Check your membership status

Class membership runs annually from January 1st to December 31st.

So both skipper and crew have to be members to earn points?

No.
Points are earned towards whomever is listed as the skipper.(and a member)
Both have to be members when it's a major event.

I renewed hopefully i did it right.

Regarding the US spots at the 2012 Worlds. Will they be determined by the 2011 ranking (Jan 1 2011 to Dec 31 2011) or will the ranking be tabulated over some other time frame?

Yes, Jan 1 2011 to Dec 31 2011. This will prevent the southern teams from double dipping with some winter regattas that have decent numbers. I must have our allocation back to the International class in the spring which is before the Pac NW, Mid West and the NE teams start their season.

As another reminder... you can't accrue points if your membership is not paid, so chop chop!

Some other questions.

-Do you need to be a member at the time of the event or just within the same season?

-Do non-member boats count towards the total number of competitors? (Everyone says yes but the wording on the website states otherwise)

Dave we are racing next weekend!

From the website:

"A skipper may receive USF18 points in an event provided that. . .[t]he skipper is a full member in good standing of USF18 at the beginning of the event"

OK thanks, but I'm not sure I trust that this is written precisely according to the intent. Take the following for example. "Points are accumulated according to the total number of boats on the line sailed by current members of the NAF18 Class." This clearly states that only class member boats will count towards the total number of competitors and yet that's not the way it's done.

I don't mean to be a PITA but I've seen these kinds of things become a problem after the fact in the past. It's far easier to get it straightened out before the game starts.

In the beginning, the intent was to encourage membership by only counting members on the line. We thought the fleet would self-regulate and peer pressure would kick in. But for many, membership is something avoided until they're in line at nationals. No judgement; its just a fact. I'll make a motion that we officially drop the member requirement in calculating points for members. The effect of the current wording is that the few who pay membership early are penalized a little by reduced points through no fault of their own.

Bob, I've put your questions to the executive and we should have a clarification posted on the USF18 scoring rules page in a couple of days.

Thank you for bringing this point forward.

Dave

The scoring rules have been clarified:

USF18 Scoring/Ranking Criteria