CRYA Constitution

Canadian Radio Yachting Association Constitution and Bylaws

Effective 1st May 2017

 The Constitution may also be downloaded here crya-constitution-2017

Constitution

1. The name of the Association is Canadian Radio Sailing Association

  1. The purpose of the Association is:
    a) To foster and promote interest in the designing, building, racing, and recreational sailing of model yachts.
    b) To develop competitive activities of a local, national and international basis as well as encouraging fellowship, among model yacht sailors.

 Bylaws of the Association


Section 1: Membership

  1. Membership of the Association is open to anyone expressing an interest in model yacht sailing and agreeing to abide by its Constitution and bylaws.
  2. Citizens of Canada and permanent residents of Canada who apply for membership are to be accorded all membership rights and privileges.
  3. The Association welcomes members who are neither citizens nor permanent residents of Canada but those members may not represent Canada in international competitions for world, continental or regional championships recognized by the IRSA.
  4. The Association may grant temporary membership to members of other National Authorities.
  5. Membership is obtained by the applicant completing and submitting a membership application form via the Association’s website or by the form contained in the Association’s newsletter, Canadian Radio Yachting.
  6. A person whose membership has been allowed to lapse may be reinstated by payment of the current year’s dues.
  7. The Board of Directors shall have the authority to terminate the membership of any person for just cause.


Section 2: Members in Good Standing

  1. All members are in good standing except a member who has failed to pay the current annual membership fee, or debt, owed to the Association. A person not in good standing after 31st January shall cease to be a member.


Section 3: Voting

  1. Only members in good standing as defined in Section 1. Membership and in Section 2. Members in Good Standing may vote.


Section 4: Officers

  1. The elected officers of the Association shall be a President, an Executive Secretary, a Treasurer, a Registrar and two elected officers.
  2. The immediate Past President may act in an advisory category
  1. The elected Officers shall appoint other directors to oversee defined functions as required and Regional Directors for each defined region.
  2. The President, Executive Secretary and the Treasurer shall be the Associations signing officers


Section 5: Duty of Officers and Regional Directors  

  1. The President shall oversee the affairs of the Association according to the Constitution and By-laws and with the advice and counsel of the Executive Committee and the Board. The President shall preside at meetings of the Executive Committee and the Board
  2. The President may appoint ad hoc and permanent committees as required or appoint individual  members to carry out specific responsibilities.
  3. The President shall be responsible for relations with international organizations and other National Authorities.
  4. The Executive Secretary shall be the acting President in the absence or incapacity of the President.
  5. The Executive Secretary may be responsible for Association correspondence and for administering elections and referendums on balloted motions.
  6. The Executive Secretary may also be assigned by the President to carry out other specific duties or tasks.
  7. The Treasurer shall collect dues and fees from members of the Association, control the collection and dispersal of all funds of the Association, prepare and present an annual financial report for distribution to the Board of Directors and publish this report in the Association Newsletter or website, and obtain approval of the Board of Directors before disbursing any unbudgeted funds in excess of $100.00. The Board of Directors shall have the right of approval of expenditures over $100.00.
  8. The Registrar shall be responsible for the maintaining of the Association’s register of members and the registration of member’s yachts.
  9. Other Directors shall be responsible for providing advice and guidance to the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors on matters relating to their designated area of expertise. These Directors may appoint other Association members to a supporting committee to help them carry out their specific duties.
  10. Regional Directors shall participate in the deliberations and decisions of the Board of Directors. A Regional Director may be assigned by the President to carry out specific duties or tasks. A task of a Regional Director shall be the encouragement of all aspects of radio-controlled sailing and particularly regattas in the region represented by the Director, and the submission of regular reports on activities within that region for publication in the Association Newsletter or for posting on the Association’s website.


Section 6:   Board of Directors and Executive Committee

  1. The Board of the Association shall be a President, an Executive Secretary, a Treasurer, a Registrar and two directors.
  2. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, Executive Secretary and Treasurer.
  3. A person may hold more than one office.
  4. The executive may re-assign the duties of officers to facilitate efficient operation of the Association.
  5. The executive Committee shall also have the right where a vacancy occurs in any office during a term to fill that office by appointment for the balance of the term.
  6. The Executive Committee shall where ever possible initiate and fund programs for the betterment of model yacht sailing and racing in Canada.


Section 7: Election of Officers  

  1. Elections of officers shall normally be by a simple majority of members voting in a ballot

This will follow distribution of motions and nominations to members by methods at least one month prior to the scheduled balloting.

  1. The elected officers shall serve a two year term and may be re-elected.
  1. Elections shall be at the end of November in odd numbered years. A call for nominations shall be distributed to members, or be published in the Association’s newsletter, or on the Association’s website by 1st September. Nominations shall be submitted to the Executive Secretary by 1st October for inclusion in the ballot to be distributed to members by on, or by, 1st November.


Section 8: Board and Executive Meetings

  1. The business of the Board and the Executive Committee shall normally be conducted under the direction of the President, or in the President’s absence by the Executive Secretary, by means of correspondence, telephone conference calls, electronic mail, or any other form of communication agreed to by the Board or Executive Committee.
  1. A quorum for any decision of the Board or the Executive Committee shall consist of four members in the case of the former and three in the case of the latter.
  2. In the event of a tied vote, the President shall have a second vote.


Section 9: Head Office

  1. Until changed in accordance with the act, the head office of the Association shall be at 461 Walker Hook Road, Saltspring Island in the Province of British Columbia.


Section 10: Corporate Seal

  1. The seal an impression of which is stamped in the margin hereof, shall be the seal of the Association.


Section 11: Dues, Fees, Assessments:

 1. The amount of annual dues and registration fees for new yachts shall be established by the Board of Directors.

  1. Special assessments may be levied by a majority vote of the Board of Directors, but any such assessment shall be limited to no more than the equivalent of one year’s dues.


Section 12: Auditor

  1. The board shall annually appoint an auditor to examine the accounting records of the Association and make a written report to be distributed with the Treasurer’s annual financial statement which shall be published in the Association newsletter or posted on its website.


Section 13: Changes in rules, regulations and specification

1. Changes to rules, regulations and specifications of classes under the Association jurisdiction and recommendations relating to classes under the ISAF – IRSA jurisdiction shall be made following a ballot.

  1. Specifications for yacht classes, which are not administered by Class Associations, may be changed only by balloting those Association members owning yachts registered in that class.
  1. Motions affecting a particular Class or yacht specifications of that class may be handled within that class where a Class Association has been established and recognized by the Association but shall be subject to endorsement by the Association’s Executive Committee.
  1. Motions for balloting may be made and seconded by active members and submitted to the Executive Secretary by October 30 for distribution to members including publication in the Association Newsletter, or posting on its website, prior to balloting at the end of December.
  1. Changes to rules and regulations of the Association must be approved by a majority of the votes submitted. Written commentary on motions may be published in the issue of the Newsletter preceding the ballot date. The Executive Committee shall have editing rights with regard to any motions.


Section 14: Yacht Classes and Class Administration 

  1. Association shall register individual yachts of any class, or type.
  1. For purposes of Association sanctioned Canadian national and regional championships, however, the Association will recognize only those classes recognized by ISAF – IRSA and those other classes which initially have twenty and continue to have at least ten or more current Association members with currently valid registered yachts in the class.
  1. To register a yacht in any class the owner must be an Association member in good standing.
  1. The Association Newsletter shall report in each issue the recognized classes and class Associations together with the names and addresses of their officers. Alternately they shall be posted on the Association’s web site.
  1. In order to be recognized for Association sanctioned Canadian and regional championship regattas, a class owners Association in classes other than those recognized by the ISAF – IRSA shall submit the following information to the Executive Secretary – a copy of its constitution, bylaws and other governing documents, a copy of the class specifications, the names of the officers of the class Association, and a roster of current Association members holding yacht registrations in that class. The Secretary shall submit this material to the Board of the Association for formal recognition of the class. Where there is no class Association, the Executive Committee will take the current registrations within the Association’s register as the basis for class recognition.


Section 15: Championships and Other Regattas:

1. Canadian, Regional and other Regattas sanctioned by the Association shall be sailed under the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Racing Rules of Sailing as altered by Appendix E of the Racing Rules of Sailing. These may be altered by the sailing instructions only with the prior approval of the Executive Committee.

  1. Championship events requiring racing in heats will be conducted in accordance with the current Heat Management System.
  1. A club desiring to conduct a Canadian, or Regional, Championship Regatta shall petition the appropriate Class Secretary and the Association for such authorization.
  1. For a Canadian or Regional championship to be officially sanctioned by the Association and so noted in the Associati0n Newsletter, or posted on its web site, the following procedure shall be required.

(a) A formal request from the host club, endorsed by the Class Secretary on behalf of the class owners Association where there is one, shall be submitted through the relevant Regional Director for authorization by the Executive Committee at least three months in advance of the event.

(b) Such events shall, as far as possible, be rotated geographically. The approved sponsoring club shall provide reasonable notice of the events to the membership through the Association Newsletter or its website.

(c) The results of the event shall be promptly reported to the Class Secretary, to the relevant Regional Director and to the Director of the Association responsible, to enable publication in the Association Newsletter or posting on the Associations website.

(d) In a Canadian or Regional Championship Regatta all yachts entered in the competition will be required to produce valid measurement certificates when require by its class rules or in classes without measurement certificate a Proof of Registration prior to sailing in the event.

(e) In Canadian or Regional Championship regattas, each yacht shall be properly registered in its class and all skippers shall be members of the Association or other National authority.

(f) The highest placing Canadian finisher in a Canadian Championship shall be entitled to be one of the representatives for Canada in world or continental events unless the Class has an Association approved ranking system.

(g) Where places for Canadian participants in world or continental championships are limited and there are more applicants than places, Canadian representatives shall be determined by a process established by the Association Executive Committee.


Section 16: Relationships

  1. The Association shall maintain a relationship with Sail Canada.
  2. The Association, as the Canadian National Authority for radio-controlled sailing, represents Canada within the ISAF – IRSA and is a Delegated National Member.


Section 17: Communications

  1. The Association will maintain a website and attempt to publish a quarterly newsletter.


Section 18: Amendments to the By-laws

  1. These by-laws may be amended by ballot after publication of the proposed amendment in the Association Newsletter, or by posting on its website at least one month in advance of the ballot date.
  2. A two-thirds majority of the members voting shall be required to approve any change.


Section 19: Dissolution

  1.  In the event of the Association being dissolved its assets shall be assigned to a national not for profit organization with similar aims.


Section 20: Availability of Copies:

  1. Copies of the Association’s Constitution and By-laws shall be made available to members by posting on the Association’s website, or on request.