Page 54 - Judge Manual 2017

When going afloat, Judges should have, at a minimum; wet notes, a tape or
digital voice recorder, sailing instructions, class rules relevant to rule 42, and

the Interpretations of rule 42.

I.5 Rule 42

Rule 42 includes basic rule 42.1, prohibited actions in rule 42.2 and exceptions
in rule 42.3.

The Racing Rules Committee approved a series of World Sailing rule 42
Interpretations, which were reviewed and updated from time to time. These
interpretations have the same authority as World Sailing Cases and should be
read in conjunction with the Racing Rules of Sailing and the Judges Manual.
The interpretations will be updated as necessary. They are available on the
World Sailing Website at:

www.sailing.org/raceofficials/rule42/index.php

The World Sailing interpretations of these rules guide competitors on how to
sail their boats and guide Judges on how to judge rule 42 on the water.

It is also important to read the class rules for the class of boats you are judging.
Some classes have made revisions to rule 42 that will affect judging on the
water.

The goal of enforcing rule 42 compliance on-the-water is to make the
competition fair for all competitors and protect the sailors who are sailing within
the rule. A Judge must remain consistent in his or her calls. The only way to be
consistent is to be totally objective. If someone is breaking the rule you give a
penalty. It is also important that the judging team is consistent in their calls. This
requires continuing dialog among the Judges about their observations.

You can also learn more about specific techniques used by particular classes
by reading the papers on the most common breaches. The papers have been
translated to several languages and are helpful to understand the specifics of
described classes. Available on the World Sailing Website at:
www.sailing.org/raceofficials/rule42/rule42-breaches.php.

I.6 Deciding whether to penalize

Before the first race, the Judges should discuss the most common breaches
they will come across in specific classes, and when they should penalize a boat.
Discuss trends and issues they have witnessed in recent events. During
the event, the Judges should regularly review penalties given and unusual body
actions they see. Judges should avoid discussing and identifying individual
competitors. Rotation of the Judges during the event will improve consistency.

When judging rule 42 on-the-water, Judges should penalize a boat only when
they are sure they have observed a breach of rule 42 and they are able to

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