These rules apply to events used to determine the distribution of Worlds berths.

Definitions:
Event – A regatta, series or circuit or other such competition.
Eligible helmsperson – A paid Class Member who has met all the requirements of registration in an event. In accordance with IJCA Regatta Standard P.3 an eligible helmsperson must be a registered Class Member in the District, Region, or country in which the event is held. A previously qualified helmsperson that meets the other criteria of being eligible, is considered an eligible helmsperson.

Rules:
1. For events that are used to allocate an available Worlds berth, the winner (helmsperson) of the event, as determined by the final scoring, will be awarded a berth to the J/24 World Championship.

2. Pass-down Rule – If the winner is unable or unwilling to attend the Worlds or has previously qualified for the Worlds, the berth will be passed down to the next eligible helmsperson as determined by the final results. This pass-down will continue among the top 10% or top 3 (whichever is greater) eligible helmspersons until the berth is filled. 10% is figured by dividing by 10 and rounding down.

Example: Forty (40) boats enter a District Championship regatta. Twenty-seven (27) helmspersons are from the District that is hosting the event (designated “H”) and are considered eligible boats, and thirteen (13) are from other Districts (designated “O”) and considered ineligible. The final results are as follows:
First Place – O
Second Place – H
Third Place – O
Fourth Place – O
Fifth Place – H
Sixth Place – H

In this example the first place boat is not eligible since it is from out of the District. The berth would then be awarded to the second place boat since it is the top eligible boat. If the second place boat is unable to attend the Worlds or is previously qualified, the berth will be passed down to the second place eligible helmsperson (in this case the fifth place boat.) If that person is unable to attend the Worlds or is previously qualified, the berth would pass down to the 6th place finisher being in the top-three eligible helmspersons. This berth could not pass down again as any further pass down would put the berth outside the top 10% or top three eligible helmspersons. If this berth could not be filled by the pass down rule it would remain unfilled and would be allocated by the rules that follow.

3. For the purposes of Rule 2 (Pass-down Rule) once a helmsperson is awarded a berth to a World Championship, that person will be considered to be "previously qualified" and ineligible for other berths that may be available either at that qualifying event or at other qualifying events for that World Championship.

4. In the event that more than one berth is being awarded at a single event, the berths shall be allocated in the following order: District berths first, followed the Regional berths, followed by the National berths, followed by the Continental berths.

Example: Lake Blue Water is hosting a regatta that will act as the District Championships and the Regional Championships all in one. Two Worlds berths are available at the event; the District Berth and the Regional Berth. Boats travel from within the District and also come from other Districts in the Region. The winner of the event is from within the host District and normally sails on Lake Blue Water. The second place boat traveled 500 miles from a neighboring District in the same region. The first place boat would get the District berth and the second place boat would get the Regional Berth. Pass-downs would be determined by using the previously stated rules.

5. Distribution of Unfilled Berths
5.1. Qualifying for Worlds held on the North American Continent – In the event that a berth is unable to be filled using the rules stated above, that berth would be distributed based on the results from a regatta, series or ranking system determined by the U.S. J/24 Class Board of Governors at the Annual Meeting. In the case that there is no Annual Meeting or that the Board of Governors does not specify a regatta, series or ranking system, the results of the U.S. National Championship in the year preceding the World Championship will be used to distribute any unfilled berths. Available berths will be passed down the final standings to eligible helmspersons until all the berths are filled.

Note: For the 2013 World Championship in Howth, Ireland, the results of the 2012 U.S. National Championship will be used to distribute any unfilled berths. If you want to sail in the 2009 Worlds, it would be very wise to go to the 2012 Nationals.

5.2. Qualifying for Worlds held outside of North America – In the event that a berth is unable to be filled using the rules stated above, that berth would be distributed based on a petition submitted to the U.S. Executive Committee and voted upon by that group.

6. Dispute Resolution – Any dispute or challenge arising from the above stated rules will be resolved by a vote of the Board of Governors and the U.S. Executive Committee of record whose decision in such matters will be final. Challenges of this nature will only be accepted for consideration if submitted in writing to the USJCA Executive Director of record within ten (10) days after the completion of the event in question.