BY - LAWS

LAKE HOPATCONG YACHT CLUB E SCOW FLEET

As Revised February 6, 1998

 

Article I

Name

 

The name of the organization shall be the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club E Scow Fleet.

 

Article II

Purpose

 

The purpose of this Fleet shall be to encourage, promote and competitively race Class E Scows.

 

Article III

Affiliation and Authority

 

1.      This Fleet is part of the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club (LHYC), and is associated with the National E Scow Class Association (NCESA) and the Eastern Class E Sloop Association (ECESA).  It is bound by the rules of these groups in the order named above except as amended herein.

 

2.      This Fleet shall sail all races in accordance with the rules of the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) as adopted by US SAILING, except as amended herein.

 

Article IV

Emblem

 

The emblem of this fleet shall be that of the NCESA, which is a white “E” superimposed on the International Code Flag E, and shall be displayed in accordance with rules of the above association.

 

Article V

Membership

 

1.      Any person owning or sailing Class E Scows who are members in good standing of the LHYC, or who have been approved by the LHYC Board of Trustees to race as provisional members, are eligible for membership in this Fleet.

 

2.      All regular skippers shall be regular members of the NCESA.  For the purpose of these by-laws, a Regular Skipper is defined as any person who is the helmsman for five or more regular season races.

 

Article VI

Organization

 

1.      The Fleet shall be governed by its Officers.  The officers shall include a Fleet Captain, a Secretary-Treasurer, and Official Measurer.  These officers, with the immediate past Fleet Captain, shall constitute the Executive Committee.

 

2.      Officers shall be elected annually by the membership at the last meeting of the year.

3.      The Fleet shall hold a meeting once each month during May, June, July, August, and September, one time during the period October through April, and at other times as deemed necessary by the Fleet Captain.

 

4.      A quorum shall consist of one more than half the number of boats in good standing.

 

5.      Each member boat in good standing shall be entitled to one vote.

 

6.      All questions shall be decided by majority rule of the membership present, except amendments to these by-laws, which shall require a two-thirds majority of the membership in good standing, provided the proposed amendment has been presented in full at the previous regular meeting.

 

7.      Vacancies in the Fleet Officers shall be filled by appointment of the Fleet Captain, with such appointees serving until the next regular meeting, at which the vacancy shall be filled by election by the membership.

 

8.      All meetings shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order.

 

Article VII

Authority and Duties of Officers

 

1.      The Fleet Captain shall:                                                                                                                                          

            a) Preside at all Fleet meetings.                                                                                                                b) Be responsible for the direction and purpose of the Fleet’s activities.                                       c) Appoint the chairmen of standing and special committees.                                                        d) Act as the Fleet delegate to the ECESA Board of Directors.                                                                     e) Act as the intermediary between the Fleet and the LHYC Race Committee.

 

2.      The Secretary-Treasurer shall: 

            a) Assist the Fleet Captain, and act in his/her place in his/her absence.                                        b) Keep permanent records of all meetings.                                                                                        c) Collect and distribute all Fleet correspondence.                                                                              d) Receive and disburse all Fleet monies.                                                                                              e) Keep a permanent record of the results of all races.

 

3.      The Official Measurer shall:                                                                                                                                   

            a) Assist the Secretary-Treasurer, and act in his/her place in his/her absence.                              b) Determine compliance of each E Scow with the measurement rules and other regulations provided for in the rules of the LHYC, the NCESA, and the ECESA, and report his findings to the Fleet Captain.

 

4.      The Executive Board shall:

                                                                                                                                                                       

a) Meet at least once during the period December through January to draw up a proposed racing schedule for consideration at a regular Fleet meeting, and to establish an agenda for that meeting.                                                                                                                                            b) Provide proper planning and guidance in the conduct of Fleet affairs.

 

 

Article VIII

Dues

 

1.      The annual dues for each member shall be determined by a vote of the membership at the winter meeting.

 

2.      Dues shall be paid by the first regularly scheduled race.  Members who have not paid their dues by this time shall not be considered members in good standing.

 

Article IX

Yacht’s Number

 

1.      Each new boat owner shall be assigned the next consecutive racing number, which shall become the permanent property of that member.  Only that member, or immediate family members shall be able to use that number.

 

2.      The number shall be affixed to the required areas on the boat and sails in accordance with NCESA rules.

 

Article X

Racing Eligibility

 

1.      General Qualifications:                                                                                                                                                     

      a) A yacht is eligible for racing and considered a Class E Scow only if it conforms to all measurement rules, has been properly registered, and is owned by or sailed by a member of the Fleet in good standing.                                                                                                                         b) Any helmsman must be a member of the LHYC, although that helmsman may be on inactive membership status.                                                                                                                               c) Each boat shall be measured each year as follows in accordance to the existing scantling rules of the NCESA:                                                                                                                                        i) All mainsails and jibs must be measured unless there is a readily visible stamp of approval from the Fleet, the NCESA, or the ECESA.                                                                                                      ii) All spinnakers must be measured annually regardless of previous approval stamps and/or measurements.                                                                                                                                                  iii) All such spars, hulls, batten, and other equipment as may be requested the Official Measurer unless an official measurement certificate for these items is on file with the Fleet.

                                                                                                                       

2.      Skippers with more than one season’s experience in the Championship Series will not be eligible to participate in the Crew Series as skippers.

 

3.      While Racing, each boat shall carry all required safety equipment, including a Coast Guard approved personal flotation device for each person aboard plus all equipment specified by the LHYC, government regulations, Fleet rules and the NCESA.

a)  Each boat shall have NCESA-approved mast flotation properly installed when racing.

      (Amendment added June 1999.)

 

 

 

 

 

Article XI

Racing Schedule

 

1.      Races shall be sailed in accordance with the sailing schedule of the Fleet as set forth at the

Fleet winter meeting.  The schedule may not be altered.

 

2.      Races in the Championship Series which are abandoned, cancelled, or postponed past the regularly scheduled date for the race will not be rescheduled or sailed at a later date.

 

3.      The Racing Schedule shall include the following series:

            a) The Championship Series, consisting of all scheduled Sunday and holiday races.                    b) The First Half Series, consisting of one the first half of the championship series.                         c) The Second Half Series, consisting of the second half of the championship series.             d) The Ice-Breaker Series, consisting of all races prior to the championship series.                                    e) The Fourth of July Series, consisting of all races over the Fourth of July weekend.             f) The Fall Series, consisting of all races following the championship series.                                                g) The Saturday and Crew Series, which shall be sailed simultaneously.

 

4.      The Racing Schedule shall also include any other races and series as agreed upon at the winter meeting of the Fleet.

 

 

Article XII

Awards

 

1.      The George Knecht Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Championship Series

2.      The Nutzel Trophy shall be awarded to the second place skipper in the Championship Series.

3.      The Clifford Shipman Memorial Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the First Half Series.

4.      The Prudden Silver Cup shall be awarded to the winner of the Second Half.

5.      The Ice Breaker Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Ice Breaker Series.

6.      The Fall Series Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Fall Series.

7.      The Halsey G. Prudden Memorial Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Fourth of July Race, or, in case of abandonment, the next regularly scheduled race.

8.      The John A. Hoff Memorial Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Labor Day race, sailed on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, or, in case of abandonment, on Labor Day.

9.      The John P. Kadimik Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Fourth of July Series.

10.  The Rand Improvement Trophy shall be awarded to the most improved skipper in the Championship Series, as determined first by number of places, and second by number of points improved from the prior Championship Series.

11.  The Thomas H. Wiss Saturday Series Crew Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the crew series.

12.  The Saturday Series Trophy shall be awarded to the winner of the Saturday Series.

13.  The Baker Crew Series Trophy shall be awarded to the second place boat in the Crew Series.

14.  The Easterns trophy shall be awarded to the first LHYC boat in the ECESA Championships.

15.  The Nationals Trophy shall be awarded to the first LHYC boat in the NCESA Championships.

16.  The Fleet shall present any other awards it determines appropriate that have been approved at the winter meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

Article XIII

Penalties

 

1.      If a boat fouls another boat during the course of a race, it may avoid being disqualified by acknowledging the foul at that time, and doing a 360 degree turn in accordance with IRYU Rules as adopted by US Sailing.                                                                                                             

 

2.      The penalty for hitting a mark of the course is a 360-degree penalty in accordance with applicable racing rules.

 

3.      A boat that fails to acknowledge a foul under these rules, or fails to follow applicable racing rules for acknowledgement is subject to disqualification.

 

Article XIV

Scoring

 

1.      Points for all races shall be awarded based on the number of boats in the Fleet in good standing prior to the start of the race.

 

2.      All series shall be awarded on a “low point” scoring system as follows:

            a) Each racing yacht shall receive the points corresponding to their finishing place.  For the purpose of this section, a disqualified yacht is not considered a finishing yacht.                                 b) A yacht which is ranked by race officials as Did Not Start (DNS) shall receive two more points than the number of yachts starting.                                                                                                            c) A yacht which is ranked by race officials as Did Not Finish (DNF) shall receive one more point than the number of yachts starting.                                                                                                       d) A yacht which is ranked by race officials as Disqualified (DSQ) shall receive two more points than the number of yachts starting.                                                                                                       e) Any boat whose ability to sail is impaired through no fault of its own (e.g. being fouled by another yacht, but not by equipment failure or poor seamanship on the part of the skipper or crew) shall be entitled to disablement points (BKD), is the boat chooses.  BKD points shall be the average as computed in Section 3(b) of this Article.  These points must be requested of the Fleet Captain in writing within one hour of the finish of the race.  Continuing and completing a race after the boat’s ability to sail has been impaired shall in no way prejudice a boat’s right to receive disablement points.       

 

3.      Championship Series scoring: 

            a) The regular skipper and regular crew as registered with the LHYC Race Committee are considered as a team in sailing the boat.  Any member of this team qualifying under Article X of these by-laws is eligible to skipper this boat, and points will be awarded accordingly.                     b) A boat will receive a DNS for any race not sailed, with the following exception: on the first two days that a boat receives a DNS, each DNS will be scored an Absence (ABS), regardless of the number of races sailed on that day.  The boat will receive the average posted score for the season to date for each ABS, rounded down to the nearest quarter point.  If a boat has not received five scores (including DSQ’s, and DNF’s) the average will be computed based on the first five scores it receives.  (A yacht missing more than two races of the first seven will receive an average for the first two DNS based on the other five scores.)  A boat cannot be scored ABS during the last two scheduled days of racing.  [Changed from the following on May 30, 2004.  The first two DNS’s in the Championship Series will be scored as an Absence (ABS).  The boat will receive the average posted score for the season to date for each ABS, rounded down to the nearest quarter point.  If a boat has not received five scores (including DNF’s, DSQ’s, and DNF’s) the average will be computed based on the first five scores it receives.  (A yacht missing more than two races of the first seven will receive an average for the first two DNS based on the other five scores.)  A boat cannot be scored ABS during the last two scheduled races.]  A boat missing one race on a two race day will be scored a DNS for the missed race. [Added June 3, 2006.]                                               

c) A boat’s highest score, not including DSQ’s, will be eliminated in the scoring of the Championship Series.

 

 

4.      First and Second Half Scoring:

 

            a)  A boat will receive an absence for any DNS on the day it receives its first DNS in any half, regardless of the number of races sailed that day. [Changed from the following on May 30 2004 A boat will receive an absence (ABSH) for the first DNS received in each half.]  The boat will receive the average posted score for the entire half for each ABSH, rounded down to the nearest quarter point. 

 

5.      Ice Breaker Series and Fall Series Scoring:   

            a) In any race that is part of a regatta at LHYC for these series, points for these series will be awarded based on the number of boats in good standing in the LHYC E Scow Fleet only.               b) If more than five races are sailed in either one of these series, the highest score of each boat, not including DSQ’s, will be eliminated.

 

6.      Crew Series Scoring:

            a) If an eligible crew member skippers the boat, it will be awarded points for this series as well as the Saturday Series.  Any boat not eligible for the Crew Series will be ignored for the purpose of scoring this series.  The Secretary-Treasurer is responsible for determining eligible skippers.                                                                                                                                                        b) If more than five races are sailed in this series, the highest score of each boat, not including DSQ’s, will be eliminated.

 

7.      Saturday Series Scoring:

            a) If more than five races are sailed in this series, the highest score of each boat, not including DSQ’s, will be eliminated.