PART 5 Rule 61 PROTEST REQUIREMENTS
There are two compulsory parts to initiating a protest: • Informing the protestee of an intention to protest (rule 61.1): although the word ‘Protest’ may be hailed, this is not yet a protest, and no protest may in fact result
• Putting the protest in writing (rule 61.2), normally on a protest form, and delivering it to the race office within the protest time limit (rule 61.3)
61.1
Informing the Protestee (a) A boat intending to protest shall inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity. When her protest will concern an incident in the racing area that she was involved in or saw, she shall hail ‘Protest’ and conspicuously display a red flag at the first reasonable opportunity for each. She shall display the flag until she is no longer racing. However,
(1) if the other boat is beyond hailing distance, the protesting boat need not hail but she shall inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity;
(2) if the hull length of the protesting boat is less than 6 metres, she need not display a red flag;
(3) if the incident was an error by the other boat in sailing the course, she need not hail or display a red flag but she shall inform the other boat either before or at the first reasonable opportunity after the other boat finishes;
(4) if as a result of the incident a member of either crew is in danger, or there is injury or serious damage that is obvious to the boat intending to protest, the requirements of this rule do not apply to her, but she shall attempt to inform the other boat within the time limit of rule 61.3.
(b) If the race committee, technical committee or protest committee intends to protest a boat concerning an incident the committee observed in the racing area, it shall inform her after the race within the time limit of rule 61.3. In other cases the committee shall inform the boat of its intention to protest as soon as reasonably possible.
(c) If the protest committee decides to protest a boat under rule 60.3(a)(2), it shall inform her as soon as reasonably possible, close the current hearing, proceed as required by rules 61.2 and 63, and hear the original and the new protests together.
Rule 61.1 has been patched and stitched over the years, with the result that its language is a little inconsistent. Some requirements must be carried out ‘as soon as reasonably possible’, while for others it is ‘at the first reasonable opportunity’ – which appear to mean the same thing. A boat ‘sees’, while a race committee or a protest committee ‘observes’.
Sometimes, the informing need only be attempted. Sometimes, it must succeed. Sometimes, it will be deemed to have succeeded.
‘A boat intending to protest shall inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity…’ This is the general principle, which is amplified and modified by the rest of rule 61.1(a). So when the protest committee is satisfied that hailing and flagging requirements apply and have been met, this principle will be deemed to have been complied with, even if the protestee asserts that she was not aware of the protest against her1
flagging.
1 ‘When rule 61.1(a) applies,…compliance with the requirement in its second sentence to hail, and, if necessary, to flag fulfils the requirement of the first sentence to inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity’: RYA 2002/7.
RYA The Racing Rules Explained 179
. As is explained below, not every protest requires hailing, and not every protest that requires hailing requires
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