Steve,

No disagreement with your general sentiments. My concern is that the proposed rule is going to be harder for some people to satisfy than others. For those near existing concentrations of F16s, or just close to large cat fleets in general, they may satisfy the rule every time they go sailing. But others may have to drive very long distances, maybe even cross national borders to find a qualifying race.

To answer your question "why would such a sailor have difficulty in attending ONE regatta a year as F16", what happens when the first F16 turns up in New Zealand (outstanding opportunity for F16 development btw) and races first to finish against the small emerging F18 fleet there sailing out of Royal Akarana? As I understand it, this owner would not be eligible for F16 class membership. I don't see why that's a good situation.

There is no doubt that encouraging people to be actively involved in the class is absolutely a good thing. I'm just not sure that trying to legislate for it is necessarily the best way to do that.

Mark.