Page 38 - Case Book 2017 - 2020 April 18

RYA 1999/4 RYA 2016/3
A boat that believes she has been adversely affected by Setting a course within a race area that includes known
a mistake of the race committee, but which chooses not shallow area(s) is not normally an improper action of
to race or to continue racing although able to do so, is the race committee.
not without fault, since she contributes to her own
worsened score, and so is not entitled to redress. Rule 62.1(b), Redress

RYA 2002/10 CASE 19
When a race committee learns before a race that a fixed Interpretation of the term ‘damage’.
mark is out of place, it must advise competitors. If it
learns of this during a race, it must, if possible, act CASE 110
under rule 34. If it could do either, but does not, this A boat physically damaged from contact with a boat
can give rise to the possibility of redress, which is not to that was breaking a rule of Part 2 is eligible for redress
be refused to a boat affected and without fault because only if the damage itself significantly worsened her
of a clause in the sailing instructions denying liability score or place. Contact is not necessary for one boat to
for the accuracy of the position given for the mark. cause injury or physical damage to another. A
However, a boat that relies solely on GPS for worsening of a boat’s score caused by an avoiding
navigation is not without fault if she herself could have manoeuvre is not, by itself, grounds for redress. ‘Injury’
earlier detected the error visually. refers to bodily injury to a person and, in rule 62.1(b),
A race committee is not under a duty to check the ‘damage’ is limited to physical damage to a boat or her
equipment.
positions it receives for all the fixed marks it may use.
CASE 116
RYA 2004/1 A discussion of redress in a situation in which a boat is
No statement made at a briefing by a race officer can
change or add to a rule, which includes the sailing damaged early in a series, is entitled to redress under
rule 62.1(b), and is prevented by the damage from
instructions and the meaning of a race signal in the
Racing Rules of Sailing. A boat that relies on such a sailing the remaining races. In such a situation it is not
fair to the other boats in the series to award her
statement is at fault for the purposes of redress if she
chooses as a result to attribute a different meaning to a average points for half or more of the races that
comprise her series score.
race signal.
CASE 135
RYA 2006/2 If a boat breaks a rule of Part 2 by failing to keep clear,
When there is an improper action of the race committee,
a boat is entitled to redress only when she can show a the right-of-way boat, or a third boat, may be entitled to
redress if she is physically damaged, even if the damage
clear link between that action and her score. If flag X is
removed prematurely, an OCS boat that does not return is not caused directly by a collision with the boat that
was required to keep clear.
will be entitled to redress only if she can show that she
would have returned had it been displayed for longer. If CASE 142
she can satisfy the protest committee on this point, When a boat requests redress because of injury or
appropriate redress would take into account the time physical damage caused by a boat that was breaking a
she would then have taken to return and start. rule of Part 2, she need not protest the boat that caused
Reinstatement into her finishing position is unlikely to the damage or injury, but her request will not succeed
be equitable to all boats. unless evidence given during the redress hearing leads
the protest committee to conclude that the other boat
RYA 2006/5 broke a rule of Part 2.
When the sailing instructions are ambiguous, so that it
is not clear whether a mark has a required side, any RYA 1993/5
doubt is to be resolved in favour of a boat liable to
penalization. While rule 36 may remove the possibility of a boat
being penalized because the race was recalled, a boat is
entitled to have her protest heard. If it is found as a fact
RYA 2006/8 in the protest that the other boat broke a rule of Part 2,
Unless otherwise specified in the sailing instructions, a
race committee has no power to disqualify a boat the protest committee may go on to consider whether
redress under rule 62.1(b) is applicable.
without a hearing, or score her DNF if she finishes, if it
believes she has not sailed the course. Instead it must RYA 1996/8
protest her within the protest time limit. A boat wrongly A boat that is seeking redress for having been
disqualified without a hearing or incorrectly scored physically damaged by a boat required to keep clear in
DNF is entitled to be reinstated into her finishing an incident before she is racing is advised to protest as
position. well as to ask for redress.
RYA 2008/2 RYA 1999/2
The simultaneous display of more than one valid course After an incident, a boat may both protest another boat
for a class is an improper action of the race committee, and request redress: the use of ‘or’ in rule 60.1 does not
which may entitle boats to redress, with any doubt being preclude both options being used together. A race
resolved in favour of the competitor. committee cannot be compelled to exercise its right to
protest.
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