Our fleets are now 40+ years old with competitive forces from the newer J/80 and other sailing classes. We need to think outside the box including potentially relaxing some of the class rules that helped us be successful in the past. In New Orleans and Annapolis, it has been a struggle keeping the One Design starts for weekend regattas. The purposes of this thread are to foster open discussion and brainstorming ways the class can change to remain relevant in the future. What are thoughts and ideas here?

(1) Potentially open One Design Regattas to allow Class Members to helm. This would open the door to more women to participate. This change would also encourage crew members to join the national and local class organizations.

Example: J/80 National Class Rule
C.3 HELMSPERSONS
C.3.1 Definitions
(a) Primary Helmsperson - a person who is a current class member in good standing, who steers
the yacht exclusively during an event during the period from 5 minutes prior to each start,
throughout each race, until the yacht finishes, excepting for momentary absence due to
personal or shipboard needs.
(b) Owner - a person who owns either the entire yacht or is one of two equal partners in terms of
financial investment in the purchase of the complete yacht and the cost of its accessories, such
as trailer, sails and operations and whose name appears on all of the boats official ownership
documents.
C.3.2 All J/80 one-design events shall be designated as either “Member” or “Open” events. If no category is
designated by the Notice of Race or schedule or by other notice 30 days prior to the event, then it shall
be a “Member” event.
C.3.3 “Member” events shall be restricted to Primary Helmspersons who are either:
(a) Owners
(b) Members of the owner’s immediate family.
(c) Current class members who hold a valid Group 1 World Sailing Sailor Classification.
(d) Charterers who are either a) owners, b) members of the owner’s immediate family, or c) class
members who are categorized by World Sailing classification code as Group 1.

(2) Change the weight rule to allow more sailors.
(3) Allow sponsor logos on sails to reduce costs.
(4) Allow advanced sail materials on main to reduce costs.

All ideas are welcome.

Let us know thoughts!

Dave@j30.us