Page 41 - Judge Manual 2017

• indicating if they believe that an infringing boat has gained an
advantage despite taking a penalty

F4.6 Umpire positioning.
Umpires, accompanied by their observers, follow a pre-ordained plan as they
follow boats round the course. Umpires must remain within the control area
which limits the movements of competitors. This ensures that umpire
decisions are taken from the same view point as that of the competitors
handling the boats.

Umpires have developed, and continue to develop, a framework for umpiring
positioning which allows for:

• each umpire to follow a manageable group of boats;
• good coverage of key moments in the race;

• reducing the movement of umpires. (This is important when the control
area may be 150 meters long and umpires need to run to keep up with
boats, especially on the downwind legs).

The framework combines following groups of boats with observing specific
zones. For instance, all 4 umpires cover the start, each umpire takes a small
group boats around the windward mark and down the first run. Two umpires
then handle the passage through the gate whilst the other two follow the last
boats down the run as they cross through the leaders on the beat.
The framework has been described in a document that is available to
competitors so that they can more easily follow umpires when appointed as
observers.
Appendix F.1 shows Radio Controlled Umpiring Positioning Framework

F4.7 Unresolved incidents

Incidents that are not resolved immediately will be dealt with after the heat.
As an alternative to the standard protest procedure, which includes a 10-
minute protest time limit, judges have developed an accelerated protest
procedure which does not require the protestor to lodge a written protest.
Instead, having hailed protest after the incident, the protestor informs an
umpire of his intention to protest to an umpire immediately after finishing. The
umpire notes the essential details and hails all other parties to the protest. All
competitors involved then recover their boats and report to the Jury Desk.
The judges that are assigned to protests then apply pre- hearing procedures,
and open a protest hearing if necessary. In many cases, a competitor will
retire rather than choose to proceed to a hearing.

F.4.8 Summary

Umpired racing under IRSA Addendum Q works extremely well, with judges
making on-the-water decisions on protests involving the rules of Part 2 and
rules 31 and 42. At the same time, the system maintains the competitors’ right
to protest and to have a hearing for alleged breaches of all other rules.