To: RCA Member Clubs, Provincial Rowing Associations, Special Associations, RCA Board of Directors, RCA Committees (the “stakeholders”)

Introduction

Under the direction of the RCA Board of Directors, a Rules of Racing Review Working Group was formed last fall to review the current RCA Rules of Racing (the “Rules”), gather submissions and proposals from all stakeholders, and propose to the Rowing Organizations amendments to the Rules.

The Purpose and Mandate of the Working Group is as follows:

1. Purpose
   
   The Rules of Racing Review Working Group (the Working Group) shall be a duly constituted working group of the RCA Board of Directors operating under the CARA By-Laws Section 20.2. The Working Group will provide the RCA Board recommendations for consideration to be presented to the membership for approval at the Semi-Annual Meeting the year after the FISA Extraordinary Congress where changes to the FISA Rules of Racing are adopted.
    
2. Mandate
   
   The Working Group is responsible for assisting the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities to RCA members to conduct a review and recommend for member approval any changes proposed to the RCA Rules of Racing. 

The amendment process has taken into consideration the recent changes to the World Rowing: Rules of Racing, following the October 2020 virtual FISA Extraordinary Congress. Note: FISA has recently been re-branded as “World Rowing” (WR).

Any proposed rule changes to the RCA Rules of Racing will be voted on at the January 2022 RCA Semi-Annual Meeting.

Consultation Process

Further to the general overview of rules under consideration presented to the Members at the January 2021 Semi-Annual Meeting and the feedback since received, please find attached the draft recommendations of the Working Group.

Attached as Schedule A is the text and rationale of the proposed changes. Included in the Schedule are the sections of the current Rules where changes in wording are proposed. We have omitted changes that are related to grammar, gender neutrality and most references where the only change is from FISA to WR.

We ask that the recommendations be reviewed and that your input and comments be provided.  When commenting, please refer to the relevant rule and its rule number.

Please provide your comments in word format to the Working Group at: rules@rowingcanada.org

Submissions of comments should be made no later than October 31, 2021.

The Working Group will consider all comments and will then report their proposed recommended changes to the Board of RCA.

Final proposals to be voted on during the 2022 Semi-Annual Meeting will be circulated by Rowing Canada in advance of the Meeting.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about the above process, please contact us at rules@rowingcanada.org 

Thank you in advance for taking the time to provide feedback on the RCA Rules of Racing. You can view the current RCA Rules of Racing here.

Yours sincerely,
RCA Rules of Racing Working Group 

Working Group Members

Bill Donegan, ON – Chair
Mike Bagshawe, BC – RCA Safety and Events Committee representative
Dave Derry, ON – Member at large
Brent Duncan, BC – Member at large
Brooklea Graham, AB – Member at large
Andrew Smith, ON – RCA Safety and Events Committee representative
Judy Sutcliffe, ON – RCA Umpire Committee representative
Julie Thibault, QC – Member at large
Julie-Ann Vincent, NS – RCA Umpire Committee representative
Matt Waddell, ON – RCA Coach Education and Development Committee representative
Mike Walker, ON – Member at large
Carol Purcer – RCA President (ex-officio)