U.S. Melges 24 Class Association Introduces New Membership Dues Structure

The U.S. Melges 24 Class Association (USMCA) is proud to announce that the current Owner and Crew membership dues for 2009 have been reduced. That's right — reduced. In a world economy where we are seeing the cost of goods go up, the USMCA has unanimously decided to reduce the current Owner level membership fee of $275 US to $150 US.

"We want to see more teams racing, and the class is looking for a positive outlet by which we can involve more people in the class. Reducing the overall Owner membership and asking their crew to join for a small fee is something we have seen other classes do and has proven quite successful." says USMCA Class President Travis Weisleder. "The class is improving things from many perspectives. We have a brand new website getting ready to launch in the near future which is going to bring an immense amount of benefit to those that do join the class. In addition to the high-quality, printed promotional materials, our new email management system will help keep all of our members up to date on all things Melges 24. Together these items will continue to help us market the class, from the top to the deepest point in the sport of sailing, from the global yachting realm to local and club level racing. Having the class professionally organized and managed has helped bring the Melges 24 in the U.S. to where it is at now. No other class of boat has what we have, in fact we find a lot of boats striving to aspire to the same visual success of the Melges 24."

The Partner membership cost will remain the same at $50 as will the fee for non owner Drivers and Charters. The Crew membership level will also reduce from $50 to $25, but all crew members will be required to be class members in all National Point Events. The term for all memberships begin on October 15 and run until October 14 of the following year.

For those of you who have already joined the USMCA at the $275 level, please contact USMCA Executive Secretary Joy Dunigan on e-mail or via phone at +1 (912) 398-5776, to discuss this new change.