Important Message From The IACA President
During this WGM, we will take a few important decisions that will impact the future of the class. We hope and expect that you convey the wishes of your memberships. All the documents have already been distributed on a-cat.org. In case you have requests, questions on any of the proposals, don't hesitate to contact me.
I allow myself a personal request : I'm convinced all 4 proposals are good for the class. Let me take them one by one and provide my personal opinion about them.
DEN proposal : deletion of championship rule 16.
Denmark propose to suppress championship rule 16. We are a construction class. What is not forbidden is allowed. World Sailing doesn't forbid GPS devices. I see no reason why we should forbid them. I suggest we support this proposal.
IACA championship rules rewrite - Link here
We have rewritten the championship rules to allow for the open championship format, along with a few minor changes. If we do not accept this rewrite, we go back to closed championships. The vast majority of sailors world-wide have agreed on open fleets in our poll of November 2016. I suggest we support this proposal. Intro and update
IACA class rules rewrite
The IACA class rules have in a major effort of the technical committee been rewritten to be modern, in line of World Sailing recommendations, and to include a whole bunch of interpretations into clear and concise instructions. I suggest we support this proposal.
Three year trial for the “classics division”
Our masters, grand masters, great grand masters and retired masters have contributed to the success of our class in many countries. Our favorite boat has evolved into a flying engine that is seen as harder to sail. It is a normal thing that we propose a "classics division" to allow these important members to continue sailing and racing with us. The new division would sail at the same location and periods, it should encourage the classics to re-join the small and large races all over the world. I suggest we support this proposal for a trial period. Read more here.
Last but important task : prepare your data for a ballot.
Nearly all national associations have supported our proposal for the new class rules. If it is accepted with a 2/3 majority during the WGM, we will conduct a world-wide ballot (e-voting). For this purpose, you will be requested to provide the name, given name and email addresses of all your voting members. I strongly suggest to already prepare this list so you are ready to have your members participate to the vote after the WGM. Countries failing to provide the data will need to organize the ballot themselves, by whatever mean they want (email, paper, etc). The selected e-voting process guaranty the secrecy of the vote, and no voter data will be public.
Thanks all for your attention, I hope to see you in Sopot in August !
Kind regards,
Charles