Hi Bob

I meant no offense in my comments - just a light hearted dig. It's good you've got some quality people attending this year. I might argue about Ben's bona fides though - he PM'd me that he grew up in the Noosa area and sailed dinghies at Lake Cootharaba - my home club and venue of the 1994 Worlds.
I'll be trying my best to qualify for the AUS team to go to Florida but would have been just as happy to go to California as I have rellies there.
The growth in your fleet has been spectacular over the last 10 years and a real credit to those involved. I know how hard it is, having been the driver of A Class sailing in Queensland over about the last 25 years. In the late 80's we once had 7 boats for our State Titles and this year we had 36 - very pleasing.
I'm not sure which Worlds in AUS you are talking about. I sailed in the last one at Belmont where we had 94 boats. http://www.a-cat.org.au/PDFs4download/A%20Class%20Worlds%20Overall%20Results.pdf
Several more nominated but couldn't attend at the last minute so the 100 quota was filled. There were 59 locals, 3 Kiwis, 3 South Americans and 29 Euros - about the same percentages as your event for local and OS attendees. Australians traditionally travel a lot to sailing events and our Olympic selection criteria even demand particpation and results in a certain number of OS events. Probably not so much of an issue in cat classes any more!
I think we've outgrown the 100 boat limit as a class at Worlds. There is provision in the rules for Gold and Silver fleets. There may be some discussion at the meeting this year and I've asked Storm Johnson, our President, to support such a move.
Anyway, good luck with fleet building and hope to be there in 2012.

Cheers
John Dowling
AUS9