District Rules
ABOUT MASSA
MASSA DISTRICT SUPPLEMENTAL RULES
(Effective March 13, 2021) Final 3/3/2021, revised 1/31/2022, 8/2/202, 1/27/2023, 2/17/2023
These MASSA District Rules are in addition to the Procedural Rules for Interscholastic Sailing Competition sponsored by the Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA Procedural Rules). All competition within MASSA shall be governed by the current International Sailing Federation’s Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), as adopted by the United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the prescriptions of US Sailing, and the ISSA Procedural Rules, except as amended herein. In the event of conflict between the governing documents and the Supplemental Rules contained herein, the latter shall take precedence.
1. MASSA ORGANIZATION
1.1. By-Laws. The MASSA Corporate By-Laws and the MASSA District Committee Standing Rules are the governing documents of the association. These Supplemental Rules may not be interpreted as changing the By-Laws.
1.2. Rules Rank as Sailing Instructions. These District Rules shall supersede the ISSA Procedural Rules and shall be supplemented by Sailing Instructions. In the event of a conflict between these rules and the Sailing Instructions, the Sailing Instructions shall take precedence.
1.3. Changing District Rules. These MASSA Supplemental Rules can be changed by a majority vote of the MASSA District Committee.
2. MEMBERSHIP AND DUES
2.1. Membership. To compete in any MASSA regatta, all schools must be members in good standing of MASSA/ISSA by paying membership dues and registering on the ISSA Database. Regatta registrations from schools not in good standing shall be considered invalid.
2.2. Dues. Annual team dues are $150.00. The dues covers a school year, and is not prorated based on the season or month of a team joining.
2.3. Reduced Dues. Dues can be discounted to 105.00 by approval of the MASSA president for teams that have fewer than 4 sailors. All teams will be assessed the additional $45.00 dues to complete the full dues of $150.00 when the team reaches 4 members.
3. MASSA LEAGUES
3.1 Leagues. MASSA is organized into the following geographical leagues:
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NYISA– NW (New York including Canadian schools)
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NYISA– SE (Long Island and surrounding area of Southeast New York state)
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NJISA (New Jersey and eastern PA )
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MDISA (Maryland, DC area, and Delaware)
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VISA (Virginia)
3.2 League Regattas. Each league will offer an autonomous intraleague regatta series each season.
3.3 8th Grade Sailors in League Events. Leagues are allowed to make their own rules about whether 8th graders can participate in league regattas. Students attending feeder schools in grades under 9th grade will be allowed to sail on the feeder school’s high school team subject to any league and district age requirements, except that teams qualifying for MASSA competition shall comply with all ISSA eligibility requirements. A feeder school for a high school is a school from which, after a particular student graduated from it, he or she would attend that high school.
4. DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP AND QUALIFIER COMPETITOR ELIGIBILITY
4.1 Registration. Registration must be completed and dues (ISSA and MASSA) must have been paid online (or received by the MASSA Director in special circumstances) by 5:00 on the Monday prior to their league qualifier, or the Cressy Qualifier.
4.2 Qualifiers. For ISSA Qualifiers, and District Championships that serve as an ISSA Qualifier, all ISSA Eligibility Requirements must be satisfied.
4.3. Non-Qualifying Events. For the Fall and Spring District Championships and Fall and Spring Flette Invitational events, all ISSA Eligibility requirements must be met.
4.4. Combined Teams. Combined teams will not be allowed to sail in any MASSA events.
5. DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIPS AND QUALIFIERS
5.1. Fall District Championships and Qualifiers
5.1.1 Fall Team Race Championships. Schools attending must qualify within their League. The Championship will be a 2 day event. The format is initial seeded rounds followed by silver and gold rounds and a final four round. Racing ends at the earlier of 2pm on Sunday or the completion of the NOR specified rounds, whichever comes first. The Venue is rotated among the Leagues per MASSA’s League rotation rules.
5.1.2 Fall Fleet Race Championship (ACC’s Qualifier), Fall Fleet Invitational and Keelboat Championship. Schools wishing to attend must qualify within their League. The Championship will be a 2 day event with races ending 2pm on Sunday or the completion of 1 full round robin whichever comes first. The Venue is rotated among the Leagues per MASSA’s League rotation rules. The Fall District Fleet Race Championship is used to determine who qualifies to represent MASSA at the ACC’s.
5.1.3 Cressy Qualifier. The District shall hold in September a byob qualifier for the ISSA Cressy National Championship. All sailors from properly registered and paid ISSA/MASSA schools shall have the right to attend.
5.1.4 Great Oaks Qualifier. There shall be no regatta qualifier. MASSA berths are allocated on a first come, first serve basis by interested schools signing up with the MASSA director.
5.1.5 National Keelboat Champ Qualifier. This qualifier is to be held at a location that can provide reasonably matched keel boats for the participants. If the number of applicants grows larger than can be handled by a single District Qualifier, League qualifiers will be used to qualify schools for the event.
5.2. Spring District Championships and Qualifiers
5.2.1 Spring Fleet Race Championship (Mallory Qualifier), Spring Fleet Invitaional. Schools attending must qualify within their League. The Championship will be a 2 day event with races ending 2pm on Sunday or the completion of one full round robin whichever comes first. The Venue is rotated among the Leagues per MASSA’s League rotation rules. The District’s Spring Fleet Race Championship shall be the qualifier for the ISSA Mallory National Championship. The Fall Fleet Race Championship is the backup qualifier.
5.2.3 Girls Championship. Schools attending must qualify or be approved within their league. Leagues may determine if a given school may sail more than one berth at the event. The Championship is a 2 day single division event with races ending at 2pm on Sunday, or the completion of two full round robins, whichever comes first. The Venue is rotated among the Leagues per MASSA’s League rotation rules.
5.2.4 Phebe King. After allotted berths to the Mallory have been awarded to teams from the Mallory Qualifier, the next five next highest finishing teams will be offered berths at the Phebe King Memorial Trophy Regatta. Additionally, the Silver Fleet highest finishing first place team will be offered a MASSA berth at the Phebe King Memorial Trophy Regatta. If this berth is initially unfilled, it will subsequently go back to the Organizing Authority to be assigned as an at-large berth.
5.3 Regatta Venue Selection Procedures - League Rotation.
5.3.1 Regatta Host League Rotation. Refer to MASSA Regatta Rotation google sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IBkpzr3kRpOZP1FvLGEBI3UNd1wqLZaMW28iyFLQ8C4/edit?usp=sharing
5.3.2 Silver Event Hosts. Leagues hosting Gold events will have the option to host the corresponding silver event.
5.4 League Allocations.
5.4.1. Allocation Formula. Allocations for district fleet racing events will be based on the ratio of the number of teams in a league that have been actively fleet racing throughout the season, divided by the number of teams actively fleet racing in the district throughout the season, except for the MASSA Girls Regatta which will be based on the ratio of single division teams participating in a league’s girls season qualifier divided by the total number of single division teams participating in all league girls qualifiers in the district that season. Similarly, allocations for district team racing events will be based on the ratio of the number of teams in a league that have been actively team racing throughout the season, divided by the number of teams actively team racing in the district throughout the season.
5.4.2. Definition of Active Team. For the purposes of allocations, an "active" fleet racing team means a team that has four or more qualified registered high school sailors that race in at least one fleet racing regatta (3 or more races, recorded and finalized in techscore with RP data) during this season, and an "active" team racing team means a team that has 6 or more qualified registered high school sailors that race in at least one team racing regatta (2 or more teams, full round robin or 3 or more races for two teams, recorded and finalized in techscore with RP data) during this season.
5.4.3. Deadline for League Census. The League Directors will provide the numbers of active racing teams to the District President as soon as possible in the season, but no later than 2 weeks prior to the weekend of the District Fleet or Team Racing Regatta to give the District sufficient time to calculate allocation numbers by the weekend before that District Regatta.
5.4.4. Minimum League Allocation. Each league will be allowed a minimum of 1 team to attend the District Fleet or Team Racing Regatta only if their league has held at least one regatta in the respective type of event.
5.4.5. Teams Accepting Berths. League Director will provide the names of the team(s) that will fill the leagues allocated berths at the District event to the host League Director and the District President by the Monday (5 days) before the event. If a team drops out after that Monday commitment, the team will forfeit their qualification berth at the next district event for which they would otherwise be qualified by their league to attend. The District President may waive this penalty for valid reason on a case by case basis.
5.4.6. Allocations for Open Fall and Spring Invitational Berths. Allocations for the Fall and Spring Invitational Fleet Regattas shall follow the same formula as the MASSA Fall Gold Fleet Championship and Spring Mallory Qualifier. Unfilled Fall and Spring Invitaional berths will first be offered to the host league. If any open berths remain available, they will then be offered to “first” teams from other leagues on an as needed basis. Second teams will only be granted berths if, after all attempts to fill berths with first teams, there are still unfilled berths. Only then will a second team may be considered.
5.4.7. Limitations on Second Teams. Schools will be allowed only one team in any given gold or qualifying championship event. In the event that a school has a second team compete in the Silver event, only one team from that school will be allowed to qualify for either a national or intersectional event. Example: a school whose first team earns a berth for either the Mallory or PKM in the Mallory Qualifier will forfeit the offer of a PKM berth based on the first place finish of their second team in a silver event. That award will go to the next highest placing team.
6. CONDUCT OF REGATTAS
6.1. Host and Organizing Authority. MASSA is the Organizing Authority for all MASSA Regattas in conjunction with the host League and host venue. MASSA District President or League District Committee Representatives shall serve as or appoint the MASSA Representative for all District Regattas in their Leagues.
6.2. Notices of Race - All NORs must be reviewed and approved by MASSA President or their designee prior to posting. NOR should be posted as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days prior to the date of the event.
6.3. SI’s - These District Rules will serve as the basis for SI’s for all MASSA Regattas. Venue specific information will be presented in the form on event specific SI’s. All SI’s and addenda must be reviewed at least one week prior to the event ,and approved by MASSA President or their designee prior to posting.
6.6. Supervision, Conduct, and Discipline – The MASSA District Committee and it’s designated MASSA representative, Regatta Chair, and PRO have shared Jurisdiction over disciplinary matters at regattas. Fair sailing under the Corinthian spirit should be encouraged and promoted by all sailors and Support Persons. ISSA Procedural Rules concerning Responsible Adults and Competitor Conduct apply at all MASSA events. MASSA Code of Conduct shall apply at all District events.
6.7 Format
6.7.1 Fleet Racing. The regatta will have 2 divisions. Rotation will be determined by the Regatta host and approved by the MASSA President or their representative. Full Rotations will be attempted.
6.7.2 Team Racing. A round robin phase will be followed by a silver and gold phase, and a final four phase. Regatta specific format options will be detailed in the SI’s.
6.8 Courses
6.8.1 Fleet Race Course. Fleet courses will be windward/leeward using World Sailing course signals. In accordance with ISSA PR 7.8(a) LA2 (formerly W-4) is the preferred course, but WA2 (formerly W-3) or WA3 (formerly W-5) may be used depending on wind speed and direction, proximity to rotation area, etc. The PRO has the final say for the specific choice of course for a given race.
6.8.2 Team Race Course. The course will be the Digital N in accordance with ISSA PR Appendix 6.
6.9 Protest and Redress
6.1 Decision of Protest Committee. In accordance with RRS 70.5(a) decisions of the protest committee are final for all ladder events, US Sailing permission has been granted.
6.2 Breakdowns. Breakdown requests shall be filed in the same manner as protests.
6.11 Umpiring Team Racing
6.11.1 Competitor displays Raised Open Hand instead of Red Flag. The red flag requirement is deleted in RRS 61.1(a), D1.2(c) and D5.2 and Appendix D is modified below as follows: RRS D2.2(a) is changed by replacing the phrase “display a red flag” with “display a raised open hand.”
6.11.2 Umpire Flags. An umpire shall signal a decision with long sound and the display of a flag for no penalty as follows: a green flag or a green and white flag. This changes RRS D2.4(a).
6.12. Coaching
6.12.1. Limits to Coaching. Coaches, team leaders, chaperones, advisors, parents, or other support personnel shall not go afloat in the sailing area on the published dates of the regatta, unless explicitly permitted by the regatta chairperson. The penalty for failing to comply with this requirement may be the disqualification of all boats, competitors, and teams associated with the infringing personnel.
6.12.2 Coaching Between Sets. Competitors may receive coaching, including instruction, assistance, equipment or sustenance, only between sets on the dock or on shore unless otherwise directed by the regatta chairperson.
6.13. Retiring
6.13.1. Notifying the Committee. A boat that retires from a race shall notify the race committee either before leaving the course, or if that is impossible, immediately after arriving ashore.
6.13.2. Committee Retiring Competitor. The race committee may ask a boat to retire from the race at any time should their safety be in question.
6.14. Record of Participation Data. ISSA Procedural Rule (4.3) applies.
7. SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
7.1 Wet/Dry Suits. Wet or dry suits may be required in the reasonable discretion of the race committee at any MASSA regatta.
8. PRIZES
8.1 Trophies. Prizes will be awarded to the schools placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the regatta.
8.2 Berth Awards. Qualifying events offer berths at National regattas. Awards of berths at National Championships and Intersectional Championships will be detailed in the event NOR and in the SI’s for the specific event.
9. WAIVER OF LIABILITY. Sailing is an activity that has an inherent risk of damage and injury. Competitors in this event are participating entirely at their own risk. See RRS 3, Decision to Race. The race organizers (organizing authority, race committee, protest committee, host club, sponsors, or any other organization or official) will not be responsible for damage to any boat or other property or the injury to any competitor, including death, sustained as a result of participation in this event. By participating in this event, each competitor agrees to release the race organizers from any and all liability associated with such competitor’s participation in this event to the fullest extent permitted by law.
10. RIGHTS TO USE NAME AND LIKENESS. By participating in this event, competitors automatically grant to the Organizing Authority and the event sponsors the right, in perpetuity, to make, use and show, at their discretion, any photography, audio and video recordings, and other reproductions of them made at the venue or on the water from the time of their arrival at the venue, until their final departure, without compensation.
11. REGATTA CONTACTS. Contact Information will be provided in the NOR and in the SI’s.