COLGATE 26 CLASS ASSOCIATION
Established February 15, 2006
BY-LAWS
1. ASSOCIATION RESPONSIBILITIES
1.1 The C26CA shall be responsible for the affairs of the Class.
1.2 The C26CA shall not be responsible for the debts incurred by its fleets, officers or members.
2. ASSOCIATION DUES
2.1 All members shall register and pay dues annually.
2.2 Dues shall be set by the Executive Committee for the coming year subject to majority
approval at an Annual Meeting.
2.3 Dues shall be received in U.S. dollars by January 15th of each year.
2.4 All changes in dues must be published within 30 days following an Annual Meeting.
3. FLEET RESPONSIBILITIES
3.1 Each fleet shall consist of at least three boats owned by Active Members.
3.2 Each fleet shall hold an Annual Meeting. A copy of the meeting minutes shall be
transmitted to the C26CA Secretary
3.3 The C26CA shall be notified promptly of election results.
3.4 Each fleet shall be responsible for providing its own local races and shall be permitted to
make local rules and regulations on matters within fleet jurisdiction.
3.5 Each fleet shall maintain a roster of members and their boats. Each fleet shall file its
roster and list of officers with the C26CA during January. Any new boats entering a fleet after January should be registered with the C26CA as soon as possible.
4. REGISTRATION
4.1 It is each Colgate 26 owner’s responsibility to register with the C26CA.
4.2 The C26CA shall maintain a list of the names and addresses of registered owners of
boats along with their sail numbers and boat names
4.3 Each registered Active Member of the C26CA shall receive a Membership Sticker annually as proof of membership in good standing. This Sticker shall be applied to the hull in accordance with the Class Rules.
5. RESPONSIBILITY
5.1 Payment for a measurer’s services is the responsibility of the owner.
5.2 Responsibility for compliance of a Colgate 26 to the By-laws and Class Rules rests with
its owner.
5.3 Responsibility for the monitoring of compliance of a Colgate 26 with the Class Rules shall
rest with the C26CA before a national or district championship or other majority championship held in the district and with the fleet for local fleet events.
6. ONE-DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
6.1 As stated in paragraph 4 of the Constitution, it is the intent of the C26CA to provide strict
one-design racing among equal boats. To this end, the C26CA has defined the standard Colgate 26 as the fixed design of hull, deck, keel, rudder, rig and sail plan. Hull and deck plugs, keel and rudder drawings filed with the C26CA and the class rules with measurement certificate delineate these designs. Given that stated goal, the Class still recognizes the need for sufficient flexibility to appeal to a diverse group of sailors and to permit alterations for the benefit of the Class. The Class Technical Committee, Colgate Management, Inc. and the builder will consider the adoption of alterations which meet the following criteria:
6.1.1 Alterations shall not compromise the safety or structural integrity of the boat.
6.1.2 Alterations shall not increase the inherent speed potential of the boat.
6.1.3 Alterations shall be simple, easy to implement and not overly costly.
6.1.4 Alterations shall be easily adopted by or adapted to all Colgate 26
6.2 All proposed alterations shall be submitted in writing to the Technical Committee, care of
the C26CA. Submissions shall be judged based on their relative merit and compliance with the above statement of philosophy. The recommendations of the Technical Committee will be submitted to the Executive Committee for their approval. Changes accepted by the Executive Committee will be made in writing, published in the next Class newsletter and will become part of the Class Rules.
7. RACING RULES
7.1 All Colgate 26 races shall be conducted under the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS).
8. SANCTIONED EVENTS
8.1 The C26CA shall have the power to sanction any Colgate 26 series or race which is open
to members of more than one fleet and when the series or race is a perpetual, semi-perpetual or open trophy. The C26CA may withdraw any sanction for cause.
8.2 If an event has been granted sanction for two consecutive years, there shall be no need
to reapply. When an event has lapsed for two or more years, sanction must be reapplied
for.
9. REGATTA EVENTS
9.1 Each year the sanctioning authority shall set dates, with approximately one year’s prior
notice for national regattas. If any special events, such as mid-winter regattas are initiated by the C26CA, these shall have a minimum of four months prior notice.
9.2 Fleet regattas shall be set by fleet officers. However, a fleet ladder regatta shall end at
least one week prior to its district ladder regatta, and district ladder regattas shall be held at least two weeks prior to any national regatta.
9.3 The C26CA may set limits on the number of qualified entries in any sanctioned event.
9.4 The Principal Race Officer for all sanctioned events shall be approved by the sanctioning
authority. The sanctioning authority shall approve the sailing instructions and the notice of
race for all sanctioned events.
10. SCORING
10.1 At all sanctioned events, the Low Point Scoring System shall apply.
10.2 The minimum number of completed races for a sanctioned event shall be three.
10.3 The minimum number of races to be scored before a throw-out is awarded shall be six.
11. LIMITATIONS
11.1 A boat shall not purchase more than one mainsail, one jib and one spinnaker in a
calendar year, the sails that come with a new boat being exempted.
12. REGULATIONS THAT APPLY AT SANCTIONED EVENTS
12.2 To be eligible to race in a sanctioned event, the Person in Charge must be an Active
Member or Associate Member of the C26CA. If the Person in Charge is not the Helmsman, then the Helmsman must also be an Active Member or Associate Member of the C26CA.
12.3 Unless chartered, a boat shall display the C26CA assigned number of its owner. A
chartered boat may display a unique C26CA assigned sail number.
13. APPEALS
13.1 Appeals of jury, fleet, district and event measurement decisions concerning the By-laws
and Class Rules may be taken to the Technical Committee.
13.2 An appeal must be filed within two weeks of notification of the decision to be appealed.
13.3 The appeal must be typewritten and include references to articles, paragraphs or rules on
which the appeal is based. The name and address of the Race Committee and/or Measurer must be included.
13.4 The Technical Committee shall issue instructions on procedure and shall fix limits for the filing of answers and other information. Those failing to comply with such instructions may forfeit the right to be heard.
13.5 In deciding any question, the spirit and intended meaning shall be considered rather than any technical misconstruction that might be derived from the wording. Precedent and established policies of the C26CA shall also be taken into consideration. All rulings of the Technical Committee shall be preserved for future reference.
14. INTER-FLEET DISPUTES
14.1 Inter-fleet disputes shall be heard by the Executive Committee, except that disputes
involving interpretations shall be filed with the Technical Committee. There is no time
limit for submitting disputes.
15. NON-CONFORMANCE
15.1 All boats shall conform to Class By-laws and Class Rules. Should an Active Member wish
to protest the validity of a boat, a request for re-measurement shall be sent to the Class
Measurer together with the agreed fee to cover the cost of re-measurement. An Official measurer shall then be authorized by the Chief Measurer to carry out the re-measurement. The completed measurement documents shall then be forwarded to the Chief Measurer for a decision.
15.2 An event measurer shall report any deviation from the Class Rules to the Chief Measurer
and the Member.
15.3 When the deviation is corrected an Owner shall have the boat re-measured.
15.4 If the deviation is not corrected, the Chief Measurer or event measurer may either apply a
penalty weight or issue a Notice of Non-Compliance. Boats that have been issued a Notice of Non-Compliance shall not be allowed to compete in Sanctioned Events.
15.5 A Notice of Non-Compliance may be appealed to the Technical Committee.
16. AMENDMENTS
16.1 The By-laws may be amended by the following procedure:
16.1.1 Amendments may be proposed by a Standing Committee or by proposal from a
fleet, in which case the proposal must have been approved by two-thirds present plus proxies at a fleet meeting for which advance notice was also sent to all its voting members.
16.1.2 The proposed amendment must be received at the address of the C26CA.
16.2 By-law amendments by mail:
16.2.1 The Class Secretary shall inform all Active Members of the proposal within 60
days by newsletter, special mailing, or electronic means giving the deadline by which ballots must be received.
16.2.2 Approval shall require a two-thirds vote of ballots received in hard copy and/or
electronic form by the published deadline date
16.3 By-laws Amendments at the Annual Meeting:
16.3.1 The proposed amendment must be received at the address of the Class
Association at least 60 days in advance of an Annual Meeting in order to be included in the agenda.
16.3.2 The proposed amendment must be mailed in hard copy and/or electronic form to
the Active Membership at least 30 days before an Annual Meeting.
16.3.3 At an Annual Meeting, the amendment must be approved by a two-thirds vote of
Active Members present, including proxies
16.4 Results of the balloting shall be printed in the next newsletter published either in hard copy and/or electronic means.
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