Hi Folks -

Here are some of the highlights from the Alter Cup meeting in St. Louis last weekend that might interest you:

The Championship Committee has issued a new general policy regarding race officials at US SAILING championships and ladder events. The new policy is intended to insure the quality of race management at ladder events and championships. During the Board of Directors meeting, held after the Alter Cup Committee meeting, this policy was sent back to the Executive Committee for a possible vote by the Board in the Spring 2004 meeting in Mobile, AL. Therefore, the policy may not affect the 2004 Eliminations and Alter Cup. It will still be distributed to the Area Reps for comment, so if you have an issue, get with your Rep. Generally, it will require the PRO and any judges to have some level of certification to run a US SAILING event.

The name of the Alter Cup will be officially changed to the Hobie Alter Cup - most of the other championship trophies bear the full name of the person it honors - now it's true for the multihull championship, too.

ARC 22s are increasing their participation lately - in recognition of that, the legnth of boat eligible to compete in the Area Qualifiers was changed from "under 22 feet" to "under 22.5 feet" so that the class can compete in 2004.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line.

John Williams
Alter Cup Chair
Area D Rep