PART 5


Denial of the right of appeal is automatic when an international jury is appointed for the event. It is routine under rule 70.5(a) in team racing, match racing and in other events which proceed through heats to finals1


. The denial


under rule 70.5(a) must be explicit in the notice of race and the sailing instructions, and to omit it from either or both may result in there being a right of appeal. The denial of the right of appeal because there is an international jury must also be stated in the notice of race (J1.2(12)) and the sailing instructions (J2.2(31)), but if that is not done, it will not affect the fact that the international jury is non-appealable unless it has not been properly constituted2


.


Approval of the denial of the right of appeal under rule 70.5(b) is available only when the entrants are under the national authority’s jurisdiction (which the RYA’s prescription to this rule defines as when ‘The event is open only to boats entered by an organization affiliated to the RYA, a member of such an organization or a personal member of the RYA3


Rule 70.6 requires appeals and requests to conform to Appendix R4 .


This book does not examine Appendix N, International Juries, in detail, but the following observations can be made. Major events may require enough jury members for two panels or more panels to be appointed (therefore 10 or 15 members, more than two of whom may be from the same national authority, as long as no more than than two from the same national authority sit on the same panel)5


, and medium-sized events can benefit from


upgrading from five to six members to enable hearings to be disposed of by two panels of three members from different national authorities, two of which must be international judges, subject to a right to a rehearing before a full jury or a 5-person panel6


.


US 104 says that a national authority has no power to consider an allegation of a rules breach that was not the subject of a protest committee’s decision. A former Q&A looked with disfavour at attempts by national authorities to bypass the limitations on denying the right of appeal by making regulations that do not harmonise with rule 70.


The minimum requirement for an international jury is five persons, of whom no more than two members shall be from the same national authority7


. This can be a considerable cost burden for a smaller event. Travel expenses


have benefited from the growth of low cost airlines, and in parts of Europe some jury members can be acquired free of any travel costs falling on the event8


, but jury members still have to be housed and fed at the event. It


is disappointing that World Sailing does not place sufficient trust in its own officials to allow this to be changed to a minimum of three members (perhaps all from different countries, of whom two might be required to be international judges). The rule already allows for as few as three members in the event of illness or emergency, and there is no evidence when this happens that the standard of judging is any the worse9


could arise when one of only two or three is then unavailable through illness or emergency, but that does not mean that a satisfactory work-round could not be devised.


.’) Denial under rule 70.5(c) is rare, and the RYA will not allow this clause to be used by an event that wants the certainty of the denial of appeal but does not want to bear the cost of a full international jury.


. Obviously, problems


1 The RYA policy is a ‘light touch’, and unlike other national authorities it does not require any prior approval of an international jury, nor does it prescribe that its approval is required under rule 70.5(a). RYA 2014/1 points out that the denial of the right of appeal under 70.5 will not apply in


respect of a protest committee decision concerning a qualifying race when the ‘later stage’ or ‘subsequent event’ then never happens. 2 N1.7 3 The RYA prescription also requires a ‘good reason’ for approving such a request, and that would have to be a situation where it would not be reasonable for an international jury to be appointed, and where rule 70.5(a) did not apply. The RYA prescription specifically excludes the cost of


an international jury as a reason for approving an appeal denial request. 4 The RYA and US Sailing both prescribe a process that is slightly different from Appendix R. 5 N1.4(a): for ‘two’, read ‘three’ in some geographical groups. 6 N1.4(b) 7 N1.2, N1.3: for ‘two’, read ‘three’ in some geographical groups. 8 Under the EUROSAF race officials exchange programme, jury members are requested by an event and are nominated by their national


authority, on the basis that they travel on their own bottoms or have their travel costs met by their national authority. 9 Another reason sometimes given against international juries of three is that it might reduce the opportunity to bring in members who are not


(yet) international judges in order to gain suitable experience. That is true, but smaller juries might reduce the need for new officials, and should the competitors expect their entry fees to subsidise the training of race officials?


RYA The Racing Rules Explained 229


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