Page 91 - Case Book 2017 - 2020 April 18

committee to comply with rule 29.1 does not excuse any and hail were prompt, and when the protestee does not,
boat that knows she was OCS from returning and when asked, dispute this, the objective of the rule has
starting, but where, as here, it is clear that the boat had been achieved, and there is no need to investigate
no reason to suppose that she was OCS, then she is further. When the protest form is ambiguous or silent,
entitled to redress. Since she was however OCS, WS or when the protestee objects on this point, the protest
case 31 says that any place awarded should not put her committee must investigate.
in a better position than if she had returned after a recall
signal had been properly and promptly made. QUESTION 4
What should a protestor do when he wishes to protest,
Request for Redress by Bobsleigh, Falmouth Town Regatta but is already displaying his own protest flag in respect
of a previous incident?
RYA 1999/1
Rule 61.1(a), Protest Requirements: Informing the ANSWER 4
Protestee It will be sufficient to hail, a second flag is not required
Questions from the Bristol Corinthian YC
A protest flag must be kept close at hand. A boat that
waits to see whether another boat will take a penalty
before displaying a protest flag has not acted at the first RYA 1999/2
Rule 60.1, Right to Protest; Right to Request Redress or
reasonable opportunity. A protest committee need not
investigate the promptness of the display of a protest Rule 69 Action
Rule 60.2, Right to Protest; Right to Request Redress or
flag when no question of delay arises in the written
protest, and when the protestee, when asked, makes no Rule 69 Action
Rule 62.1(b), Redress
objection. When a boat that is already displaying a
protest flag wishes to protest again, only a hail is After an incident, a boat may both protest another boat
required. and request redress: the use of ‘or’ in rule 60.1 does not
preclude both options being used together. A race
QUESTION 1 committee cannot be compelled to exercise its right to
When the rules require a boat to display a protest flag in
order for a protest to be valid, should the protest protest.
committee expect a competitor to have the protest flag SUMMARY OF THE FACTS
ready to use, or is it reasonable in a larger boat to keep Waverider protested a number of boats at the start of a
it below or in a locker, and fetch it when needed? race for failing to obey a sailing instruction that
required them to keep clear of the line while others were
If not, how many seconds does a boat have before the starting. She also asked for redress because the race
first reasonable opportunity may be said to have passed?
committee had not protested these boats. The protest
ANSWER 1 committee dismissed the protest as invalid on the
A protest committee should expect a competitor to have a grounds that the protestor had failed to notify the
protest flag close at hand. Where it is kept is not protestees as required by rule 61.1(a).
important, but if its location delays its display
significantly, as it is likely to do if kept below, and there It also dismissed the request for redress, finding it
invalid firstly because it was received outside the time
was some other more quickly accessible place where it
could have been kept, then it will not have been displayed limit and secondly because its interpretation of rule
60.1(a) was that a boat could either protest or request
at the first reasonable opportunity. No particular time for
displaying the protest flag can be specified. The longer redress, but not both: as a protest had been lodged the
request was not valid.
the time between the incident and the display of the
protest flag, the more closely the protest committee Waverider appealed.
should examine the circumstances to see if the first
reasonable opportunity had clearly passed. DECISION
Waverider’s appeal is dismissed.
QUESTION 2
Has a protestor acted at the first reasonable opportunity The protest was correctly dismissed as invalid because
when: the protestor has hailed immediately, and has it did not meet the requirements in rule 61.1(a) for
then waited to see whether the other boat takes a two- informing the other boats.
turns penalty before displaying a protest flag? The request for redress, had it not been late, would also
have failed. It alleged that the race committee was
ANSWER 2
No. required to protest the listed boats, but the word ‘may’
in rule 60.2 means that a race committee has discretion
QUESTION 3 whether to protest a boat or not, and cannot be
Should a protest committee investigate the promptness compelled to do so.
of the hail and (when applicable) the flag in all cases, or
only when the protestee makes an objection? However, the protest committee was incorrect in
deciding that a boat cannot both protest and ask for
ANSWER 3 redress for the same incident. For instance, it is not
The purpose of the flag and hail is to do as much as is unusual after a collision for a boat to protest the other
practical afloat to make the protestee aware of a boat under a rule of Part 2 and, when there has been
potential protest. If the protest form claims that the flag damage, ask for redress under rule 62.1(b).

91