MISSA SUPPLEMENTAL  RULES

Effective: March 3, 2026 

These MISSA Supplemental Rules are in addition to the Procedural Rules for Interscholastic Sailing Competition sponsored by the Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA Procedural Rules).   All competition within MISSA shall be governed by the current Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), the prescriptions of US Sailing, and the ISSA Procedural Rules, except as amended herein. 

1.    MISSA Supplemental Rules

1.1.    By-Laws. The MISSA Corporate By-Laws and the MISSA District Committee Standing Rules are the governing documents of the Midwest Interscholastic Sailing Association. These Supplemental Rules may not be interpreted as changing the By-Laws or District Committee Standing Rules.

1.2.    Amendments. These Supplemental  Rules can be changed by a majority vote of the MISSA District Committee.

2.    Membership and Dues

2.1.    Membership. To compete in any MISSA regatta, all schools must be members in good standing of MISSA/ISSA by paying dues and registering on the ISSA website. Regatta registrations from schools not in good standing shall be considered invalid.

2.2.    Dues. Annual team dues are $150. The dues covers a school year, and is not prorated based on the season or month of a team joining.

2.3.    Reduced Dues. Teams for which full team dues may present a financial hardship request, may apply for reduced dues by contacting their League Representative.

3.    MISSA Regatta Tiers. MISSA regattas shall be classified into three tiers as follows: 

Tier 1: The District Championship (Great Lakes Championship) and District qualifiers for the three ISSA National Championships (Cressy, Mallory, and Baker) 

Tier 2: Qualifiers for tier 1 regattas; qualifiers for national invitationals and other out-of-district regattas; and regattas designated as State Championships if open only to competitors in 9th grade and above. 

Tier 3: All other MISSA regattas.

4.    Competitor Eligibility

4.1.    Basic Rule. ISSA PR 1.2 governs eligibility. By listing students on the official roster at hssailing.org, the team administrator is certifying their eligibility. 

4.2.    Home Schooled and Remote School Students - Home schooled students, remote school students, and students attending schools with no co-curriculars, may apply to the ISSA Eligibility Committee for consideration. The committee sets a deadline in advance of each season for applications. Students must contact the MISSA District Director prior to applying for eligibility. 

4.3.    8th Grade Students. Team administrators may request to include 8th grade students who attend a school with an approved arrangement (as determined by the MISSA District Director) with the team’s high school. The request should include the name, grade, and current school of the student(s) and should be emailed to the MISSA District Director at least two weeks prior to competing. In a Tier 3 Regatta, a host may choose to allow 8th grade participants, A team containing eligible 8th grade students must be designated with the squad name “Mixed” in TechScore. The NOR must contain the following verbiage: “8th Grade Students approved by the MISSA District Director under MISSA Rule 4.3 may participate in this regatta under ISSA PR 1.2 (c). Approval has been granted.”

4.4.    Mixed Teams. Students from multiple schools may not be combined to form a team. However, in a Tier 3 regatta, a host may allow  sailors from one team to participate on another team. Such a team must be designated with a squad name containing the word “Mixed” in TechScore. The NOR must contain the following verbiage: “Mixed teams are allowed under MISSA Rule 4.4. This changes ISSA PR 1.2 (g). Approval has been granted.”

5.    Qualification for Championships and National Regattas  

5.1.    Great Lakes Championship and Shepherd Championship – A district-wide regatta will be held in the fall as the Great Lakes Championship and will be open to 20 teams that qualify through a system of qualifiers set by the MISSA District Committee.  The Shepherd Championship shall include up to 20 teams that did not qualify for the Great Lakes Championship, and qualification will be determined by the MISSA District Committee. 

5.2.    MISSA Singlehanded Championship/Cressy Qualifier - One district-wide regatta shall be held as a qualifier for the ISSA Cressy High School Singlehanded Championship. 

5.3.    MISSA Doublehanded Championship/MISSA Mallory Qualifier – An annual doublehanded two-division regatta shall be held as the MISSA Qualifier for the ISSA Mallory High School Doublehanded Championship. This qualifier shall be limited to 20 schools. 

5.4.    MISSA Team Race Championship/Baker Qualifier – An annual team race regatta, to be known as the Jeff Hudson Team Race Championship, shall be held as the MISSA qualifier for the ISSA Baker High School Team Race Championship. This qualifier shall be limited to ten schools. 

5.5.    Mallory and Baker League Pre-Qualifiers – Each League shall hold a Mallory pre-qualifier and a Baker pre-qualifier to determine which teams from the League advance to the MISSA Qualifier. Only schools located within each League may participate in that League’s pre-qualifier. The League may decide on the host location and dates of the pre-qualifiers. The MISSA District Director will determine the number of berths per League for the MISSA Mallory and Baker Qualifiers. For the MISSA Mallory Qualifier, the allocation basis number for each League will be determined each spring for the subsequent school year using the number of teams in each League which have sailed in at least two or more Tier 1 and Tier 2 events (excluding singlehanded and single-division regattas) in the preceding calendar year. For the MISSA Baker Qualifier, the allocation basis number will be the number of different schools that registered for that League’s Baker pre-qualifier by the registration deadline.  The number of berths shall be calculated using the following formula: The number of allotted berths for each League equals the League’s allocation basis number times the number of berths in the MISSA Qualifier, divided by the total of all Leagues’  allocation basis numbers. All Leagues shall receive at least one berth. If the integers of the numbers do not add up to the total berths in the regatta, the berths not assigned by integer shall be assigned in descending order starting with the highest decimal portion of the allotted berth numbers, disregarding berth allotments with zero as an integer. In the event the final berth is not allocated and the numbers are equal, the tie will be broken in favor of (1) the League with the most teams registered for the the pre-qualifier who also participated in the most recent Baker pre-qualifier for that League; then (2) the host League of the MISSA Baker Qualifier; then (3) the League with the highest finishing team at the most recent Great Lakes Championship.

5.6.    Backup Qualifier for Mallory – If the Racing Rules of Sailing and ISSA Procedural Rules can not determine the teams moving on from the District spring fleet racing qualifier regatta for the National Mallory Championship, or if there is no racing and no backup weekend scheduled, the backup selections for the Mallory and the Phebe King would be made by ranking the teams which qualified for, registered, and paid to attend the MISSA Mallory Qualifier according to their finish at the MISSA Great Lakes Championship, and if needed the Shepherd Championship and awarding berths accordingly. This process and criteria will also be used to determine which teams from a League Mallory pre-qualifier advance to the MISSA Mallory Qualifier.

5.7.    Backup Qualifier for Baker and NIT - If the Racing Rules of Sailing and the ISSA Procedural Rules cannot determine the teams moving on from the MISSA Baker Qualifier, the event will be considered to be a valid regatta, and its results will be used for qualifying purposes for any team in a qualifying position if the team remains in a qualifying position after having its score adjusted under the following two assumptions: (1) Assume the qualifying team loses all of its remaining, un-sailed races, and (2) assume that each of the other teams wins each of its remaining, un-sailed races. The “remaining, un-sailed races” will include only those races necessary to complete a single full round in which each team has sailed each of the other teams once. If ties result, normal tie breaking procedures will be used. If any qualifying position cannot be determined based on these assumptions, or if there is no racing and no backup weekend scheduled, then the remaining teams which qualified, registered, and paid to attend the MISSA Baker Qualifier will be ranked as follows: the winning team from each League Baker pre-qualifier will be ranked in positions one through three according to their finish at the MISSA Mallory qualifier and then the second place teams from each League pre-qualifier will be ranked in positions four through six according to their positions at the MISSA Mallory qualifier. Berths will be assigned based on these rankings. If the Racing Rules of Sailing, ISSA Procedural Rules, and MISSA Supplemental Rules cannot determine the teams advancing from a League Baker pre-qualifer to the MISSA Baker Qualifier, selections will be made by ranking the teams which qualified for, registered, and paid to attend the pre-qualifier according to the most recent published MISSA Rankings and awarding berths accordingly.

5.8.    National Invitationals and Out-of-District Regattas – At the MISSA District Committee’s discretion, it may designate events as qualifiers for national invitationals and other out-of-district regattas. If no qualifier is announced, teams may apply to the MISSA District Director for approval to compete in an out-of-district regatta. Such applications should be made by email at least 6 weeks before the event when possible. Should there be more teams seeking approval than there are MISSA allocated berths, the MISSA District Director will allocate berths based on rankings and results. A team must accept the berth and confirm that any flights have been purchased at least four weeks ahead of time, unless the berth was granted less than four weeks ahead of time, in which case by noon Central time on the third day after accepting the berth. If a team fails to confirm that any required flights have been purchased by the deadline, the berth shall be rescinded and offered to the next eligible team by the MISSA District Director.

5.9.    Acceptance of Berths – After a team qualifies for a berth to any MISSA Qualifier, the Great Lakes Championship, the Shepherd Championship, any ISSA National Championship, any National Invitational, or any Out-of-District Regatta, a team representative shall accept the berth by noon Central Time on the Tuesday following the regatta at which the berth was earned. To accept the berth, the team representative shall email the MISSA District Director and League Representative, and the host of the regatta where the berth was earned.  If this procedure is not followed by the deadline, the berth shall be rescinded and offered to the next eligible school by the MISSA District Director.

6.    Conduct of Regattas

6.1.    Host and Organizing Authority – MISSA is the Organizing Authority for all MISSA Regattas. The MISSA District Director will be the MISSA/ISSA Representative at Tier 1 Events or shall designate an experienced person. MISSA League Representatives shall serve as or appoint the MISSA/ISSA Representative for at all Tier 2 and 3 Regattas in their Leagues.  

6.2.    Notices of Race - All NORs must be reviewed and approved by MISSA District Director or his/her designee prior to posting. NOR should be posted 30 days prior to the event. 

6.3.    Registration, Payment, Waitlist – Regatta hosts should use on-line registration and payment for regattas where feasible. Registration should open no earlier than 30 days prior to the date of the event. Registration deadlines should be set at 5 p.m. (regatta host’s local time) Friday two weeks before the regatta unless otherwise stated in the NOR. When a team cancels later than 5 p.m. (host’s local time) Friday one week before the event, the host is entitled to keep the registration fees, even if they accept another team off their waitlist. 

6.4.    Waitlists and Additional Boats - Once the number of teams registered exceeds the number of boats provided by the regatta host, each additional team must receive approval from the regatta chair to bring a boat of comparable quality to be used in the boat rotation throughout the regatta. Upon arrival at the regatta the regatta chair will inspect the boat and sails, and if deemed unacceptable then that team will not be allowed to participate in the regatta.

6.5.    Protests

6.5.1.    The Protest Committee may hear protests in between races on the water.

6.5.2.    The coaches may serve as members of the Protest Committee at Tier 3 regattas. They may use a 3-minute justice system.