<font color="blue"></font id="blue"><font size="6"></font id="size6">With the interest now being shown in sailing beyond our borders maybe it would be a good time for the guidelines that govern the class in the three major powers U.S.A -AUS- NZL be looked at to make it easier for those who wish to take part.
To sail in the USA/NZL you have to belong to the sports main governing body and your boat obtained from a supplier authorised by the class.In AUS l know you have to belong to the AYRA l am not sure of where you are allowed to get your boat from.
These rules are fine and serve the class well up to the point where you are from outside of one of these three and wish to sail in the other two.
EXAMPLE (1) if a NZL skipper wants to COMPETE in the USA he will have to join the AMYA and buy a boat from within the USA.
EXAMPLE (2) if a USA skipper wants to COMPETE in NZL he will have to join the NZEC 12 owners association and have a NZL reg boat.
l have used the word compete to show we are taking about competitive sailing not just a get together.l know boats can be lent but we all like to sail our own boats dont we.
At this moment in time skippers from these countries can only compete against each other every three years when the rules are relaxed.
After a lot of hard work behind the scenes by the US CS and the NZL OA the NZEC12OA have now got a new mould supplied by the US and will in the future be producing hulls that should be the same as US produced hulls.
So with the fact that US and NZL hulls will be same it should not matter where the hull was made,rather the fact from which mould it came from.
If the US EC12 class accepts the NZEC12 OA as a authorized manufacter and the NzEC12 OA accepts the USA made hulls then
This in one stroke will allow skippers to compete in both countries regattas whenever they like using one boat no matter where it is reg.
As to having to join to a another countries governing body l am not sure how that can be addressed.
(tell a lie l do you set up a internatonal class governing body !!!)
did you hear all the jaws hit the ground !!!
All this is not new its all been done before by such classes
like the i0m you may of heard of them the biggest fastest growing sailing group in the world No we don,t have to be like them but we can learn from them.
Woody