1. Call to Order and Attendance.
Paul Scalisi called the meeting to order at 20:05.
Attendance: President - Paul Scalisi, Vice President - Lambert Lai, Finance Chair - Nancy Zangerle, Technical Chair - Reid Stava, Executive Director - Eric Faust, District 1 - Mark Toso, District 3 - Aiden Glackin, District 4 - Jarrett Lynn, District 7 - Russell Cook, District 8 - Robert Whitley, District 10 - Brian Malone, District 14 - Kelly Holmes-Moon, District 15 - Tim Oelschlager, District 19 - Doug Schenk, District 21 - Doug Hosford
Attendees represent a quorum for the USJCA Board of Governors.

2. Approval of Minutes
K Holmes made a motion to, “Approve the 2008 Board of Governors Meeting minutes as presented.” The motion was seconded and approved.

3. President's Report - Paul Scalisi
P Scalisi reported that we have had a successful year to date. The Annapolis fleet hosted the World Championship in May, which was a resounding success despite the uncooperative weather. Everyone should give Angelo Buscemi and the other organizers in Annapolis a big round of thanks for their work. Membership has declined slightly from last year, but is stable. The USJCA is excited about the upcoming scale purchase which will aid in making boat measurement easier to keep on top of. P Scalisi suggested that each district should pick a time and place for measurement and make it a regular occurrence. This will benefit the Class in the long run.
Some fallout from the Worlds concerns perceived differences in U.S. and Italian built boats. P Scalisi indicated that this is only perception and there is not fact backing this up right now. There is a group working on a detailed comparison of the hull shapes and construction of boats from various manufacturers. The issue is being addressed, and if there are any substantial differences found in the boats, the Class will work with JBoats to work with the builders to rectify the situation. This will be addressed on the international level if there is an issue here.
Also, P Scalisi noted that due to circumstances surrounding the World Championship, one of the U.S. J/24 members has had his membership suspended for the period of one calendar year. This is an unfortunate occurrence and it is hoped that the issue can be resolved.

4. Office Report - Eric Faust
E Faust reported that membership is lagging behind last years numbers. The Board of Governors had anticipated this occurrence due to the lack of World Qualifying events being held in 2009 combined with the state of the U.S. economy. Year-to-date numbers show just over 650 current J/24 members.
E Faust also presented current financial statements to the group. Finances are tight, as usual, but it is estimated that the USJCA has enough cash to last through the year. There have been no unforeseen expenses so far in 2009.
N Zangerle asked about the line item for pre-paid postage. E Faust recognized this as an error and indicated that an adjustment needed to be made to the balance sheet to show the actual amount of postage on the meter.
N Zangerle asked if postage expenses were being attributed to the cost of goods sold for the wall calendar. E Faust stated that currently the added cost for mailing calendars is not attributed to the cost of goods sold and he will work to make an adjustment showing the true cost of producing and distributing the calendar.
N Zangerle asked if the USJCA Form 990 returns could be posted to the website. E Faust indicated that he can take care of posting the current Form 990s.
N Zangerle suggested that it might be time to consider purchasing a new computer. Computer prices are currently low and the existing office computer is 6 years old and has been depreciated to zero.

5. Technical Report: Reid Stava
R Stava recapped activities from the Technical Committee. He noted that after an ISAF training course, the TC began using handheld metal detectors when inspecting boats at the World Championship. As a result, 2 boats were found to have illegal substances in the keel sump that required restoration work before the boats could pass measurement.
R Stava also expanded on the perceived difference between the Italian and U.S. boats. At past World Championships, data has been collected looking for differences by measuring the position of the mast from the transom of the boat rather than from the bow. This data showed very limited differences between manufacturers. Others in the group verified that from their on-the-water experience, if there is a difference, the difference is very small.

6. Old and Unfinished Business
Flags: N Zangerle stated that she has obtained a quote for manufacturing promotional “battle” flags and that sample flags have been received. The supplier is in Australia. The flags would have a dye imprint so the logo shows on both sides. The cost for flags is approximately $12/ea for 200 flags. NZ indicated that she needs a hi-resolution logo for production. E Faust said he could supply one to her.

7. New Business
a. Major Regattas Status
2009 Nationals - San Francisco, CA. E Faust indicated that everything is on track for this event.

2010 Midwinters - Tampa, FL
B Malone stated that the event is on track. It will be Feb. 6-10 and will be just prior to the St. Petersburg NOOD. The day after the regatta will be a “fun race” from Tampa down the bay for St. Pete for the NOOD. B Malone also indicated that a sponsor is almost set to come on board for the regatta. The PRO is almost set. Again, R Stava will be attending to handle measurement issues.

2010 North Americans - Seattle, WA.
D Schenk stated that he has been in communication with the organizers in Seattle. The PRO and head Judge are set. Lorne Chapman will be the Technical Committee representative. The regatta is set for May 18-23 and the Seattle NOOD will serve as a feeder event on the weekend prior to the regatta. Efforts are being made to have the local boats measured in advance of the regatta.

2010 Nationals - Marblehead, MA
M Toso stated that NE Regionals this year are at same time of year as next year’s Nationals and will be a practice regatta for the organizers. The dates will be Sept 17-20, 2010. As with the 2005 North Americans, 3 clubs support the effort. Sailors are encouraged to stay on site at one of the yacht clubs. The Judges for the event are already in place. A local sailor, Carter White, is assisting with the regatta through his company Regatta Promotions. Efforts are being made to involve the younger sailors in the regatta organization and execution.

2010 Regional Championship
• Great Lakes Championship – TBD in District 7.
• Western Regionals – D Schenk stated it may be held in conjunction with the Seattle NOOD, which precedes the 2010 North Americans.
• SE Regionals – R Whitley stated that Jacksonville is the likely host.
• SW Regionals – K Holmes stated that Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club will host this event.
• NE Regionals – J Lynn stated he would work on the date and location in conjunction with P Scalisi and the fleet captains.

b. Future Events Planning
2011 Midwinters
B Malone stated that the Board of the Davis Island Yacht Club is ready and willing to support the J/24 Midwinters for the indefinite future. There has been some communication with the fleet in Miami and they are on board to support the Tampa location. P Scalisi indicated that until the Miami fleet puts together a viable proposal, they cannot be realistically considered to host the Midwinters. The group was in agreement that Tampa should submit a proposal to host the 2011 Midwinters for subsequent approval by the Board of Governors. E Faust said he would work with B Malone on this action.

2011 Nationals - District 14.
K Holmes discussed the proposal he submitted to host the 2011 Nationals on behalf of the Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club and he recommended its acceptance. K Holmes would act as the Regatta Chairman. The proposed dates for the event are May 1-5, 2011. The DCYC hosts and annual Leukemia Cup regatta, which be the weekend before the Nationals and would act as a feeder event. K Holmes answered questions regarding the variable lake level and stated that it would only effect which part of the lake the racing would be held. If the crane is not usable, a construction crane can be brought in.
N Zangerle pointed out that the proposal shows 4 days of racing. The group decided that the number of race days and the exact dates of the event should be explored in order to maximize participation.
P Scalisi asked E Faust to poll the membership to ask their preference on 3 days versus 4 days of racing. The results of the poll would guide the decision on the final dates for the event.

2012 Worlds – Rochester.
The Rochester Yacht Club has submitted a proposal to the IJCA to host the 2012 World Championship. N Zangerle emphasized that the prosperity and health of the USJCA is dependent on acceptance of this proposal. She stated that there has been some discussion of holding the event in another location. E Faust stated that this is probably will not happen. The Rochester bid is strong and has been presented to the World Council at its last meeting. He suggested that the World Council members should be lobbied in advance of the World Council Meeting to assure acceptance of the Rochester bid. The expected dates for the Rochester Worlds would be in September 2012.

c. World Council Meeting - Agenda items for the World Council from USJCA
R Stava stated that he had a proposed agenda item to hold World Championship charter boat fees in escrow until the boat has passed measurement. He will submit the proposal to E Faust for inclusion on the World Council Meeting

8. Next Meeting of the Board of Governors
P Scalisi thanked everyone for their participation in this teleconference. Despite some technical difficulties, he determined it was successful. P Scalisi suggested that the Board of Governors should hold another conference call before the end of the year, and suggested that a late October date would be good.
T Oelschlager made a motion to, Cancel the scheduled in-person meeting in October and replace it with a teleconference. In addition, the Board of Governors members in attendance at the Midwinters and other national events will make a point of holding additional in-person meetings throughout the year.” The motion was seconded and approved.

9. Adjournment
M Toso made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded and approved and the meeting was adjourned at 22:20 EDT.

Minutes of USJCA Board of Governors Meeting
Via Teleconference
December 7, 2009

Attendance:
Mark Toso – District 1, Aiden Glackin – District 3, Russell Cook – District 7, Robert Whitley – District 8, Brian Malone – District 10, Kelly Holmes-Moon – District 14 and Governor’s Represenative, Michael Whitfield – District 20, Doug Hosford – District 21, Eric Faust – Executive Director, Nancy Zangerle – Finance Chair, Lambert Lai – Vice President, Paul Scalisi - President, Reid Stava – Technical Committee Chair.

1. Call to order and attendance.
P Scalisi called the meeting to order at 20:07 EST.

2. Approval of minutes of last meeting.
L Lai made a motion to, “Accept the minutes of the last meeting as written.” The motion was seconded and approved.

3. President's Report - Paul Scalisi
P Scalisi thanked everyone for their participation and then gave a brief recap of the recent World Council Meeting in Sweden. P Scalisi is working with Nils Jannichsen from Holland to explore the possibility of using sail royalty buttons sold to the NJCAs instead of sail royalty labels sold to the manufacturers. A report will be presented to the World Council. The IJCA has asked each NJCA to appoint or name one person to act at the IJCA contact person. For the USJCA this will be E Faust. The Bob Turner of the IJCA will approach JBoats to enquire about the Class purchasing the J/24 copyright. A member from the ITA-JCA was suspended from the IJCA for the period of one year. The suspension of Steve Lopez was lifted by a vote of the World Council and he is now eligible to participate in J/24 events. Steve’s boat is in the process of being re-measured. There was some discussion about lowering the all-up sailing weight for the boats. This is being further reviewed by the Technical Committee. The 2012 World Championship was awarded to the Rochester Yacht Club and the 2013 World Championship will likely be held in Ireland. The IJCA is very interested in looking into ways to simplify and streamline the measurement process.

4. Office Report - Eric Faust
E Faust gave a report on the USJCA finances. The Class is in good financial shape with a small net profit projected for the year ending December 31. Sales of royalty labels have been strong in the past few months and it is expected that 2010 will show higher sales than 2009. The balance sheet shows a good cash positions. N Zangerle asked E Faust to review the records to determine what amount of money was set aside for sailor grants in the past and that this money should be noted in the financial statement. As was expected in the year after a World Qualifying year , membership is down slightly over the past year’s numbers. It was determined that the decline seems relatively even on a geographic basis, with all district showing a small decrease.

5. Technical Report: Reid Stava
R Stava gave a brief report on technical issues. A sail material testing program is being established to monitor and catalog various materials now available for use in manufacturing J/24 genoas. Samples have been obtained from Dimension, Bainbridge and Challenger with the intention of gathering mechanical and structural data on the materials. An issue is also being addressed with older boats that experience deck flexing under high rig tensions. Some sailors have added internal wire and turnbuckle systems to counteract the flex. This is not only illegal, but not the best cure for this problem. The Technical Committee will seek the advice of the copyright holder to determine a proper repair.

6. Old and unfinished Business
M Whitfield gave a report on the recent Western Regional and U.S. National Championships. The Western Regionals was a great event with 17 boats competing. Of note, two sailors were hospitalized with injuries sustained on the water. Both sailors were struck by booms, one of which was broken. The U.S. Nationals had 20 boats with several travelling from long distances. The regatta was won by Chris Snow. The organizers managed to make a small profit that offset the loss taken on the Western Regional Championship. Sponsorship played a major roll in the financial success of the event.

7. New Business
a. Allocation and distribution of unfilled berths for 2010 Worlds in Sweden.
It was determined that resumes will be solicited after January 1 to fill any remaining berths for the 2010 World Championship. Sailors who have earned a berth will be asked to make a determination on their attendance during the month of December. Notice of any available berths will be posted on the Class website.

b. Regattas Status Reports
- 2010 Midwinters - Tampa, FL.
B Malone gave a status report on the Midwinter Championship. The regatta website is up and several boats have registered. Notably there are several teams registered from South America. The Race Committee and Judges are in place and everything is on track for another successful event. P Scalisi asked that E Faust coordinate with the regatta organizers to send an email announcement to all Class members. R Whitley noted that this email should also be sent to sailors whose membership has recently expired.

- 2010 North Americans – Seattle, WA
Joy Okazaki joined the call and gave a report on the 2010 North American Championships. The local fleet, which regularly sees participation of 25 to 30 boats, is organizing the regatta. The International Jury has been procured as well as the PRO. Registration on the regatta website has been opened and already 13 boats are signed up. www.j24northamericans.com. Keith Whittemore has been assigned to solicit out-of-town boats. There is interest from team in Mexico and Japan and the goal is to host a 40-50 international event. Strong effort has been made to measure all the local boats prior to the event and all charter boats will have valid, recent measurement certificates in order to avoid any problems at the event. Sponsorship has been slow in coming, but several strong leads are being pursued with the goal of obtaining a cash title sponsor.

- 2010 Nationals - Marblehead, MA
M Toso gave a report stating that this year’s NE Regional Championship acted as a good warm-up for the Nationals. The regatta will be jointly hosted by the Eastern Yacht Club and the Corinthian Yacht Club. The emphasis has been to get the younter sailors involved in the regatta organization. The PRO and jury are in place. Sailors are invited to stay at the regatta site at one of the rooms available at the yacht clubs. Sailors can compete at the regatta and stay at the regatta site for the duration of the event.

c. Procedure for allocating 2011 Worlds berths, Argentina
It is expected that the USJCA will have 16 berths available to attend the 2011 World Championship. After much discussion, N Zagerle made a motion that, “The 2011
Worlds berths will be distributed in the following manner during the calendar year 2010: Midwinter Championship – 2 berths, U.S. National Championship – 2 berths, North American Championship – 2 berths. In addition, each of the regions (Great Lakes Region, Western Region, Southeast Region, Southwest Region and Northeast Region) will be awarded 2 berths. One of these berths must be awarded to the winner of the Regional Championship and the other can be awarded as the District Governors of the Region determine – either at the Regional Championship or some other regatta or series. The USJCA World Qualifying Rules will apply.”
The motion was seconded and approved.
M Toso noted that the Downeast Regatta organizers are very interested in obtaining a World Qualifying berth for their event in 2010.

d. Future Events Planning
- Pan Am Games Trials
E Faust stated that the Pan Am Games will be held on Oct. 20-26, 2011 in Guadalajara Mexico with the sailing events in Puerto Vallarta. The J/24 will be made up of four people with a total crew weight of 320kg. In expectation that the U.S. will qualify to send a J/24 team, plans should be put in place to host the Team Trials Regatta. In the past, the Trials have been held just prior to the Midwinter Championship. It was decided that the USJCA President should send a letter to the Davis Island Yacht Club to ask if they would be interested in hosting this event prior to the 2011 Midwinters. K Holmes stated that it would be possible to host the Trials in Texas if things did not work out with DIYC.

- 2012 North American Championship.
The U.S. is slated to host the 2012 North American Championship. There has been preliminary interested from the Jacksonville, FL fleet. B Malone stated that the Tampa fleet is also interested in hosting a major regatta. B Malone will coordinate with the Jacksonville fleet to determine which club will submit a bid for approval by the USJCA Executive Committee. Any bid will need the final approval of the IJCA before it can be finalized.

- 2012 National Championship.
Based on the geographic distribution of other major regattas, it was determined that the 2012 Nationals should be held in the central or western U.S. Possibilities mentioned were Cleveland, OH or somewhere in Southern California. D Hosford stated that he would look for interested host clubs in his District. All other District Governors in the appropriate geographic region were asked to look for potential hosts clubs and submit any bids to the Class office.

8. Nominations and Election of Officers
Nominations and elections for the USJCA Executive Committee followed.
Paul Scalisi was nominated for President by K Holmes. The nomination was seconded and approved.
Lambert Lai was nominated for Vice President by P Scalisi. The nomination was seconded and approved.
Kelly Holmes was nominated for Governors’ Representative by R Cook. The nomination was seconded and approved.
Reid Stava was nominated for Technical Committee Chairman by L Lai. The nomination was seconded and approved.
Nancy Z was nominated for Financial Chairman by P Scalisi. The nomination was seconded and approved.

9. Any Other Business
B Malone stated that the Bicardi Cup has changed its name to the Miami Sailing Week and J/24s are invited to participate. The regatta will be professionally run by Bicardi on March 10-13, 2010.
P Scalisi emphasized that it is important for all District Governors, Fleet Captains and regatta organizers to send their regatta dates to the Class office as soon as possible so they can be added to the website calendar.

10. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 22:09 EST.