Page 45 - Case Book 2017 - 2020 April 18

Section C – Misconduct RYA 2005/7
The hearing of requests for redress and rule 69 actions
Rule 69, Misconduct may unavoidably have to take place after the end of an
event, but the time limit for lodging a protest should not
CASE 138 normally be extended beyond then.
Generally, an action by a competitor that directly
affects the fairness of the competition or failing to take Section D – Appeals
an appropriate penalty when the competitor is aware
of breaking a rule, should be considered under rule 2. Rule 70.1, Appeals and Requests to a
Any action, including a serious breach of rule 2 or any
other rule, that the committee considers may be an act National Authority
of misconduct should be considered under rule 69. CASE 55
A boat cannot protest the race committee. However, she
Rule 69.1(a), Misconduct: Obligation not may request redress or, if she is a party to a hearing,
to Commit Misconduct; Resolution request that it be reopened. A boat that was not a party
to a hearing does not have the right to appeal. When
CASE 78 she believes that her score has been made significantly
In a fleet race either for one-design boats or for boats worse by an improper action or omission of the race
racing under a handicap or rating system, a boat may committee, her only remedy is to request redress. She
use tactics that clearly interfere with and hinder may then appeal the decision of the redress hearing.
another boat’s progress in the race, provided that, if
she is protested under rule 2 for doing so, the protest CASE 104
committee finds that there was a reasonable chance of Attempting to distinguish between facts and conclusions
her tactics benefiting her final ranking in the event. in a protest committee's findings is sometimes
However, she breaks rule 2, and possibly rule 69.1(a), if unsatisfactory because findings may be based partially
while using those tactics she intentionally breaks a rule. on fact and partially on a conclusion. A national
authority can change a protest committee’s decision
Rule 69.2, Misconduct: Action by a Protest and any other findings that involve reasoning or
judgment, but not its findings of fact. A national
Committee
authority may derive additional facts by logical
CASE 34 deduction. Neither written facts nor diagrammed facts
Hindering another boat may be a breach of rule 2 and take precedence over the other. Protest committees must
the basis for granting redress and for action under rule resolve conflicts between facts when so required by a
69.2. national authority.

CASE 65 CASE 143
When a boat knows that she has broken the Black Flag When the organizing authority for a race is not an
rule, she is obliged to retire promptly. When she does organization specified in rule 89.1, a party to a
not do so and then deliberately hinders another boat in hearing does not have access to the appeal process.
the race, she commits a gross breach of sportsmanship
and of rule 2, and her helmsman commits an act of RYA 1974/1
misconduct. A boat that was not a party to a hearing does not have a
CASE 67 right to appeal the decision of that hearing.
When a boat is racing and meets a vessel that is not, RYA 1981/5
both are bound by the government right-of-way rules. A boat that waives an opportunity to object to the
When, under those rules, the boat racing is required to validity of the protest against her cannot later introduce
keep clear but intentionally hits the other boat, she that objection as the grounds for her appeal.
commits an actof misconduct.
RYA 1981/14
CASE 122 When a protest committee disqualifies a boat that is not
An interpretation of the term ‘comfortable satisfaction’ a party to a hearing that boat has a right of appeal
and an example of its use.. having been denied a hearing.
CASE 139 RYA 1995/3
Examples illustrating when it would be ‘appropriate’ A boat whose score or place in a race or series may
under rule 69.2(j)(3) to report a rule 69 incident to a have been made significantly worse as a result of
national authority or World Sailing. redress sought by and given to other boats is not a party
to the hearing, and so does not have the right to appeal
RYA 1986/6 against the decision: her remedy is first to seek redress
When a boat abandons her attempt to sail the course, herself.
she may be deemed to have retired and, if she then
manoeuvres against, and interferes with, another boat RYA 2012/3
that is racing, she will be penalized and the helmsman An RYA Arbitration hearing is not a protest committee
may be liable to disciplinary action. hearing but an agreed arrangement between the parties

45