PART 6


When a valid measurement certificate has been presented in good faith, and the race or series has been completed, WS 57 says that the final results must stand, even though at a later date the certificate is withdrawn for defects or errors that must have been present during the event. RYA 2005/7 says that the protection of WS 57 does not extend to someone who knows, or should know, that a boat does not comply with her class rules. In WS 57, the error was made by the rating authority in translating measurements into a handicap. In RYA 2005/7, boats sailed by sailmakers used a sailcloth not permitted by class rules, as they must have known. WS 57 itself says that its principle applies only when an owner has complied with rule 78.1, which was clearly not the case in RYA 2005/7.


A former Q&A considered a situation where a rating authority makes a different provision, for instance permitting the retrospective rescoring of an event upon a change in a boat’s rating when she did not conform to her certificate during that event. Since cases interpret the racing rules, WS 57 does not apply to this different situation. However, if the matter comes before a protest committee for a later event, it is not empowered to rescore the earlier event to which it was not appointed.


Paper certificates often do not exist in the electronic age. Instead, rule 78.2 now allows for the electronic verification of their existence and contents. When, at the end of an event, if a boat has broken rule 78.2 by not producing a required certificate or arranging for its existence to be verified, WS 131 confirms the race committee is required to score her ‘DSQ’ for all races of the event – no hearing is needed, and the race committee has no choice in the matter.


Unless the notice of race requires the production of a measurement or rating certificate at entry (as possibly extended by rule 78.2), it may be that boats do not have valid certificates when racing in class races, but it is not the duty of the race committee to be officious. In WS 39, a boat, whose own protest against another for sailing three-up in a boat restricted to two in the class rules, appealed on the grounds that the race committee ought, on its own initiative, to have protested that boat. The appeal was dismissed. ‘To uphold this appeal would amount to a conclusion that a race committee ought to know the class rules of each class, and that it then has an obligation to enforce them when members of the class fail to do so. No such obligation is placed on a race committee. Furthermore, rule 60.2(a) is clearly discretionary. As stated in Sportsmanship and the Rules, ‘Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce.’ The primary responsibility for enforcing the rules therefore rests with the competitors.’ The case does not concern rule 78 directly, since no issue of construction or certification arises, but the principle must hold good for all class rules.


Ultimately, the policing of class rules will depend on the nature of an event. A class championship is likely to impose strict inspection requirements, and confine competition to class members. A club, in its normal programme, is more concerned with getting as many boats on the water as possible, and clubs tend to put class rule issues in the ‘too difficult’ box.


Rule 79 CLASSIFICATION


If the notice of race or class rules state that some or all competitors must satisfy classification requirements, the classification shall be carried out as described in World Sailing Regulation 22, Sailor Classification Code.


Many events such as Cork Week, the Commodores’ Cup and the Tour de France à la Voile want to give the amateurs a fighting chance against the professionals, and use the World Sailing Sailor Classification code to limit the number or the functions on board of people who are paid to sail, or whose job in a marine industry gives them an additional insight into what makes boats go faster. A facility on the World Sailing website allows all competitors to get a classification and to seek a review of that classification. The Code then provides a procedure for vetting crew composition and for protesting. It is the only method allowed for competitor classification as concerns work and skills. It is unrelated to the ability of organizing authorities to restrict entry by reference to age, sex, nationality or previous success in competitions on their own judgement, and those criteria may apply simultaneously with the World Sailing Sailing Classification Code in the same event.


234 RYA The Racing Rules Explained


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