PART 5


Anyone can send a report at any time to a national authority: for instance, a competitor may be overheard in circumstances outside any event to admit having modified a boat with an intention to cheat. The World Sailing Disciplinary Code governs how a national authority should then deal with the report.


Section D – Appeals Rule 70 70.1


APPEALS AND REQUESTS TO A NATIONAL AUTHORITY


(a) Provided that the right of appeal has not been denied under rule 70.5, a party to a hearing may appeal a protest committee’s decision or its procedures, but not the facts found.


70.2 70.3


(b) A boat may appeal when she is denied a hearing required by rule 63.1. A protest committee may request confirmation or correction of its decision.


An appeal under rule 70.1 or a request by a protest committee under rule 70.2 shall be sent to the national authority with which the organizing authority is associated under rule 89.1. However, if boats will pass through the waters of more than one national authority while racing, the sailing instructions shall identify the national authority to which appeals or requests are required to be sent.


70.4 70.5


A club or other organization affiliated to a national authority may request an interpretation of the rules, provided that no protest or request for redress that may be appealed is involved. The interpretation shall not be used for changing a previous protest committee decision.


There shall be no appeal from the decisions of an international jury constituted in compliance with Appendix N. Furthermore, if the notice of race and the sailing instructions so state, the right of appeal may be denied provided that


(a) it is essential to determine promptly the result of a race that will qualify a boat to compete in a later stage of an event or a subsequent event (a national authority may prescribe that its approval is required for such a procedure);


(b) a national authority so approves for a particular event open only to entrants under its own jurisdiction; or


(c) a national authority after consultation with World Sailing so approves for a particular event, provided the protest committee is constituted as required by Appendix N, except that only two members of the protest committee need be International Judges.


70.6 Appeals and requests shall conform to Appendix R.


The decision of a protest committee can be changed either by an appeal under rule 70.1 or by a protest committee requesting confirmation or correction of its decision under rule 70.2. Protest committees will sometimes adopt the rule 70.2 route when an intention to appeal is known, in order to show that the protest committee is as interested as the party in knowing whether the decision was right. The process and the possible outcomes are essentially the same under rules 70.1 and 70.2. One difference, however, is that it is the right of appeal that can be denied under rule 70.5. Nothing stops a protest committee that cannot be appealed against from requesting confirmation or correction of a decision1


. In theory, that could include an international jury, which is a protest


committee sub-species, although I am not aware of it ever happening. If a decision is referred under rule 70.2, the whole of the decision is open to review, not just an issue over which the protest committee may have doubts2


.


1 RYA 2005/2, concerning a decision related to the prompt identification of the team to proceed to the next round of a team race. The decision of the protest committee was upheld, on corrected grounds: had it been reversed, it would have been academic, as the event had long since


finished, and I do not think the RYA could or would have sought to declare the event result invalid. 2 RYA 2005/6


RYA The Racing Rules Explained 227


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