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APPENDIX R – PROCEDURES RACE SIGNALS
FOR APPEALS AND REQUESTS RYA 1982/7
A signal comprises both a flag (or object of similar
Rule R2.1.1 [as prescribed by the RYA], appearance) and a sound signal, unless rule 26 applies.
SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS Unless the sailing instructions state otherwise, sound
signals without visual signals have no particular
RYA 2012/2 significance under the rules.
The time limit for notifying an appeal runs from When oral instructions are not provided for in sailing
receipt of the written decision of the protest committee.
instructions, instructions so given may be ignored.
Rule R5, Inadequate Facts; Reopening RYA 1996/4
A sound signal made when a boat crosses a finishing
CASE 104 line is only a courtesy. It has no bearing on the race. A
Attempting to distinguish between facts and conclusions race committee cannot shorten course without the
in a protest committee's findings is sometimes appropriate signal.
unsatisfactory because findings may be based partially
on fact and partially on a conclusion. A national RYA 2004/1
authority can change a protest committee’s decision No statement made at a briefing by a race officer can
and any other findings that involve reasoning or change or add to a rule, which includes the sailing
judgment, but not its findings of fact. A national instructions and the meaning of a race signal in the
authority may derive additional facts by logical Racing Rules of Sailing.
deduction. Neither written facts nor diagrammed facts
take precedence over the other. Protest committees must Race Signals, Flag X
resolve conflicts between facts when so required by a CASE 31
national authority.
When the correct visual recall signal for individual
RYA 2003/3 recall is made but the required sound signal is not, and
In an appeal, the national authority must accept the when a recalled boat in a position to hear a sound
facts found by the protest committee, but need not signal does not see the visual signal and does not
accept the conclusions of the protest committee based return, she is entitled to redress. However, if she
on those facts. realizes she is on the course side of the line she must
return and start correctly.
RYA 1977/1

CASE 109
A hail does not constitute the sound signal of an The IRPCAS or government right-of-way rules apply
individual recall signal. It is reasonable to expect the between boats that are racing only if the sailing
recall sound signal to be equally as audible as the instructions say so, and in that case all of the Part 2 rules
starting sound signal.
are replaced. An IRPCAS or government rule may be
RYA 2014/2 made to apply by including it in the sailing instructions
When the race committee intends an individual recall or in another document governing the event.
but, while displaying flag X, makes two sound signals in
addition to the starting sound signal, this is an RYA 2002/14
Sailing instructions cannot vary the obligations in the
improper action. However, a boat that ceases racing International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.
before she can see which recall flag, if any, is displayed
may be at fault and hence not entitled to redress. RYA 2004/2
When a boat that is racing meets a large powered vessel
A race committee signal comprises both the flag and the in a fairway or narrow channel, she is to presume and
sound.
act on the basis that the vessel can safely navigate only
INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS within the channel, and therefore has right of way.
FOR PREVENTING COLLISIONS RYA Arbitration
AT SEA
RYA 2012/3
CASE 38 An RYA Arbitration hearing is not a protest committee
The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions hearing but an agreed arrangement between the parties
at Sea (IRPCAS) are intended to ensure the safety of and the arbitrator. Only full protest hearing decisions
vessels at sea by precluding situations that might lead to or procedures may be appealed.
collisions. When the IRPCAS right-of-way rules replace
the rules of Part 2, they effectively prohibit a right-of-way
boat from changing course towards the boat obligated to
keep clear when she is close to that boat.

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