Conditions
1 THE CHAMPIONSHIP
1.1 The name of the championship shall be the U.S. Team Racing Championship for the George R. Hinman Trophy and it shall be organized by US Sailing. The U.S. Team Racing Championship (USTRC) Committee of US Sailing shall be responsible for the championship.
1.2 The primary objective of the championship is to provide the highest quality of team racing to US sailors and selected teams from overseas.
1.3 During the appropriate years, a secondary objective is to select U.S. teams to represent the United States at the ISAF World Team Race Championship.
1.4 A third objective is to promote team racing in general within the United States and to provide an educational forum for team racing ideas, rules, tactics and strategies. To help energize team racing and provide a platform for sailors to advance to the championship, certain events held throughout the US can petition the USTRC committee to be designated as “qualifying events” for the USTRC.
2 RULES
2.1 This championship will be governed by the rules as defined in The Racing Rules of Sailing and these Conditions.
2.2 A Notice of Race will be prepared by the USTRC Committee and will be available for publication and distribution at least three months prior to the championship.
2.3 A set of Sailing Instructions will be prepared by the USTRC Committee in consultation with the host club. The Sailing Instructions will be available to teams selected.
3 ELIGIBILITY
3.1 The regatta is open to selected teams of sailors who are current members of US Sailing or their national authority if the team or team members are from another nationality.
4 SELECTION OF TEAMS
4.1 Teams will be selected or invited by the USTRC Committee or its appointed selection committee on the basis of applications or regatta results as provided in the applicable Notice of Race.
4.2 Teams interested in selection by application shall completing the online entry form, available at http://championships.ussailing.org/ustrc/ and submitting it with payment via credit card for the associated fees before the deadline established in the applicable Notice of Race. Application does not guarantee acceptance. The USTRC Committee/selection committee will review the applications and notify all applicants of their status. Application fees will not be returned to non-selected teams.
4.3 The Chairperson of the USTRC Committee may accept late entries to fill any remaining berths.
5 SUBSTITUTIONS
5.1 Team member substitutions will be allowed prior to the Substitution Deadline as established by the Notice of Race. For all teams that qualified at a qualifying event, no more than 1 skipper and 1 crew may be changed prior to the Substitution deadline. For all teams selected by resume, only one team member (either skipper or crew) may be changed prior to the Substitution Deadline.
5.2 After the Substitution Deadline, teammate substitution is prohibited, unless due to illness, injury, or other emergency, and approval is granted. Any such substitution pursuant to this clause requires the prior approval of the Chief Umpire in consultation with the USTRC Committee Chairperson.
5.3 Substitutions after the regatta has commenced are prohibited unless a team member is unable to continue due to illness, injury, or other emergency and prior approval is granted by the jury. See 10.1.
6 BOATS
6.1 The boats used in this championship are borrowed or chartered from yacht clubs, sailing clubs, community boating associations, colleges, private owners, or manufacturers. It is of the utmost importance that they be treated with care at all times as the future of this event depends on being able to borrow boats again.
6.2 This championship is intended to be a dinghy team racing event, and the regatta will be conducted in small, doublehanded, sloop rigged dinghies whenever possible. Spinnakers and trapezes will not be used.
7 LIABILITY AND DAMAGE
7.1 Contestants are not covered by any insurance provided by the host club, and should have or seek their own coverage for personal goods and liability protection.
7.2 Responsibility for damage to boats or to other property will be determined by the designated member of the organizing authority and all crews entering will be bound by that determination.
8 REGATTA SCHEDULE AND PRACTICE SAILING
8.1 This championship will be scheduled as a three- or four-day event, preferably including a weekend. The day prior to the regatta may be used as an optional practice session at the discretion of the organizing authority. Competitors are not required to be present for any practice sessions. Registration and a competitor meeting will take place early on the first day of racing, and racing will commence as soon as possible following that meeting.
8.2 No competitors, except those representing the host club, will be permitted to practice at the site of the championship before the optional practice day.
9 FORMAT AND NUMBER OF RACES
9.1 The format of the event will be dependent on the number of registered teams, the number of available boats, and subject to anticipated wind and weather conditions. The intended format may be a single or multiple round robins of all teams, or teams may be split into groups for a preliminary round robin or ladder elimination format, potentially followed by a championship round robin or knock-out elimination. The format to be attempted will be announced at the competitor meetings and posted on the Official Notice Board with any contingency arrangements.
9.2 If extraordinary circumstances preclude the possibility of completing any type of round robin series, the USTRC Committee Chairperson in consultation with the jury and the regatta chairperson, may terminate or alter the format in progress, and institute a single or double elimination ladder format, or make whatever arrangements necessary to conclude the championship and declare a winner.
10 MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM COMBINED CREW WEIGHT, WET
CLOTHING, AND WEIGHT JACKETS
10.1 The combined weight of the entire six-person team shall not be less than 870 pounds. The team shall carry penalty weight if the combined weight fails to meet the minimum. Penalty weight will be one pound of corrector for each pound of weight less than 870lbs. Penalty weights shall be distributed amongst the boats of a team to make the combined weight of skipper and crew of each of the three boats as even as practicable. The jury, on request, may approve a more equitable distribution.
10.2 Providing penalty corrector weights shall be the responsibility of the competitors. Only water in sealed jugs shall be acceptable. Competitors will carry the penalty corrector weights in every race, from boat to boat, and shall secure them in the cockpit of each boat.
10.3 Competitors shall be weighed by a member of the organizing authority on the scale provided to determine combined weight. Competitors will be weighed in swimming attire or light clothing with empty pockets.
10.4 Competitors shall not wear wet clothing for the purpose of increasing weight. Water bottle or weight jackets are prohibited. Clothes worn on the water must be reasonable in terms of weather conditions, and all clothes worn for additional warmth shall be worn inside foul weather gear.
10.5 The spot checks of team weights may be made during the regatta for compliance.
10.6 Penalties for violation of Section 10 shall be set forth in the Sailing Instructions.
11 SCORING
11.1 Scoring will be in accordance with RRS D4.
12 UMPIRING
12.1 The regatta will be officiated by on-the-water umpires. The Chief Umpire for the event must be a US Sailing certified umpire.
HOST CLUB CONDITIONS
1 ENTRY FEES
1.1 The USTRC Committee shall approve the entry fee and all other assessed fees based on a reasonable estimate of the costs including, but not limited to; race management, trophies, meals, Chairperson's expenses, transportation, printing and publicity. The intention of the committee is that the host club and US Sailing break even in the hosting of the championship. However, the entry fees should not be expected to cover the entire cost of running the event.
2 BOAT INSURANCE AND DAMAGE DEPOSITS
2.1 Each team will be required to file a credit card number with the organizing authority to cover all damage that is assessed to that team as determined by the designated member of the organizing authority (or manufacturer’s representative when so assigned) and the outcome of the umpire calls, if any.
3 POWERLINE HAZARDS
3.1 This championship will only be conducted at a site free of powerline hazards.
4 JURY AND UMPIRES
4.1 The terms "jury", "umpire" and "protest committee" are used synonymously except where context requires otherwise.
4.2 Judges and umpires will be used where possible.
4.3 The jury will decide all protests and determine all matters not covered by these Conditions and the Sailing Instructions.
4.4 Appropriate umpire boats shall be provided, with sufficient boats to allow for a back-up boat. The type of boats proposed must be detailed in the submission to host the event and must be reviewed with the Chief Umpire before final selection of the site.
4.5 Umpires will be housed and fed by the host organization.
5 RACE COMMITTEE
5.1 The race committee will be appointed by the host club. The race committee will be lead by a principle race officer certified by US Sailing of at least a Regional Race Officer level as defined in US Sailing Regulation 10.01A. The USTRC Committee may appoint a Race Management Coordinator to help with course set-up, wind shifts and race coordination.
6 COURSE
6.1 The course will be as described by the Sailing Instructions.
6.2 The length of the course should vary depending on the type of boat used and the wind strength. Conditions permitting, each race should take between 7-12 minutes to sail, although variance with this condition shall not be grounds for redress.
7 PRIZES
7.1 The winning team shall be awarded the George R. Hinman Trophy.
7.2 US Sailing medals for permanent possession will be awarded to the teams finishing in the top three positions.
updated January 2012