Attendance
Molly White – District 1, Will Welles – District 2, Aiden Glackin – District 3, Russell Cook – District 7, Chip Till – District 8, Brian Malone – District 10, Charlie Singstad – District 14, Tim Oelschlager – District 15, Todd Warnygora – District 18, Jasper Van Vliet – District 20, John Cianciarulo – District 21, Eric Faust – Executive Director, Lambert Lai – Vice President, Kelly Holmes-Moon - President, Reid Stava – Technical Committee Chair, Kris Werner – 2012 Worlds Committee.

1. Call to order
K Holmes called the meeting to order at 20:07 EST.

2. President's Report – Kelly Holmes
K Holmes thanked everyone for their participation and noted that this is the first meeting of the 2011 Board of Governors. The primary reason for the meeting is to discuss preparations for the 2012 World Championship in Rochester, New York, but the agenda will allow for discussion of any other relevant topics. K Holmes then invited the members from Rochester to discuss obtaining charter boats for the Worlds.

3. 2012 World Championship
K Werner introduced himself noting that L Lai had invited him to take part in the organization of the 2012 Worlds as part of the World Championship Organizing Committee (WCOC.) One of the biggest concerns for hosting a successful event is obtaining a sufficient number of charter boats. The WCOC has been working with R Cook to poll the local fleet and district and determine how many boats will be available. K Werner stated that he would like to invite all other districts to help in locating boats and the WCOC is developing some possible incentives for this. As an incentive, the WCOC will offer a reduced entry fee for the 2012 Worlds to anyone who locates a charter boat, probably about a $200 discount is expected. Other incentives are being explored. The WCOC is also working with US Watercraft to arrange for transport of charter boats.
L Lai reiterated K Werner’s thoughts and added that this could be a good arrangement for boat owners since the charter could earn several thousand dollars for the owner and the boats will likely be returned in “faster” condition after the event. Another possibility is obtaining a new suit of sails as a charter fee.
K Werner stated that anyone who is interested but does not know how the transport can be arranged should contact him directly. With enough advance notice, it is possible that transportation of boats can be arranged through volunteer efforts. It was also noted that R Cook is developing a check list for boats to describe the condition of the boat and it’s expected value. This information can be published on the event website so participants can find boats with a good expectation of their condition.
C Till noted that organizers of the 2009 Worlds have some of this information available and they should be contacted. C Till asked if there would be a standard charter fee? K Werner indicated that the WCOC would put the parties in contact with each other but would not be involved directly with the monetary transactions.
J V Vliet noted that his team will be attending the 2011 World Championship in Argentina and a major concern is if the charter boat will pass measurement. L Lai stated that the contract to host a world championship was negotiated to include a provision by the host to help assure that all boats will have the resources available to pass measurement. In addition, all boats will be required to have a valid measurement certificate before it arrives to be measured for the worlds. This should reduce the possibility that a boat would then not pass inspection for the Worlds. The WCOC has already received several notices of interest from many countries around the world and the need for charter boats will help make this a truly world class event.
E Faust indicated that this issue was discussed at the last 2010 World Council Meeting and it was agreed that the IJCA Technical Committee would attempt to created a class standard charter agreement in which the charter fee would be held in escrow until such time as the boat passes measurement. If the boat requires significant work to pass measurement, the cost of the work could then be deducted from the charter amount. E Faust said that he would check with the IJCA Technical Committee about the status of this project.
L Lai then gave a general status report on the organization of the 2012 World Championship. The PRO has been approved by the IJCA and they hope to have a Notice of Race completed in the near future. The International Jury has been selected and approved as well. The WCOC will involve the assistance of as many people as possible to make this process go as smoothly as possible. The list of available charter boats will be posted to the website as soon as possible with a target date of October 1.
R Cook then asked for a rough poll on how many boats may be available from each district. District 7 - 4 boats currently. District 1 – 2 or 3 boats. District 2 – 6 to 12 boats. District 3 – 4 to 7 boats. District 8 – 1 or 2 boats. District 10 – unknown. Need information from Districts 4, 6 and 12. E Faust will help follow up with these districts to determine the possible interest.
W Welles indicated that several new boats are also being built for charter.

4. Class Promotion
K Holmes stated that an ongoing issue is promoting the J/24 Class within the sailing media and proposed that a new promotional position be established. This person would work with regatta organizers to collect information, publish to the sailing media and possibly take on the production of a class magazine. It was agreed that this would be a tough job and that it would is a good idea. J Cianciarulo noted that Twitter may be a good resource to communicate. A general discussion of Facebook and social media for J/24 sailing followed.
It was noted that there are many existing Facebook pages and the need now arises for a consolidated Facebook page for J/24s. C Till, T Oelschlager, M White agreed to work together to develop a plan for creating a central Facebook presence for the J/24.
J V Vliet noted that the US website could be upgraded to help consolidate information from various districts. E Faust said that the IJCA website was developed with the intention of making the template available for other countries or districts however he does not have the expertise to do this by himself. T Warnygora indicated that he can assist with executing this plan and will follow up with E Faust. J Cianciarulo stated that an intern from a college could easily help with this type of work. A Glackin noted that the email is still one of the best ways to communicate with class members and it should be utilized more often. It was agreed that this would be advantageous.
W Welles asked the group about the status of fleets in their districts. Overall, it was mostly agreed that activity on the fleet level remains flat but there are several well attended regattas at the present time as well as pockets of strong fleet growth. The J/24 has some strong selling points such as the cost of ownership and available racing that should be emphasized in future promotions.
T Oelschlager noted that it would be good to have ownership of some key domain names that can be utilized each year for the major events. K Holmes noted that j24nationals.com is already controlled and is available for the nationals each year. E Faust stated he would look into the availability of domain names for major regattas.

5. 2012 U.S. Nationals
T Warnygora stated that the planning for the U.S. Nationals in Dillon, Colorado is coming along and they have obtained an experience PRO. The regatta organizing committee will be working to assure the regatta is a success and would like to do some advance promotion at the North Americans in Halifax.

6. Technical Report – Reid Stava
R Stava acknowledged that there is a shortage of certified measurers in certain areas of the country. One of the problems is identifying individuals who will not only complete the measurement training, but also continue to learn more about the measurement process and carry on with the certification process. This often seems to be more of a commitment than many people are willing to make. The system of holding measurement seminars in conjunction with major regattas has been successful and should be continued.
L Lai said that District 7 has a policy of offering a 25% discount off of regatta entry fees for measurers that assist with measurement for the events and this seems to be a helpful incentive.
T Oelschlager indicated a need for measurers in the Chicago area. R Stava said that he would be glad to hold a training seminar in that area. T Oelschlager and R Stava will follow up on this and coordinate a measurement training seminar in the Midwest.
R Stava then spoke about the ongoing project to scan all active J/24s for illegal materials, such as lead, usually found in the boat’s sump or quarter berths. The preferred tool for detection was manufactured by Black & Decker but is unfortunately out of production. An alternative tool is produced by Zircon and it will be tested soon. Once an acceptable, widely available tool is located, it is recommended that each district purchase one so that scans are consistent from one area of the country to another. R Stava and L Lai will test the Zircon tool and develop a written report back to the group.
R Stava also recommends that each district, or group of geographically related districts, consider the purchase of the class approved sail measurement templates that have been successfully used at most major regattas over the past several years. The cost of the templates is around $500.
C Till described that he had recently serviced the District 8 boat scale and had covered the cost out of his own pocket. He asked how other districts handle paying for these expenses. It was generally agreed that asking for a donation or having a small fee for weighing boats outside of regatta weighing is acceptable. In addition, scales can be rented to other fleets and the money can be used to service the scale on a regular basis.

7. Date of Next Meeting
It was agreed that the next meeting will be held via teleconference in October, 2011.

8. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 21:45 EDT.