PART 3 Question 1
Were boats entitled to interpret the true intentions of the race committee and not loop Oscar? Answer 1
No. The sailing instructions required marks to be rounded, and therefore the only correct course was to loop Oscar1
fact that the intentions of the race committee were to the contrary does not change this. Question 2
If a boat decided not to loop Oscar and was successfully protested, could she then seek redress? Answer 2
For redress to be granted, there must be some improper act or omission by the Race Committee. Requiring Oscar to be looped was not automatically an improper action of the race committee. If some boats elected not to round Oscar, were successfully protested and then sought redress, then a protest committee might rightly regard the setting of such a course as an improper action if it brought the fleet into conflict with other boats in the vicinity of the starting line. If some boats looped Oscar and others chose not to do so for safety reasons, then it is possible that the only equitable redress might be to abandon the race.
The situation is further complicated when all marks are specified to be rounding marks, but it is not clear how this affects a particular mark. RYA 2000/5 continues as follows as concerns a mark specified to be a rounding mark laid close to the rhumb line from the previous mark to the following mark such that, if laid just on one side of that line, the string will glance it, but if laid just on the other side, it will need to be looped.
If, from observations afloat, competitors cannot be expected to be sure on which side of the rhumb line it lies, then a competitor who does not loop it and is protested should be exonerated if in fact it should have been looped.
However, if fixed marks are used and if boats can be expected to have a chart on board, then the charted position will determine whether the mark has to be looped.
The race committee may be damned if it specifies all marks to be rounding marks, but, for coastal racing round existing navigation marks, it may be damned if it doesn’t, as RYA 1985/4 (fig 3) shows.
The course set by the race committee was A – B – C – D – finish, all marks to port.
D RYA 1985/4 B C
The race committee’s intention was that D was to be looped. The sailing instructions did not identify D or any mark as a rounding mark. The race committee scored Deva DNF, as she had not finished in the direction of the course from D, which it intended to be the last mark. The protest committee refused redress because Deva had not sailed the course, and referred its decision to the RYA, which reinstated Deva.
A fig 3
When a race committee intends that a mark is to be looped, so that a boat returning from that mark will cross her own track, the sailing instructions must either clearly say that the mark is a rounding mark, or must state how a mark shown on a course board is to be identified as a rounding mark.
When a mark is not properly identified as a rounding mark, a boat is entitled to sail a course such that the string representing her track, when pulled tight, does not touch the mark, provided that she leaves it on the correct side and in the correct sequence. The identification of a mark as a rounding mark must be unambiguous. For instance, to state that a mark is to be left to port (or starboard) gives a boat the option not to round it2
. 1 A mark is looped when the taut string representing a boat’s track to the mark, round it and on to the next mark crosses itself. As SC 74 points
out, this is an unnecessary hazard best avoided if possible. See also RYA 2006/8 2 As would a sailing instruction that said a mark was to ‘left or rounded’ on a specified side. Note also that Deva DID finish in the direction of the course from last mark, whichever mark it was, since, as discussed, it would cease to be so only if a finishing line mark were ‘hooked round’. So the race committee had no business scoring her DNF – it should have protested her. If a similar case were heard today, a boat scored DNF but not protested would be advised to ask for redress purely on the basis that she did finish, confining the hearing to that point alone. See WS 80 and SC 74.
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 127 . The
Course intended by race committee
Course sailed by Deva
Starting and finishing line
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