Basic Rules

Eligibility of Competitors and Teams:
· Student members of a team must be enrolled full time on the campus of the school that fields the team. Home-schooled students do not qualify to participate in SSS.
· Students who attend a charter school, on a full time basis, that does not offer PE classes, may participate with the team at their school of residence. The SSS must be notified annually of any student enrolling on a team under this rule.
· Students must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA to compete in SSS competitions.
· Team members must have all required forms on file with the SSS and their application feepaid.
· Two schools may combine to form one team if each school is limited to all boys and the other all girls.
· Two schools may join together to form one team when a new school opens and the student body is then divided between two schools. This will be permitted for one season only.

Heats:
· All heats, with the exception of finals, shall be 15 minutes in length.
· 10 waves maximum may be caught during each heat before returning to the beach.
· Finals shall be 20 minutes long and 12 waves may be caught.
· At the discretion of the Beach Marshall and/or Head Judge, due to time constraints or surf conditions and daylight, final heats may be reduced to 15 minutes.
· All heats will begin and end with two blasts of the horn and the heat flag displaying green facing the water.
· A five-minute warning will be indicated by 1 blast of the horn and/or the heat flag displaying yellow facing the water.

Scoring:
· The best 2 waves for each surfer will be tallied during all preliminary and final heats.
· At the discretion of the Beach Marshall and/or Head Judge, due to surf conditions, the number of tallied waves may be reduced.

Boundaries:
· Red flags will indicate the boundaries.
· If you surf out of your area, during your heat, your waves may not be scored.
· If you drift to the “other” site during your heat and interfere with a competitor from that site, you will be penalized.
· If you free surf or practice within the boundaries of the competition, you face possible disqualification from the event.

Wave Possession:
· The person closest to the peak at the point of take off has unconditional right of way.
· If two surfers take off from different peaks, the surfer who got up first shall have right of way, if they
come together.

Interferences and Penalties:
· Interference has occurred if the scoring potential of a surfer’s ride has been hindered by another.
· The penalty is a 50% deduction of the interfering surfer’s second highest scoring wave.
· If a surfer stands up, or a bodyboarder catches a wave and executes maneuvers, after the end of the heat, there will be a penalty of 2.5 points.
· See the rulebook for a complete list of interferences and penalties.
· All judges’ rulings are final and can only be overruled by the Contest Director after a protest has been made.
· Protests must be made to the Contest Director within 20 minutes of the heat in question.
· Videotapes will not be accepted for overruling interference calls.

Judges and Tabulation:
· A panel of 3 judges will be used at each site.
· One of these judges will be designated as the head judge.
· Results will be announced and posted promptly.
· Disputes must be brought to the attention of the Contest Director within 20 minutes of the end of the heat in question.

Board Lengths:
· Longboard: Minimum longboard length is 9 feet or at least 3 feet longer than the height of the surfer.
· Shortboard: Shortboards must be 7 feet 6 inches or less.