PART 5
When only two boats are involved, it is not difficult to identify an incident. When more than two boats are involved and there are sequential failures to comply with the rules, the protest committee has to decide whether there is only one, or more than one, incident. The test is that there must be some causal link between the events. If it decides that there was more than one incident, it should proceed only with the protest against boats involved in the incident that resulted in injury or serious damage, and close its hearing against any other boat, as required by rule 63.5.
The protest committee in this case correctly addressed the question as to whether there was only one, or more than one, incident, and decided, before any hearing had been opened, that there was no causal link between any infringement by Iris and subsequent infringements. It therefore felt itself precluded from protesting her, whether under rule 60.3(a)(1) or rule 61.1(c). The RYA’s decision is that, given several boats in close proximity, Daffodil changing course as a result of contact with Iris, and then a series of contacts all within a ten-second period, there was a causal link and therefore only one incident.
Once it is established that there was an incident resulting in injury or serious damage, and involving the protestee, a protest under rule 60.3(a)(1) is no different from any other protest. The protest committee must decide the facts and apply the rules to the incident. Any boat involved in the incident and protested may be penalised under the appropriate rule, regardless of whether it was she that caused the injury or serious damage, and the fact that she did not cause injury or serious damage is not of itself a reason for exonerating her.
During the hearing of a protest brought under rule 60.3(a)(1), a protest committee might also realise that it had not initially drawn its net widely enough, and that a further boat was involved that might have broken a rule. It is then entitled under rule 60.3(a)(2) to protest that boat. As that requires a fresh hearing (see rule 61.1(c)), it is obviously preferable if such a boat can be identified earlier and included within the protest under rule 60.3(a)(1) from the outset, if only later to eliminate her.
In this case, Iris cannot be penalised by the RYA under rule 71.3 as she was not a party to the protest. The protest committee may not now protest her, as any possible time limit for a protest has long since expired. There is no rule giving the national authority power to return the case to the protest committee and require it to protest Iris.
The important points to be teased from this case are: • When a protest committee wishes to protest under rule 60.3(a)(1) having received a report of an incident that may have resulted in injury or serious damage, it is advised initially to protest all boats that may have been involved. If it then finds that that there was in fact more than one incident, and that serious damage or serious injury did not result from one of the incidents, it should close the hearing relating to that incident.
• If there is a causal link between a series of collisions, they may be regarded as a single incident for the purposes of rule 60.3(a)(1)
• When a protest committee uses rule 60.3(a)(1) to protest a boat, and the boat then is found to have been involved in an incident that resulted in serious damage or serious injury, and to have broken a rule, she is to be penalised under the appropriate rule, even if it were not she that caused the serious damage or serious injury.
• There is no rule giving the national authority power to return a case to the protest committee and require it to protest a boat.
‘However, it may protest a boat…if during the hearing of a valid protest it learns that the boat, although not a party to the hearing, was involved in the incident and may have broken a rule’ When a protest committee believes that a boat that is not a party to a hearing may have broken a rule, it must first make her a party to a hearing by protesting her. She must be notified and given time to prepare her defence and she has the same rights as any protestee to call and question witnesses. Rule 61.1(c) requires the hearing to be closed, and a fresh hearing to be opened, to include the original parties and any new party, with all protests heard as one hearing.
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 175
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