PART 3
If a boat is several hull lengths on the course side of the starting line at the starting signal of a black flag start, she will know then that she is disqualified, and ‘she is obliged to retire promptly. When she does not do so and then deliberately hinders another boat in the race, she commits a gross breach of sportsmanship and, therefore, of rule 2, and her helmsman commits a gross breach of sportsmanship1
boat, the fact that she must know she has broken a rule but does not retire is contrary to the Basic Principle, Sportsmanship and the Rules, and that alone breaks rule 2, as has been seen.
It is common for a sailing instruction to require the race committee to notify UFD and BFD boats of their penalty at the first windward mark, at which they must retire from the race. Suppose there is no such sailing instruction, but the race committee tells a UFD or BFD boat to leave the race while it is progress – must she comply? If she believes that she did not break rule 30.3 or 30.4 (as applicable), and requests redress after the race, I do not think she breaks a rule by continuing to race, but her position is less certain if she continues to race but does not request redress, and I think a race committee or another boat would be entitled to protest her under rule 2.
When there is a general recall of a black flag start, the race committee displays the sail numbers of BFD boats, which are disqualified and must not take part in the restart. If they do, their penalty becomes a DNE. If a boat believes that she is wrongly identified, can she take part in the restart and request redress? No, she will still be DNE, even if she can show she was wrongly identified, because her infringement relates to ignoring the display of her number, not to being over the line at the wrong time. Her only remedy is not to take part, and to seek redress, which, if given in a series, would normally be based on her results in other races2
. For this reason, race officers
should be cautious about using rule 30.3 or 30.4 in a race that is not part of a series, or, if within a series, is also for a major prize, since no compensation is possible for a misidentified boat, and sailing instructions sometimes set out a mechanism for a BFD boat to take part in the restart by telling the race committee, and then asking for redress afterwards. One such says that if the request is upheld, the BFD is annulled: if the request is refused, the BFD stands; and if the request had no merit or was not in fact lodged, the penalty is upgraded to a DNE.
When the race committee sees a boat breaking rule 30.3 or 30.4 in a start that is recalled, but then fails to display her sail number, so that she competes in the restart, is she then entitled to a finishing place? No, continues WS 96.
The boat should be disqualified as required by the second sentence of rule 30.4. However…she should be scored BFD and not DNE. If she requests redress claiming that she is entitled to a finishing place because the race committee erred by not displaying her sail number, her request should be denied. While not displaying her sail number is an improper omission by the race committee, it is not the omission that deprived her of her finishing place, but the fact that she had been on the course side of the starting line in the minute before her starting signal. However, if she was scored DNE, redress should be granted to the extent of changing her score to BFD.
That is clear, but the problem sometimes occurs because the number displayed is not the boat’s actual sail number, but an allocated bow number in a major event, or only the last few digits of a longer sail number, as with Lasers. Sailing instructions can and should change rule 30.4 to legitimise this, but I think that if that is not done, a boat that does not know for sure that she was over in the last minute is entitled to ignore a faulty number display and restart, and then to seek redress as stated above, However, the principle in WS 96 would still apply, and the best she can hope for is to revert to the position she would have been in had she not taken part in the restart, namely that her DNE becomes a BFD, so to ‘make a point’ in this way is only a partial improvement, unless she also wishes to contest that she was over in the last minute.
.’ Even if she does not deliberately hinder another
1 WS 65: the last nine words quoted opens up the possibility of a hearing against the competitor under rule 69.2. The same would apply to a U
flag race 2 WS 96
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 141
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