have been assigned to the appropriate districts for scheduling. The dates of these events will be posted to the U.S. Class website when they become available.

2010 Events Planning
The 2010 National Championship will be held in Marblehead, MA on September 16-19. Mark Toso will be organizing the event in conjunction with several of the local yacht clubs. E Faust indicated that he had received advance planning documents from M Toso. As the former host of the 2005 North American Championship, there is confidence that all aspects of the regatta will be handled efficiently.
A proposal to host the 2010 Midwinters from Fleet 86 in Tampa was presented. The proposed dates for the regatta are in mid-February on the days just prior to the St. Petersburg NOOD to allow sailors to compete in both regattas with only one week of vacation. P Scalisi indicated that there had been some email communication from the Miami fleet regarding hosting the Midwinters; however no proposal to host was ever received. K Holmes made a motion to, “Accept the proposal from Fleet 86 to host the 2010 Midwinter Championship at the Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa Florida.” The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
The 2010 North American Championship will be held in Seattle, Washington in May, 2010. E Faust stated that he had communicated with Doug Schenk and that he was working with the Seattle Fleet to organize the event. Seattle hosted the successful 2005 U.S. National Championship and the same procedures and event site would be used in 2010. In addition, the IJCA Technical Chairman, Lorne Chapman, lives just across the border in Vancouver, BC and will be available to assist in the measurement and jury organization for the regatta.

2011 Regatta Planning
Looking at the rotation of major regattas, E Faust indicated that the 2011 Nationals should probably be held in a southern location. Texas, Florida or South Carolina would be possible locations. K Holmes indicated that District 14 would be very interested in hosting the Nationals and that the best location would be in North Texas to allow for easier travel for competitors from the northern U.S. M Whitfield made a motion that, “District 14 be given tentative approval to hold the 2011 National Championship pending the presentation of an acceptable proposal.” The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. P Scalisi pointed out that this may be an important event because the results may act as the pass-down qualification list for the 2012 World Championship, which are scheduled to be held in North America.
E Faust stated that the 2011 North American Championships will be hosted by the CAN-JCA. Advance planning indicates the regatta would likely be held in Ontario during the summer months.

2012 Regatta Planning
P Scalisi stated that the Rochester Yacht Club had presented a proposal to host the 2012 World Championship at the recent World Council Meeting and that a formal vote on that proposal was postponed to the 2009 meeting.
E Faust stated that he had received a letter of interest from the Oswego Yacht Club to host the 2012 North American Championship. E Faust also indicated that he had received interest from the Jacksonville, Florida fleet for hosting the 2012 North American Championship. It was decided that if the 2012 World Championship is awarded to Rochester, then an upstate New York location would not be ideal for the North American Championship and that a Florida location would make more sense. E Faust said he would follow up with the Jacksonville fleet to develop a formal proposal for the event.
E Faust then pointed out that given the geographic distribution of the World and North American Championships the 2012 U.S. National Championship should probably be held in the western part of the country. M Whitfield stated that a Southern California location would make the most sense given the location of major events on the west coast in the next two years. E Faust stated that he would look to solicit interest from a host location in Southern California.

Women’s Open Championship
P Scalisi stated that the USJCA should support hosting the Women’s Open Championship when possible. The overall plan for the event was to hold the regatta in the U.S. and Europe on alternating years. The Beverly Yacht Club did a great job hosting the regatta this year, and have expressed interest in hosting the event again in 2010. E Faust said holding the regatta in a set location on a pre-determined schedule may be a good way to build momentum and interest in the championship. P Scalisi said that as long as the Beverly Yacht Club was interested in hosting the regatta, the USJCA would support their efforts. This year’s regatta also acted as a World Qualifying event. The top two skippers in the regatta received a berth to the 2009 World Championship from the IJCA. E Faust stated that he was working with the qualified sailors to determine if they intend to compete but there is not currently a firm commitment.

2009 Youth World Championship Berth
The IJCA has allocated one additional berth to each NJCA for teams under the age of 25. In order to fill the USJCA berth, P Scalisi stated that a notice should be posted to the class website to solicit resumes from eligible sailors with a December 1 submission deadline. When resumes are collected, the Board of Governors can hold an email vote to determine which sailor will be awarded the berth.
Rules and Specifications
P Scalisi gave a brief report on the rule changes approved at the 2008 World Council Meeting. A full list of these changes can be found in the IJCA meeting minutes. Of most importance was the approval of Kevlar genoas. The rule change still needs approval from ISAF, but it is hoped that the new rule will be in place in time for the 2009 World Championship.

Technical Committee Update
A report was submitted by Reid Stava regarding Technical Committee issues that was reviewed by the group. P Scalisi stated that the USJCA should work with the Technical Committee to assure that a measurer’s seminar is held in conjunction with 2009 World Championship in order to train new measurers.

Allocation of Berths for the 2010 World Championship
Based on the current IJCA Regatta Regulations, it is expected that the USJCA will have 9 berths for the 2010 World Championship in Sweden. After much discussion, M Whitfield made a motion to allocate berths in the following manner: 1 berth to the winner of each of the 2009 Regional Championships (5 berths total), 2 berths to the 2009 U.S. National Championship, 1 berth to the Midwinter Championship, and one berth to the USJCA President. P Scalisi amended the motion stating that he would defer his berth to the winner of the 2009 East Coast Championship in Annapolis. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

Premium Membership Program
The existing program of offering merchandise in exchange for an increased membership fee was discussed. It was determined to continue the program and search for additional clothing items, flags or duffle bags that could be added as incentives. P Scalisi mentioned that Nancy Zangerle had been working on locating a supplier for flags that could perhaps be personalized for individual boats. The idea of bundling multiple memberships for teams was explored. E Faust stated that he would look into the costs of these items and devise a pricing plan that would allow the USJCA to realize a small profit on 2009 memberships.

Growth and Promotion
E Faust showed the group a book produced by the IJCA to assist in soliciting sponsors for regattas. Although the focus of the book is on obtaining a multi-year sponsor for international regattas, the information could be useful for other regatta hosts. E Faust said that when he receives the production copies from Mexico, he will make those available to future regatta hosts.

World Council Meeting Review and Report
Aside from the issues discussed previously, P Scalisi described a brainstorming session held during the World Council Meeting intended to discover the “core qualities” of the J/24. The intention of the exercise was to develop key points to integrate into a strategic plan for International J/24 Class.
P Scalisi also mentioned that there was new activity in some Caribbean countries and particularly in Barbados, which is interested in expanding and hosting some regional and international events in the future.
Additionally, the IJCA will now be enforcing all of the Regatta Regulations for hosts of international events. In addition to the World Championship, the North American hosts will now be bound by these bylaws. P Scalisi asked if the USJCA should devise a set of regatta regulations to govern U.S. events – National Championships, Regional Championships and District Championships. Specifically, these could cover the requirements for measurement, charter boats, onshore facilities etc. It was determined that the U.S. Technical Committee should be tasked with developing a draft of regatta regulations for the USJCA.
At the World Council Meeting Nancy Zangerle stated that she would produce a promotional poster that could be distributed and used by fleets to promote membership. Additionally, N Zangerle was in the process of procuring promotional flags that could be sold to the members. The cost of the flags would be approximately $12 each and could likely be sold for around $25.

Other Business
M Whitfield expressed some concern about the budget for the 2009 National Championship. As the organizers for the 2008 North American and National Championships, P Scalisi and T Oelschlager brainstormed some ideas regarding budgeting and obtaining sponsorship.

Election of Officers
The proposed slate of officers is was Paul Scalisi as President, Lambert Lai as Vice President, Reid Stava as Technical Chairman and Nancy Zangerle as Finance Chairman and Kelly Holmes as Governors’ Representative. No other nominations were recorded. M Whitfield made a motion, “To elect the slate of officers as proposed.” The motion was seconded and approved.

2009 Board of Governors Meeting
P Scalisi suggested that the Board of Governors meeting should be held in a geographically central location. It was decided that the date for the 2009 Board of Governors meeting would be held on October 17, 2009 at a location proximate to the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. This date may be flexible pending the completion of the 2009 regatta schedule.

Adjournment
At 1630, T Oelschlager made a motion to adjourn. The motion was unanimously approved and the meeting was adjourned.