PART 5


As a reality check, if the facts found include terms like ‘did (or did not) keep clear / give room / avoid / interfere’, there is a danger that this is a conclusion. If the facts supporting the conclusion are also stated, it is not a major crime for the conclusion to appear under ‘facts found’. But if there are no facts, only conclusions, then the protest committee has not properly explained the reasons for its decision. In the exceptional circumstance that the case goes to appeal, this will be detected and corrected. If, as is usual, it does not, then one or both parties may be left with a feeling of dissatisfaction over the decision, and the protest committee may have unwittingly made an incorrect decision. A protest committee will not go far wrong in stating facts as bullet points, written on the assumption that the decision may go to appeal and so will need to be self-explanatory.


A similar approach is needed with requests for redress. What happened, the boat’s score and whether a penalty has been imposed under rule 2 or there has been disciplinary action under rule 69.1(b) are all facts. ‘Fault’, ‘significantly worse’, ‘improper’, ‘omission’, ‘injury’, ‘physical damage’, ‘breaking a rule of Part 2’, ‘not racing’, ‘required to keep clear’, ‘giving help’ and ‘in compliance with rule 1.1’ are all conclusions – what are the facts relevant to such conclusions?


63.7


Conflict between Rules If there is a conflict between two or more rules that must be resolved before the protest committee makes a decision, the committee shall apply the rule that it believes will provide the fairest result for all boats affected. Rule 63.7 applies only if the conflict is between rules in the notice of race, the sailing instructions, or any of the other documents that govern the event under item (g) of the definition Rule.


This rule should really be in rule 64, Decisions. It is getting ahead of itself in rule 63. This is the only racing rule that establishes a precedence between conflicting provisions. WS 98 says that otherwise there is no inherent precedence between a provision of the notice of race and a sailing instruction.


RYA 2002/8 would seek to qualify this. Question


If the sailing instructions say that a sailing instruction prevails when there is a conflict between the notice of race and a sailing instruction, is that binding?


Answer


A statement in the sailing instructions that they are to prevail over the notice of race is not binding. Any such provision should be in the notice of race itself, and should refer to rule 63.7 as being changed.


The (unexplained) logic behind this is that the notice of race is produced by the organizing authority, which is also tasked with appointing the race committee, which is the body that produces the sailing instructions. The race committee therefore has only the powers granted to it by the rules and by the notice of race. No rule allows it to override the notice of race, over which it has no control, and so only the organizing authority can grant the race committee the power to create obligations that conflict with the notice of race. However, that is a very technical argument, and competitors cannot be expected to realise that a statement in the sailing instructions that says that the sailing instructions prevail over the notice of race in the event of conflict may be of dubious validity – added to which WS 98 does not appear to support such an interpretation.


The more important point arising from RYA 2002/8 is that when a sailing instruction purports to give precedence to the sailing instructions when there is a conflict, this will be ineffective unless the last sentence of rule 86.1(b) is complied with, and the sailing instruction explicitly says that rule 63.7 is changed.


RYA The Racing Rules Explained 205


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