The association is currently taking a vote on adopting a new racing format. See http://www.floridaec12.com/vote.php
It creates two "regattas" ("A" fleet and "B" fleet) with separate scoring and prizes for each. Competitors have no choice of which regatta fleet they will sail with, new-to-class and historically slow competitors will sail in "B".
Sailors in "B" will sail the entire regatta in "B" and will have no opportunity to qualify for either the Florida Cup, the NCR or the Race of Champions. They have the theoretical possibility of "moving up" to "A" in a subsequent regatta, but not necessarily so.
A hypothetical set of circumstances could have Graham Bantock win every race he was in (starting in "B" as new-to-class) and still not win the "cup", possibly not even racing in "A" all year.
I am opposed to this system being adopted. A regatta of our class boats by definition means a series of races where everyone has the same chance. Our class Policy states that "...regattas shall be open to all class members."
Please vote against this. If you have voted for it already, please go back and change your vote.
Prior to writing this I exchanged e-mails with Rick West and Joe Walter pointing out some of my observations. Neither appears to agree with my conclusions
Winston Mathews