PART 3 Rule 32 32.1 SHORTENING OR ABANDONING AFTER THE START
After the starting signal, the race committee may shorten the course (display flag S with two sounds) or abandon the race (display flag N, N over H, or N over A, with three sounds), (a) because of foul weather,
(b) because of insufficient wind making it unlikely that any boat will finish within the time limit, (c) because a mark is missing or out of position, or (d) for any other reason directly affecting the safety or fairness of the competition.
In addition, the race committee may shorten the course so that other scheduled races can be sailed, or abandon the race because of an error in the starting procedure. However, after one boat has sailed the course and finished within the time limit, if any, the race committee shall not abandon the race without considering the consequences for all boats in the race or series.
Both shortening and abandoning are theoretically possible in the event of one of the circumstances (a) to (d), but it is obviously preferable to shorten rather than abandon when both are possible. Abandonment is not permitted simply so that other scheduled races can be sailed, nor now is shortening because of an error in the starting procedure. As the rule says, it will depend on which is appropriate. Clauses (a) to (d) apply after the starting signal. If any of the situations in those clauses occur before starting signal, the appropriate signal is flag and its variants. The rule says that abandonment before the starting signal is also possible when there is an error in the starting procedure. (Most race officers would use flag AP in that situation, if only because it is likely to be to hand, whereas flag N is kept under lock and key to avoid its accidental display.)
In order to shorten or abandon because of insufficiency of wind making it unlikely that any boat will finish within the time limit, first there must be a time limit. ‘When there is no time limit and no further races are scheduled to be sailed, as in the race in question, rule 32.1 does not permit a race committee to shorten or abandon a race because of insufficient wind, since the lack of a time limit implies that the race is intended to last until all boats have finished or retired. Nor did any question of the fairness of the competition arise. When the possibility of a prolonged race is contemplated in this way, the competition cannot be regarded as unfair when such circumstances arise1
.’
Abandonment because a mark is missing or out of position is normally not appropriate when a boat has caused one to be shifted only a short distance or temporarily. ‘A race committee may abandon under rule 32.1(c) only when the change in the mark’s position has directly affected the safety or fairness of the competition2
.’
It is usually via redress hearings that issues arise, either because the race committee did not take action when a boat thought it should, or when it did take action when a boat thought it should not. In RYA 2002/10, the course for a race early in the season was selected from a list of marks in the sailing instructions, headed ‘No responsibility is accepted for any error in the indicated positions’. Some of the marks to be used were lifted at the end of the season and laid again each spring by a contractor acting on behalf of the local clubs. Unknown to the race committee, one of the marks had been laid 0.4 nm from its published position. Fandango was one of several boats who used GPS to sail to the mark’s published position in force 4 winds and good visibility, and she lost time locating and rounding the mark as actually laid. She asked for redress.
The protest committee refused redress and referred its decision to the RYA, asking for guidance on the extent to which a race committee was obliged to check the positions of such marks: the extent to which a boat might rely on navigation by GPS alone, given that other boats had detected the error earlier by keeping a good lookout; and whether the caveat in the sailing instructions would always prevail against a redress claim. The decision of the protest committee was confirmed.
1 RYA 1982/17 2 WS 28
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 145
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