PART 3
If a race committee believes from its observations that a boat has not sailed the course correctly, it may protest the boat for that breach as permitted by rule 60.2(a). In this case, the race committee did not protest Iris. Because Iris had not been protested for failing to sail the course correctly, she could not be penalised for that failure.
One of the problems of these decisions is that competitors are even less aware of them than are protest committees, and the request for redress that is submitted following an improper DNF or DSQ will often address itself only to the broader issue of whether rule 28.1 had been broken with regard to a course mark, which then invites the protest committee to consider that as the ‘incident’. I believe that, given the clear guidance of the cases, a protest committee should not stray down that path, but should stick to the narrow issues of whether the boat did finish, as defined, and whether the race committee had any power to disqualify her or score her DNF.
It may be that no boat sails the correct course, and yet the race is valid. At a junior event, I was on a RIB on one course when the race officer from another course motored across to me. The sailing instructions specified an ‘outer loop’ trapezoid course, but all the fleet sailed an ‘inner loop’ course. Was his intention to take no action correct? I agreed with him. There had been a perfectly fair race. None of the reasons for abandonment in rule 32.1 applied. The last mark of the course was the same for both courses, and all boats had rounded it before finishing. So if the race committee had wanted to act, it would have had to have protested all the fleet. Rule 60.2 says that race committee protests are optional, not compulsory. No boat would have been able to ask for redress, since there was no improper action of the race committee, and all the fleet was at fault in sailing the wrong course. The only risk was of a valid protest from (presumably) a boat with a poor finishing position hoping to do better if the outcome were after all the abandonment of the race and a resail, a bridge to be crossed if we came to it, which we did not1
. Marks that go astray
RYA 2010/2 says that when a mark goes missing, rule 28 is not complied with by rounding its vacant position. This would normally lead to abandonment or redress based on known rounding positions earlier in the race.
When one mark of a gate disappears, rule 28.2(c) cannot be complied with. However, if, using their initiative, all the fleet round the remaining buoy (either to port or starboard) and complete the rest of the course without complaint, letting the result stand may be the best outcome whether or not redress is sought. But the more boats react differently, the more likely that abandonment is appropriate. Race committees are advised to use a sailing instruction stating the required side (presumably to port on dinghy courses) for a remaining mark when the other disappears, to avoid the possible loss of an otherwise satisfactory race.
When a gate mark has simply drifted downwind (or down-tide), so that the gate is roughly end-on to the previous leg, the principle in WS 82 applies to allow boats to pass through it in either direction. But if the mark has drifted so far that it is no longer clear that the two marks form a gate, it is not a gate, and the situation is as above when a gate mark disappears.
1 The situation appears to slip between the cracks of the first and second sentences of rule 35. However, the second sentence of rule 90.3(a) – a rule not directly aimed at this situation and not one I thought about at the time – might be problematical.
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 133
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256
