Letter to JO Event Organizer

15 Maritime Drive
Post Office Box 1260
Portsmouth, RI 02871 
                                                                                401 683-0800 Fax 401 683-0840 
info@ussailing.org
www.ussailing.org 

Dear Junior Olympic Sailing Festival Organizer,

US SAILING appreciates your commitment to running a USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival. 2013 marks the 17th year of the JO Program -- your event is a key to the program's success.

We are pleased to have West Marine, Gill and Sperry Top-Sider as the official national JO sponsors.  In addition to their support at the national level, they will be providing prizes for every event this year.

JO Program highlights:

• Regatta Network's online registration held it's special JO rate at 7% (10% regularly). For details, see Registration in the JO Events Manual.
  
• Coral Reef Apparel and Codfish Gear will bring you official JO merchandise. Learn more.
  
• Reminder to race organizers of the rule 87 which requires that sailors must be members of the class association. Changes to this rule are only allowed with written permission from the class association. Regatta Network's online registration system can check this as sailors register.

Our purpose in developing Junior Olympic Sailing Festivals is to broaden the base of youth sailing. Our goal is to establish Junior Olympic events around the country and to create excitement about sailing and racing for our young sailors. While all Festivals should incorporate fun and learning, each will feature different levels of competition.

Increasing the number of sailors, especially entry-level sailors, is an important goal of the Junior Olympic Program. We ask you to set a goal of increased participation at your JO event more racers or beginning sailors. Use your imagination, and let us know what worked for you.

We ask you, the event organizer, to keep these goals in mind while you use this JO Events Manual to help create your own unique Junior Olympic Sailing Festival. As we expand our program of Junior Olympic Sailing events in future years, we welcome your input and suggestions.

Very best wishes for a successful Junior Olympic Sailing Festival,

Lee Parks
Junior Olympic Coordinator