In order to have an official team, you must join the national association, the InterScholastic Sailing Association (ISSA) and the local district of ISSA that you will be sailing in. In this case, it is the MidAtlantic Scholastic Sailing Association.
You may join even if you only have one sailor although to participate as an official team in the doublehanded events, you should have at least 2 skippers and 2 crew.
The membership year includes both the fall and spring season. You may join at any time before or during the school year, but you can not begin scoring points from the regattas toward the overall championship standings until your dues are received.
ISSA has a database in which you can enter your team information from the internet. You will then get instructions to send your dues to MASSA. On receipt of the check for your school dues, MASSA will verify your school status on the database and will forward the ISSA dues to them. To begin this process:
1. Assemble all the information you will need. This includes the school address, contact names and addresses, team members and their graduating years, email contact(s), sailing location, etc. Look at the ISSA page for the specific information you will need before beginning to fill out the database. Be sure you have all the information you need before beginning to enter it into the database. The contact information is especially important since we need an email and post office address to notify your team of schedules and updates. In addition, it is important to maintain your list of sailors to verify their eligibility to represent your school. If you are a new team, you may be eligible to receive some grant awards, but only if you enter team members into the database to show how many sailors you have.
2. Go to the ISSA membership database at www.highschoolsailingusa.org/directory/addnew.asp by entering it in your browser or clicking on the address in this sentence.
3. Fill in the form. If you were a member in the previous school year, you may be able to just update your old information rather than entering all the details again. However, be sure to enter any changes, such as deleting graduated students. Print out the payment instruction page and mail a check for the dues (currently $75 for ISSA and $15 for the MASSA District for a total of $90) to MASSA.
W.R. Schneider
761 Mariners Circle
Annapolis, MD 21401