MCSA Electronics Clarification 2024 - August 19 2024

The following is a clarification of the MCSA Rule Book and Scantlings dated August 17, 2013.
This clarification specifically addresses Article IX Specifications of Yacht, Section 2 Hull, Part F Electronic Equipment.

F. Electronic Equipment
 i)   Only the following electronic personal equipment items are permitted for use during racing:
       a. Personal medical devices
       b. Compass, orientation, timing device, telemetry logging, or a combination provided that it/they can only provide information relating to the heading, and time (current and/or elapsed) to the sailor while racing are allowed.
           i.  The display of distance to the starting line, time on distance, speed or any other measurement not listed above is expressly prohibited.
          ii.  Devices must either be limited to the permitted features at time of manufacture or able to comply through software feature toggles and verifiable on-premise by an immutable timestamped log.
         iii.  Any device that complies through software feature toggles must be always comply while on the water on race days.
         iv. The penalty for using a non-class approved device or using a class approved device in a non-class legal mode will be disqualification (DSQ) from all races where the device was used in a non-conforming manner. The DSQ(s) will not be able to be dropped from the scores for the series or regatta.
      c. Hand-held communication devices (cellular phones, pagers, radios, etc.). Except for emergencies, the use of such devices including any application or function which allows determining a competitor’s position relative to a starting line or other competitors on the racecourse, marking waypoints, tracking wind shifts, receiving or sending SMS or email communications, or otherwise locating GPS coordinates is not permitted while racing This restriction does not apply to VHF radio communication to or from the Race Committee and from competitors on a predetermined radio channel.
      d. Photographic equipment limited to self-contained cameras, including cameras built into cellular telephones.
          i. Such cameras may record still images or video images with or without audio.
         ii. Data that is recorded onto the camera storage media or uploaded to the cloud in real time may only be reviewed on shore after racing.