NOTICE OF CIRCUIT

2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit
Revised 2/8/10

Invitation

You are cordially invited to participate in the United States J/22 Class Association (USJ22CA) Southwest District 2010 Championship Series (a.k.a the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit) to be held from March, 2010 through November, 2010. The USJ22CA Southwest District and the Fleets therein with their local affiliated racing clubs are the organizers and hosts, respectively.

Rules

This series of regattas will be governed by the 2009-2012 Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) as published by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). These regattas are classified as Category C events per ISAF Regulation 20 as modified by the International J/22 Class Association (IJ22CA) Class rule 2.9.8(a). The respective protest committees shall have authority on all matters within their jurisdiction. A committee consisting of USJ22CA Southwest District Fleet Captains of record and chaired by the USJ22CA Southwest District Governor of record will resolve all matters not within the jurisdiction of individual protest committees (e.g. circuit scoring).

Eligibility

The 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit is open to all J/22 yachts as defined by the IJ22CA. Competitors must meet all J/22 Class membership and individual regatta registration requirements in order to become participants.

For individual regattas, the class membership requirement of IJ22CA rule 2.8, the boat measurement certificate requirement of IJ22CA rule 2.9 and the crew weight limitation of 275 kg in IJ22CA Class rule 8.9 shall be waived. Yachts lacking a measurement certificate, whose teams do not meet the weight limitation, or whose owner or helmsman does not meet the class membership requirement, but meet all other requirements may compete in any individual regatta and shall be eligible for regatta trophies. Said yachts shall not have the results from that regatta scored in the district standings. See the description of Southwest Circuit scoring below.

Schedule

Seven scheduled regattas comprise the 2009 J/22 Southwest Circuit:

March 27-28, 2010
April 10-11, 2010

Fleet 17 and Lake Canyon YC
Fleet 66 and Rush Creek YC

May 1-2, 2010

Leukemia Cup: Fleet 72 and Dallas Corinthian YC

June 5-6, 2010

Fleet 36 and Oklahoma City BC

September 18-19, 2010

Fleet 11 and Austin YC

October 16-17, 2010

Fleet 10 and Shreveport YC

November 13-14, 2010

Fleet 6 and Houston YC

Racing

Five races will be scheduled for each regatta of the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit. Based on the time of day and weather conditions, the regatta PRO and the local fleet captain may agree to a fourth race on Saturday, thus allowing six races to take place. No races shall be discarded; this modifies Appendix A of the RRS.

Racing will take place on Windward/Leeward courses or variations thereof. Offset weather marks and leeward gates may be used. VHF radio hails may be attempted for yachts failing to comply with RRS rules 29.1, 29.2, 30.1 or 30.3. The Southwest District Governor, with the advice of the Southwest District Fleet Captains, may establish additional guidelines for the management of races, to be made available to the regatta chairman and PRO.

Scoring

RRS Appendix A, as modified herein, will apply after substituting "regatta" for "race", "Notice of Circuit" for "sailing instructions", and "owner/helmsman" for "boat".

At each Circuit regatta in which a boat competes, an election shall be made whether to score the boat/owner or helmsman for purposes of Circuit scoring. Thus, an owner may compete on multiple boats, or a helmsman may compete on multiple boats, but an individual regatta score must be attributed to one or the other.

Only those scheduled regattas for which at least two races are completed will be considered completed regattas and scored in the series. Each owner/helmsman that is scored in a completed regatta is entered in the series. When a yacht lacks a measurement certificate, when the crew competed in the regatta without meeting the limitation on crew weight, IJ22CA Class rule 8.9, or when the owner or helmsman does not meet the class membership requirement of IJ22CA Class rule 2.8, the owner/helmsman's score for the regatta shall be one more than the number of entrants in that regatta. The scoring of the other yachts in that regatta with a worse finishing position shall be moved up one place.

If more than four regattas are scored for a helmsman/owner, the best four scores will be retained and the other scores excluded. If four or fewer regattas are scored, no scores will be excluded.

Prizes

Awards will be presented to the final overall top ten circuit crews as well as to those crews participating in all scheduled regattas that are held, irrespective as to whether such held regattas are scored as part of the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit or not (i.e. Road Warriors). The number of awards presented at each individual regatta will be determined by the local hosting fleet but will not be less than 3.

Entry

There is no separate entry form or fee for the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit. Crews participating in at least one scored regatta of the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit will qualify to be included in the final overall circuit standings.

Bow Numbers

To facilitate scoring and the identification of boats for the purpose of RRS 29.1, 29.2 and 30.1 violation notification, unique bow numbers are required to be fixed to both external port and starboard sides of the forward bow area of each competing crew's boat hull. These numbers must be affixed to both port and starboard as follows:

  1. The leading edge of the forward number shall be 250mm/10" aft of the stem.
  2. The leading edge of the aft numbers shall be 100mm/4" aft of the aft edge of the forward number.
  3. The top edge of both numbers shall be 100mm/4" from the rail.
  4. All numbers must contrast with the color of the hull and be at least 305mm/12" in height.

Bow numbers will be assigned to each participating crew for the duration of the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit. Bow numbers 01 through 20 are pre-assigned respectively to the top twenty crews of the 2009 J/22 Southwest Circuit. Bow numbers 21 through 99 will be assigned out of the then open pool of unassigned numbers by the applicable regatta's organizing authority, who will accept on a first come basis via the registration process bow number declarations from new circuit participants. It shall be the responsibility of each participating crew to obtain and affix the assigned bow numbers to their yacht. Issues relating to bow numbers (e.g. assignment, placement, size, etc.) will be resolved solely by the USJ22CA Southwest District Governor of record.

Additional Information

For more information on the 2010 J/22 Southwest Circuit, contact USJ22CA Southwest District Governor, Brant Koepke at 281-682-0300 or by e-mail at brantkoepke@hotmail.com. For information relating to individual events, please contact the local fleet or host club. The most up to date J/22 Southwest Circuit information may be found at the USJ22CA Southwest District web site at http://www.j22southwest.org/.