Page 44 - Judge Manual 2017

G.3 Deciding on the Extent of the Responsibilities of the
International Jury

RRS N2 lists the responsibilities of the International Jury. RRS N2.2 and N2.3
list the additional responsibilities that may be given to the International Jury, as
required by the organizing authority.

An international jury is independent of the race committee, and has no
members from the race committee. It does not oversee or direct the race
committee. A prudent protest committee can suggest improvements and ideas
about courses and other race committee matters to the principal race officer. If
the decisions of the race committee then come into question in a redress
hearing, the protest committee will be able to make an impartial judgement,
since they were not involved in those decisions.

G.4 Reviewing the Draft Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions

The Notice of Race is, in effect, an agreement or contract between the
organizers of the event and the competitors. The organizers set out the
conditions under which they are prepared to run the event and competitors use
the information to decide whether they will invest the time, effort, and money to
attend.

It is therefore important that the Notice of Race contains the information
necessary to enable a competitor to decide whether or not to compete in the
event. Competitors need information on variations from the racing rules,
advertising, eligibility, (crew weight restrictions, nationality, measurement or
rating certificates, etc.), type of courses, alternative penalties, scoring, and
prizes, together with the other requirements of RRS J1. A wise judge will use
Appendix J and the Notice of Race Guide of Appendix K to review the Notice
of Race and ensure that all the required information is covered, and that the
standard wording is used for consistency and to prevent future problems.

However, even after a thorough effort, changes to the Notice of Race may be
necessary (e.g. harbor blocked by a vessel or available radio frequencies
changed by government authority). In most cases competitors will understand
and accept the change; but changes must be kept to a minimum. For example,
someone who ships his boat from Australia to Europe has a right to complain,
and perhaps a right to compensation, on finding that the terms of the contract
have been altered to such an extent that he would not have come had he
known.

Check the Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions for any differences or
omissions of the requirements of Appendices J, K, and L. Appendix K advises
that care should be taken to ensure that there is no conflict between a rule in
the notice of race and a rule in the sailing instructions. If there is conflict
between the Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions rules in the notice of