We are awaiting the final proposal of the i550 Class Constitution from the forum discussions @ i550.org.
Until then, here’s the current 2.9 proposed by knot_racing.
Changes underlined, mostly.
I550 Class Association Constitution
1. Name
1.1. The Worldwide i550 Association shall be known and referred to as the “i550 Class Association”.
2. Objective
2.1. The i550 Class Association shall encourage, promote and develop the i550 Class throughout the world.
2.2. The i550 Class Association shall coordinate and manage the affairs and the rules of the i550 Class Association, provide a structure of management, and shall cooperate with the i550 Regional Class Associations (RCAs) and the copyright holder.
2.3. The i550 Class Association shall coordinate and work with any sponsors and management bodies involved in any officially sanctioned i550 event.
3. Other Terms and Definitions
3.1. The Class Rules shall mean the rules relating to measurement, equipment, racing condition of an i550, and the practices of its crew.
3.2. The Board shall mean the governing body of the i550 Class Association, the composition of which is defined in Article 8.
3.3. RCA shall mean any Regional Class Association recognized by the i550 Class Association to control and organize sailing within a geographic area as approved by the Board.
3.4. Each RCA has the right to self-organize.
3.5. The official language of the i550 Class Association shall be English.
3.6. A Licensed Builder shall mean a person or corporation holding a valid hull license issued by the Copyright holder to build one i550 sportboat, or who has purchased a valid license from a licensed builder.
3.7. Class Sanctioned Event shall mean those regattas organized by the i550 Class Association or a RCA.
3.8. A boat shall be defined as having “commenced construction” when hull panels for that specific hull number have been purchased and/or cut.
4. Jurisdiction
4.1. The i550 Class Constitution, the Class Rules and other associated regulations are binding on all members, and all registered i550 Class sportboats shall conform to the Class Rules in effect at the time of commencing construction.
4.2. Participation in class sanctioned events may be contingent upon compliance with additional criteria as defined by the i550 Class Association.
4.3. To participate in class sanctioned events, the skipper of a boat must be a member of the Class Association.
5. Membership and Voting
5.1. Full Members shall be i550 sportboat plan set/hull number owners who have paid the i550 Class Association’s full membership dues, and have commenced construction. Only full members are entitled to vote or hold office.
5.2. Associate Members shall be those not included in 5.1, who have an interest in the class, and who have paid the i550 Class Association’s associate membership dues. They shall not vote, nor are they eligible to hold office.
5.3. The Board may choose to waive membership dues for an associate member, when it feels that member has made an extraordinary contribution to the class.
5.4. Initial Membership
5.4.1. Any plan owner at the time of Class formation will be considered a full member for one year from the date of Class formation.
5.4.2. After the period specified in 5.4.1, such plan owner must have commenced construction in order to retain full membership status.
6. Annual Subscriptions and Fees
6.1. Dues will be paid annually to the i550 Class Association.
6.2. All dues amounts will be determined at the first AGM.
7. Disciplinary Action
7.1. Should any member of the Class Association or a competitor on a boat owned by a member of the Class Association, have acted in a manner that could bring the Class into disrepute, the i550 Class Association reserves the right to take disciplinary action, up to, and including revocation of Class Association membership and all privileges associated with such membership.
7.2. There shall be not less than 30 days notice given preceding a hearing under this rule.
7.3. Expulsion shall require a two thirds majority vote, by the Board.
8. Board
8.1. The Board shall consist of the following:
8.1.1. President who is responsible for day to day operations of the class association.
8.1.2. Chief Measurer, who shall also serve as the Chairman of Technical Committee, and shall officiate in the absence of the President.
8.1.2.1. The Chief Measurer shall oversee all official measurements of the Class Association;
8.1.2.2. The Chief Measurer is responsible for the training of i550 measurers;
8.1.2.3. The Chief Measurer may write Rule Interpretations which shall be binding.
8.1.2.4. Any rule interpretation may be appealed to the full Board at any time. Such appeal shall be promptly scheduled and reviewed by the Board, in accordance with section 8.5.1.
8.1.2.5. All current Interpretations shall be published to the Class website.
8.1.2.6. In deciding any question the intended meaning of the rules shall be considered rather than any technical misconstruction that might be derived from the wording. Extenuating circumstances may be taken into consideration for class rules or restrictions if the wording requires interpretation and no deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage has been practiced. Precedent and the established policy of the Association shall be taken into consideration in interpreting any rule or regulation of obscure meaning or not covered at all.
8.1.3. Secretary, whose duties include serving as primary point of contact for all class business and maintaining an accurate record of all Class Association and Board business and records.
8.1.4. Treasurer, who will be responsible for the financial management of the association.
8.1.4.1. Any expenditure must be specifically authorized by the President, or Chief Measurer, in the President’s absence.
8.1.5. The President shall review and certify the association financial records before each Annual Meeting.
8.1.6. Each RCA shall have one Board vote for every 5 boats, except that no RCA shall have less than 1 vote.
8.1.6.1. An RCA may choose to vest all votes with a single representative.
8.1.6.2. RCA’s that fail to participate in two consecutive AGM’s, or whose membership falls below 3 boats at the time of an AGM, must re-apply to the Board to be recognized as a RCA.
8.1.7. Board members shall not vote on issues where there is a reasonable perception of conflict of interest.
8.2. Elections
8.2.1. Nominations for President, Chief Measurer, Secretary and Treasurer may be submitted by any full member.
8.2.2. Each full member may submit one nomination for each position. A minimum of three (3) nominations is required for inclusion on the ballot.
8.2.3. A nominee must be a full member at the time of nomination.
8.2.4. Nominations shall be submitted to the Secretary no later than 60 days prior to the AGM.
8.2.5. The Secretary will post the ballot to the class website, no later than two (2) weeks after the submission of nominations.
8.2.6. All votes will be submitted to the Class Association office, no later than two (2) weeks prior to the AGM.
8.2.7. Each full member is entitled to one (1) vote for each position, per boat owned.
8.3. Term Limits
8.3.1. Each member serves a two (2) year term.
8.3.2. The President, Chief Measurer, Secretary and Treasurer shall serve no more than two (2) consecutive terms in any specific role.
8.4. Technical Committee
8.4.1. Committee Structure
8.4.1.1. The Technical Committee will be chaired by the Chief Measurer.
8.4.1.2. The Technical Committee shall be appointed by simple majority vote of the Board.
8.4.1.3. The Technical Committee does not have a vote on the Board.
8.4.1.4. The Technical Committee serves for same duration as the Board.
8.4.1.5. There shall be no limit to the number of consecutive terms that a person may serve on the Technical Committee.
8.4.1.6. The Technical Committee is limited to three (3) members, in addition to the Chief Measurer.
8.4.2. Committee Purpose
8.4.2.1. The Technical Committee shall consider all technical matters concerning class rules.
8.4.2.2. The Technical Committee shall put forward proposals for amendments to class rules, building specifications and measurement form.
8.4.2.3. The Technical Committee shall be responsible for arranging and monitoring measurement checks at any officially sanctioned i550 regatta.
8.4.2.4. The Technical Committee, in the conduct of its business, may seek the views and opinions of outside expertise as necessary.
8.5. Announcement of Meetings
8.5.1. The Board may meet to conduct Class Association business at any time, provided the meeting and agenda are announced to the Class Association membership at least two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled meeting date.
8.5.2. The Board may not use section 8.5.1 to address business otherwise reserved for the AGM, as defined in section 9.2.9.
9. Annual General Meeting (AGM)
9.1. Initial AGM
9.1.1. Section 9.1 shall remain valid only until the completion of the first Annual General Meeting, at which point Section 9.2 will become Section 9.
9.1.2. The initial AGM will be held ninety (90) days after approval of the Class Constitution.
9.1.3. Nominations for President, Chief Measurer, Secretary and Treasurer may be submitted by any owner of a registered hull #. This section supersedes section 8.2.1 for the purposes of the first AGM.
9.1.4. Each owner of a registered hull number may submit one nomination for each position. This section supersedes section 8.2.2 for the purposes of the first AGM.
9.1.5. A nominee who is elected must be a full class member when their term of service begins. This section supersedes section 8.2.3 for the purposes of the first AGM.
9.1.6. A quorum for the initial AGM shall be all of the elected Board members, President, Chief Measurer, Secretary, and Treasurer.
9.2. Initial and Subsequent AGMs
9.2.1. This section will become Section 9, upon completion of the first AGM.
9.2.2. The AGM will be conducted in conjunction with the largest officially sanctioned i550 event occurring during that year, but not less than six months after the preceding Meeting.
9.2.3. A quorum shall be declared upon the attendance of at least 60% of the Board.
9.2.3.1. If a quorum exists at roll call, it exists throughout the meeting.
9.2.3.2. If a quorum is not present, voting will be conducted by a mail (or email) ballot sent to all Board Members within two weeks after the AGM, and the outcome of such voting shall be determined by a majority of votes received at the Class Association office within 30 days of the date of notification.
9.2.4. Attendance via electronic means is permissible.
9.2.5. All new business must be submitted to the secretary no later than thirty (30) days prior to the date of the AGM.
9.2.6. Any member of the Board may submit new business to the agenda.
9.2.7. Class members, living in areas not yet represented by an RCA, may submit new business that has been seconded by another full member, directly to the Secretary for inclusion on the Agenda.
9.2.8. The Secretary will publish the AGM agenda, and associated supporting documentation, to the association website, no later than 3 weeks prior to the AGM.
9.2.9. Proposals involving changes to the Constitution, Class Rules or Design may only be addressed during an AGM.
9.2.10. Each member of the Board will have one (1) vote.
9.2.10.1. A member of the Board may choose to submit their vote by proxy through another Board member.
9.2.11. Any change to the Class Constitution will require a two thirds majority of votes received by all full members.
9.2.12. Any change to the Class Rules not addressed in Section 10 will require a two thirds majority vote by the Board members in attendance.
9.2.13. All other business will be decided by simple majority of Board members in attendance.
9.2.14. Election results will be announced at the conclusion of the AGM.
10. The i550 Sportboat
10.1. An i550 sportboat is defined as any boat, built to the i550 specifications as designed by Chris Beckwith, and modified by the current copyright holder, for which a legitimate license was purchased.
10.2. Any i550 which was built to the plans and Rules in effect when construction commenced will be considered an i550 for the purposes of the Class Association upon issuance of a valid Measurement Certificate.
10.3. If Rule or Design changes occur that prohibit a feature of any existing boat’s Hull, Rig, or Foils, the prohibited feature(s) may be retained (”grandfathered”). The prohibited feature(s) shall be documented on the Measurement Certificate, and their non-compliance can never be increased, regardless of the original rule that allowed such feature(s).
10.4. Changes to the Design
10.4.1. A Change to the design is defined as any rule change that could alter the existing plan set, or increase the allowable variance from the plan set.
10.4.2. Changes to the design of the i550 must be submitted to the Secretary, along with supporting documentation.
10.4.3. The Secretary will provide all proposed changes to the design, and supporting documentation, to the Technical Committee for consideration.
10.4.4. Upon approval by the Technical Committee, changes to the design will be submitted to the copyright holder for consideration.
10.4.5. Upon approval of the copyright holder, all changes to the design must receive a two thirds majority vote by all full members, prior to implementation.
10.4.6. Upon acceptance, the copyright holder will be responsible for updating the specifications, to reflect the new changes to the design.
10.4.7. The copyright holder retains all rights to the derivative work created.