PART 4 Question


Does the application of rule 36 depend on the reason for restarting or resailing a race? Answer


No. Rule 36 states that, unless rule 30.2, 30.3 or 69 applies, whenever a race is restarted or resailed, a breach of a rule by a boat in the original race shall not result in her being penalised in the restarted or resailed race. When a race is restarted, this is the case regardless of the reason for which the race was restarted. When a race is resailed, this is the case, regardless of the whether the original race was abandoned before or after the starting signal.


When rule 36 applies, the fact that in most instances a boat cannot be penalised over an incident occurring between the preparatory signal and the recall signal does not preclude the holding of a protest hearing. This is most likely to happen after an incident resulting in damage. ‘When there is a protest in respect of an incident in a race that is then recalled or abandoned, the protest must be heard, so that facts are found and a boat that has broken a rule is identified, even though she cannot be penalized because of the provisions of rule 36. When such facts are found, the protest committee may then consider and, if the requirements of rule 62.1(b) are met, grant redress1


.’ Even if redress is not sought, the finding of facts will assist an insurance claim2


Part 4 – Other Requirements When Racing Preamble Rule 40


PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICES


When flag Y is displayed with one sound before or with the warning signal, competitors shall wear personal flotation devices, except briefly while changing or adjusting clothing or personal equipment. When flag Y is displayed ashore, this rule applies at all times while afloat. Wet suits and dry suits are not personal flotation devices.


This rule has to be activated no later than the warning signal, and cannot be made to apply in mid-race. The operative term is now a ‘personal flotation device’. While that may have some minimum specification in legislation and regulations, the device is no longer required to be ‘adequate’ in this rule. Instead, it is rule 1.2 that puts the responsibility for the adequacy of the personal flotation device on the competitor, depending on the conditions3


.


The rule is a very general one. Class rules (including regulations of the type specified for offshore racing) can be more specific.


The exception in respect of briefly changing or adjusting clothing or personal equipment would appear, euphemistically, to include needing to remove the device in order to take a toilet break4


. .


Part 4 rules apply only to boats racing unless the rule states otherwise.


1 RYA 1993/5. If there was damage that was not serious, but which affected the other boat’s performance, perhaps the damage of a simple but


essential component that could not be replaced before a restart or resail, then rule 36 would preclude penalization but redress could be granted. 2 The same principle applies when, after there is contact resulting in damage, another boat retires. That retirement is not in itself an admission of fault, in the UK at least, because the RYA prescription to rule 68 says so. The retirement will preclude penalisation for breaking a rule of Part 2, but does not preclude a protest hearing to find what happened and which boat was responsible. The fact the protest is clearly being held for


insurance purposes only is no reason for not hearing it, indeed it is a valuable service to competitors. 3 The RYA prescription to this rule says that ‘When a rule requires a personal flotation device to be worn, the device shall comply with the specifications for the personal flotation devices that the boat is required to carry. If more than one specification applies, the personal flotation device worn shall comply with the highest of them.’ So in a UK event the crew of a boat required by class rules or regulations to carry devices


of, say, 150N buoyancy cannot, when flag Y is displayed, leave them in the locker and put on less cumbersome 50N devices. 4 Itself a euphemism!


RYA The Racing Rules Explained 151


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