Page 96 - Judge Manual 2017

K.25 Protests by the Race Committee or Technical Committee
A protest initiated by the race committee under rule 60.2 or the technical
committee under rule 60.4 has certain validity requirements which the protest
committee must ensure are met before proceeding with the hearing. The protest
committee must satisfy itself that neither of the exceptions in 60.2(a) nor 60.4(a)
applies. If either does, the protest is invalid. Rule 61.1(b) requires the protestee
to be informed. Rule 61.2, Protest Contents, also applies to protests by the race
committee or technical committee.
When the race committee or the technical committee protests a boat and no
protest committee has been appointed, the organizing authority or the race
committee shall appoint a protest committee to hear the protest.
A representative of the race committee or the technical committee acts in the
same way as a protesting boat would do in a normal boat-to-boat protest. The
race officer or the representative from technical committee gives evidence, is
given the opportunity to ask questions, answers questions, calls witnesses, and
leaves the room while the protest committee makes its decision.

K.26 Protests Concerning Class Rules
Protests concerning class rules can be initiated by a boat under rule 60.1, by
the race committee under rule 60.2, by the protest committee under rule 60.3,
or by the technical committee under rule 60.4. The rules do not give the Class
Association, National Authority or an independent measurer the right to protest.
Note that beginning in 2017, an event measurer or equipment inspector is
defined as the technical committee.

Most measurement problems are found during pre-regatta inspection and are
worked out between the technical committee and the person responsible for the
boat. However, the protest committee is sometimes asked to settle a dispute
over an interpretation of a class rule before the start of racing. Otherwise, class
rule protests usually arise from a protest by the technical committee based on
a post-race equipment inspection.

In almost all cases the protest committee is able to decide the protest using the
process outlined in rule 64.3. Evidence concerning the accuracy of the
measurement and the interpretation of the rule is presented by the competitor
and the event technical committee. The World Sailing Equipment Rules of
Sailing should resolve questions about measurement procedures.
After listening to all of the available evidence, if the protest committee decides
there is no reasonable doubt about the interpretation of the measurement rule,
then it must decide the case. If the protest committee is still in doubt about the
interpretation of a class rule, then rule 64.3(b) requires that the protest
committee refer the questions, and relevant facts to an authority responsible for
interpreting the rule. This authority will usually be the class association’s
technical committee, World Sailing, or a national authority. This authority is not
the event technical committee, even a technical committee is also the chairman
of the class technical committee. Once the protest committee refers the
question, it is bound by the measurement authority’s reply.