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From the ILCA President

Winter Meeting Updates and 2020 Regatta News
By Hugh Hutchison
Posted: 2020-04-23T17:39:00Z

I would like to provide a brief update based on the results of the Mid-Winter Meeting of the Governing Board that took place this past weekend, April 18th

1. Virtual Meetings Are The Way To Go

           

The Mid-Winter Meeting of the Governing Board is normally conducted in conjunction with the Winter Championships in St. Petersburg, FL. Attendance varies but the live attendance is customarily between 15 to 20 Board Members with a few additional participating by phone. This year, the Governing Board Meeting was a virtual meeting conducted via Zoom.  There were 47 participants, including the Executive Committee, Vice Presidents and representatives of the organizing authorities of major sanctioned regattas.  With that kind of turnout, it’s hard to justify conducting any Class meeting other than as a virtual meeting.

  

This weekend is the Annual ILCA Winter Meeting for the entire Class. It, too, is normally scheduled during the Winter Championships in St. Pete but will be conducted via Zoom. It’s easy to be a part of it so I hope as many of you as possible will join us for the meeting.

 2.  2020 Schedule

As would be expected, the dominant topic of the Governing Board Meeting was the 2020 schedule. The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially disrupted planning for the 2020 season. A number of regattas have already been cancelled or postponed. The Board is obviously concerned about the health and welfare of our members but felt it was still early to make final decisions with respect to scheduling our upcoming major sanctioned regattas. The Executive Committee, with the concurrence of the Governing Board, has set June 1 as the “drop dead” date to make final decisions on the 2020 schedule. Those decisions may also have a direct bearing on the schedule for the 2021 Worlds and other regattas as well.

Updates will be posted on the Class website so please check the website on a regular basis to keep abreast of the latest scheduling decisions.

As it is probable that a number of District Championships will be cancelled, the Governing Board discussed and generally approved a proposed temporary amendment to the Document Governing All Sanctioned Lightning Championships. The proposed amendment would, for 2020 only, dispense with the requirement that a competitor register for their District Championship as a prerequisite to sail in the North American Championships. If formally adopted, the proposed temporary amendment is intended to provide additional flexibility so as to give the greatest possible opportunity to conduct the North Americans.

           

Please plan to participate in the ILCA Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 10:00AM, Eastern Daylight Time to get up to date on continuing developments and to have an opportunity to provide any insight or additional comment you wish to contribute. Zoom invitations with the information necessary to participate will be distributed shortly to all members via email. It’s your Class. Be part of it.

Hugh

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