PART 4


Help under rule 41(a) for an ill or injured crew member can be both actual treatment and advice give by radio, telephone or email, as sometimes happens in oceanic racing. Rule 41(a) switches on rule 42.3(g), and another boat may use any method, engine included, to come to help.


The use of the word ‘vessel’ in rule 41(b) makes clear that the collision may be with a boat that is racing, or with one that is not. If the other boat IS racing, rule 42.3(h) allows some help to be given by her without penalization.


In this ‘information age’, the possibilities for receiving information, and therefore breaking rules 41(c) and (d), have rapidly increased. RYA 2005/5 addresses this:


Question


Is weather information sent to a mobile phone, to a receiver or to a computer by a weather bureau as part of a dedicated subscription service ‘freely available’ for the purposes of rule 41(d)? Is the cost of that service relevant? Is information available to all on the internet ‘freely available’, given that a subscription has to be paid to an internet service provider?


Answer


Once a subscription has been paid to a generally available and non-specialised communications service, such as an Internet Service Provider, a telephone service (mobile or terrestrial) or a television licence, any information that is then available to the general public, or is available to all competitors in the event, and that can be accessed readily and at no further cost (other than the cost, if applicable, of a standard rate call or connection) is ‘freely available’. The notice of race and sailing instructions may change rule 41 to widen or narrow this.


US 93 offers further clarification. Weather information from public radio stations is “freely available”, and the fact that there may be a software or hardware cost to get generally available internet information is not relevant.


However, if the access to the information, including any equipment or software, is provided for a fee by the same person or entity that provides the information, then the information has a monetary cost and is not “freely available”. Examples are satellite radio companies and ocean routing services when they have charged the recipient of the information a subscription fee for accessing their channels or files.


WS 120 takes this to a logical, but possibly counter-intuitive conclusion. Examining the issue of what is freely available in great detail, it points out that paying large sums of money for generally available equipment, software and communication services are not costs for the information itself, and rule 41(c) is not broken if there is no cost for the information itself. A standard internet service to a computer or a mobile phone, even though paid for, is implicitly ‘freely available’, as is information gained from a ‘widely-used internet search programme’. Beyond that, information for which a fee has to be paid (even if that fee is very small) is not ‘freely available’, nor is it ‘freely available’ if it is only accessible if the information is only available via the purchase of special-purpose hardware or application software that accesses the data, be it ever so cheap. Could it be that World Sailing is confusing ‘freely available’ with ‘free’?


Oceanic races usually override rule 41 to state explicitly what communications resources and outside assistance such as routing are allowed for the event, and what are not.


Inter-boat communication is another matter. When a boat is not in danger, advice that she seeks and receives that will help her to complete the race is outside help, even if it is sought and received on a public radio channel. So in WS 100 three large boats were to round a mark near coastal rocks and then sail into a 6-knot current. The wind was light. Iris radioed to Daffodil, whose skipper was more familiar with the area, asking whether it was safe to anchor in the vicinity of the mark. Daffodil replied that it was not safe to anchor. Vindictive protested both boats under rule 41, for discussing what tactics were to be used for rounding the mark and sailing the next leg. The protest committee dismissed the protest against Daffodil, as breaking no rule, but disqualified Iris for receiving outside help. It noted that she was not in danger, as she could have sailed or motored away from the mark in perfect safety at any time, and that the only reasons for anchoring at the mark were to overcome the adverse current and to win the race. Iris appealed, on the grounds that she did not believe she had received help, that advice given via a public radio frequency was not outside help, and that a national authority should not condone disqualification for receiving safety information. Her appeal was dismissed.


RYA The Racing Rules Explained 153


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