Page 31 - Case Book 2017 - 2020 April 18

for the place in which she finished. She can only be When they do not say so, that line cannot be used to
penalized for breaking rule 28.2 or rule 31 if she is shorten course unless the sailing instructions change
protested and the protest committee decides that she rule 32.2.
broke the rule.
RYA 1996/4
Rule 32.1, Shortening or Abandoning A sound signal made when a boat crosses a finishing
line is only a courtesy. It has no bearing on the race. A
After the Start race committee cannot shorten course without the
CASE 28 appropriate signal.
When one boat breaks a rule and, as a result, causes RYA 2001/6
another to touch a mark, the other boat is to be When a course is shortened, the finishing line is at the
exonerated. The fact that a starting mark has moved, for line or to the mark that is nearest to the finishing vessel.
whatever reason, does not relieve a boat of her If the shorten-course signal is made when boats still
obligation to start. A race committee may abandon have to round other marks before they would reach the
under rule 32.1(c) only when the change in the mark’s new finishing line, they shall sail so as to leave those
position has directly affected the safety or fairness of marks on the required side and in the correct order,
the competition. unless the sailing instructions make some other
CASE 37 provision.
Each race of a regatta is a separate race. In a multi- RYA 2008/8
class regatta, abandonment may be suitable for some Unless the sailing instructions validly change rule 32.2,
classes, but not for all. flag S with two sounds must be used to shorten course,
and a race cannot be shortened to the course’s
RYA 1982/17
‘Insufficient wind’ does not constitute grounds for designated finishing line or any other line unless it
abandoning a race when sailing instructions prescribe complies with (a), (b) or (c) of rule 32.2.
no time limit.
Rule 34, Mark Missing
RYA 1988/4
When boats are entitled to redress, and the nature of the RYA 2002/10
appropriate redress is clear, a protest committee cannot When a race committee learns before a race that a fixed
instead abandon the race, citing an error made by the mark is out of place, it must advise competitors. If it
race officer earlier in the race about which no boat has learns of this during a race, it must, if possible, act
requested redress and the race committee has taken no under rule 34. If it could do either, but does not, this
action. can give rise to the possibility of redress, which is not to
be refused to a boat affected and without fault because
RYA 1999/8 of a clause in the sailing instructions denying liability
When the wind falls light in a race that cannot be
shortened, it is not proper for the race committee to for the accuracy of the position given for the mark.
However, a boat that relies solely on GPS for
abandon until it is unlikely that any boat will finish
within the time limit. The possibility of a revival of the navigation is not without fault if she herself could have
earlier detected the error visually.
wind must be taken into account.
A race committee is not under a duty to check the
Rule 32.2, Shortening or Abandoning positions it receives for all the fixed marks it may use.
After the Start
Rule 35, Time Limit and Scores
CASE 129
When the course is shortened at a rounding mark, the RYA 1998/2
mark becomes a finishing mark. Rule 32.2(a) permits When it is intended that no boat finishing outside a time
the race committee to position the vessel displaying flag limit shall have a finishing place, this requires a change
S at either end of the finishing line. A boat must cross to rule 35. To be valid, the sailing instruction concerned
the line in accordance with the definition Finish, even if must refer to the rule and state the change.
in so doing she leaves that mark on the side opposite the
side on which she would have been required to leave it Rule 36, Races Restarted or Resailed
if the course had not been shortened. CASE 19
RYA 1969/1 Interpretation of the term ‘damage’.
Unless the sailing instructions state otherwise, when
courses are shortened using flag S, the finishing line CASE 141
must be between the committee boat and a mark, or at a Interpretation of the term ‘serious’ in the phrase
line or a gate. ‘serious damage’.

RYA 1974/1 RYA 1993/5
When a race committee intends boats to cross the line While rule 36 may remove the possibility of a boat
used for starting or finishing in order to complete a being penalized because the race was recalled, a boat is
round of the course, the sailing instructions must say so. entitled to have her protest heard. If it is found as a fact
in the protest that the other boat broke a rule of Part 2,

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