PART 5


In WS 48, the appellant’s case seemed at first to be plausible. ‘I was not aware that the protest was being held until I was told to attend it. I was not allowed to read the protest outside the protest room. I had to read it in the protest room while the protest was underway. I was not given a reasonable time to prepare a defence.’ ‘Not so,’ said the protest committee. ‘The time of the hearing was posted on the official notice board. The protest form was in the race office and available for reading for well over an hour. The appellant knew his boat was being protested. He made no attempt to prepare a defence, indeed he had to be summoned from the club’s dining room when the protest committee, the protestor and the witnesses were assembled.’


Siding with the protest committee, the appeals committee said that the protestee’s representative knew that his boat was being protested, and it was his duty to protect himself by acting reasonably, which included seeking out the protest form, reading it, and using the ample time available to prepare a defence. ‘Part 5 of the racing rules aims to protect a boat from being unfairly treated, not to provide loopholes for protestees.’


In RYA 1968/15, Sylphide appealed on similar grounds. The protest committee responded that the protest had been read out three times and had been available for inspection. Sylphide had made no complaint at the hearing, nor did she ask for an extension of the time limit to prepare a defence. The RYA dismissed the appeal, noting that a boat that claims she has not been allowed reasonable time to prepare her defence must raise this objection at the hearing of the protest against her if she wishes to rely on this in an appeal.


A protest committee has to be doubly careful when it is also the protestor, as for instance under rules 60.3(a)(1) or (2). In RYA 2001/15, a boat-v-boat protest alleged serious damage. The protestee did not attend the hearing, and the protest committee decided to continue with the hearing under rule 63.3(b). It found that the protest was invalid, and decided to bring its own protest under rule 60.3(a)(1). It did not pause, but proceeded immediately, disqualifying the absent protestee. Her appeal was upheld, since the protest committee must ‘lodge a fresh protest against her, and she is entitled to a new notification of the new hearing, even if she was the protestee in the invalid protest and had been properly notified of the original hearing but had not been present.’


Likewise, when a protest committee decides, on the evidence in a valid protest, to bring its own protest against a boat that is not a party to that protest under rule 60.3(a)(2), it must comply with rule 61.1(c), which embodies the same principles as in rule 63.21


. 63.3


Right to Be Present (a) A representative of each party to the hearing has the right to be present throughout the hearing of all the evidence. When a protest claims a breach of a rule of Part 2, 3 or 4, the representatives of boats shall have been on board at the time of the incident, unless there is good reason for the protest committee to rule otherwise. Any witness, other than a member of the protest committee, shall be excluded except when giving evidence.


(b) If a party to the hearing of a protest or request for redress does not come to the hearing, the protest committee may nevertheless decide the protest or request. If the party was unavoidably absent, the committee may reopen the hearing.


A hearing is about to start, and the procedure is governed by the rest of rule 63. This is amplified in Appendix M, Recommendations for Protest Committees, which may be open on the table during the hearing as an aide-memoire to the members of the protest committee, to ensure that the proceedings meet all requirements. The parties entitled to be present at a protest are defined as the protestor and protestee, and at a request for redress they are the requester and, if applicable, a representative of the race committee or the organizing authority.


1 See also RYA 1981/14 196 RYA The Racing Rules Explained


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