Hi All. I am "chiming" in as one who has had to eliminate and turn down crew to meet the 880* limit several times (four that I distinctly remember) Two of these were just before Nationals because they didn't loose the few pounds they said they would. How fun is that. They will not race with our boat again. I can't blame them even though it was their indirect choice by not loosing the promised weight. The administration of the boat becomes quite time consuming. I will not race consistently this year just because of the time it takes off the water. I still feel "new" to the fleet having come from Monterey YC several years ago, not belonging to a local YC and so not socializing much. When I go looking to fill in for crew that cannot sail a race I look at the choices on the crew list for our fleet and the sfsailing.com site. After filtering out the weight needed to meet the rule I am quite limited. As an example: I am 200#, Trimmer 195#, Foredeck #190. If my math is correct, that leaves me 295# for two crew or less than 150# per person. Seriously, look at crew lists on the above sites and tell me it is easy to find crew with this metric. Sure I could get rid of one of the 190er, but what does that do? Gets rid of a good crew for another boat that needs weight (if such an entity exists) and requires me to go into the maze for someone smaller. I am definitely in Mike's camp for the change to the "Fun Series" as a trial.

All this said, my only problem is that changing rules outside our recognized fleet procedure will set a precedent that becomes problematic in the future. However, if we can find a way to change now for, at least the "Fun Series," I support it.