The letter that is posted on the USACA website was drafted by me and reviewed in detail with Pease Glaser. Pease has a lot of experience with the US Sailing and ISAF organizations having been directly involved with many committees.

I sent the letter to Jim Capron and every member of the US Sailing board of directors. I did not receive a single response to the letter, not even a response acknowledging receipt of the letter.

As most of you know, the ISAF committee at the Qingdao meeting voted to not re-affirm the November selection of classes. This lead to a vote to decide whether to reconsider the actual slate of events. The vote (done in secret) required 26 votes in favor to re-start the event selection process again. 21 votes were received in favor so the November selection stands and multihulls are out of 2012 Olympics for now.

I spoke with Pease last week about the vote and the lack of response from US Sailing (we are fairly sure that the US delegates at the Qingdao meeting voted against any reconsideration of the events selection). Pease is typically a very CAN DO and optimistic person and this was one of the few times where she has responded to me that she is not sure what else we can do (at least through normal "diplomatic" channels).

I mentioned to her that at this point, perhaps the best thing we can all do as individuals is for each of us to send a letter or e-mail to the membership office of US Sailing and take the position that we will no longer support them with our membership dues as they no longer serve our interests nor do they take us serious as a legitimate community. Pease did not disagree with me.

I believe I will make my own stand. It's up to everyone else to decide how they should act.

Bob Hodges
USACA
A-Class USA 230
Corsair Sprint 750 9