PART 3
In contrast with WS 45, nothing that Wispozora and the other ‘hookers’ did was induced by any improper sailing instruction. It was simply that Wispozora, the race committee and the protest committee had all not understood the rule. If the race committee had made a sound signal to those it believed to have finished correctly as they crossed the finishing line, this would not prevail over a later decision of a protest committee or of the national authority that found they had not finished1
. The fact that a boat breaks a rule while finishing does not change the fact that she has finished. Finishing Line Infringements
Finishing line
Course from the last mark
fig 2
Yellow has finished. She touched the finishing mark, and is clearly not taking a penalty, but it will require a protest against her to dislodge her from her finishing position2
.
Blue’s string lies on the wrong side of the finishing mark, but she has crossed the finishing line in the direction of the course from the last mark. So she has to be scored as finished, and a protest against her under rule 28.1 is required in order to deprive her of her finishing position3
.
Red clearly broke rule 10 with respect to Green but finishes and is clearly not taking a penalty. So a protest against her is required to deny her her finishing position.
As will be seen later, the fact that all this happens under the eyes of the race committee does not entitle the race committee to do anything other than initially to score a boat in her finishing position.
The definition Finish lists three situations when a boat has not finished despite crossing the finishing line. If a boat takes a turns(s) penalty at or near the finishing line, she will not finish until she has completed the penalty and then crosses the finishing line from the course side, regardless of how many times she has already crossed the finishing line before or while rotating – see rule 44.2. Correcting an error under rule 28.2 made at the line is the process of correcting a ‘hook finish’, discussed under that rule.
Continuing to sail the course covers two situations – first, to make it totally clear that, when boats happen to pass through what will be the finish line during any mid-race lap, and of course keep sailing, this does not rank as finishing. Secondly, if the finishing line is not normally crossed during the race, and a boat miscounts the number of laps she has completed and mistakenly sails too soon to the finishing line, she may correct this error if she realises it by returning to the course marks and continuing to sail the course.
So if she stops sailing after crosses the finishing line or sails off the course, she is not ‘continuing’ to sail the course. Instead, she has finished, she has lost the opportunity to correct her error, and she is in danger of being protested under rule 28 – particularly if her premature finish gave her an unwarranted first place!
1 RYA 1996/4 – likewise if a boat was OCS and did not return, or never entered. A finishing bell or hoot is just a courtesy. 2 WS 128 3 ibid
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 123
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