Page 103 - Misconduct a Reference for Race Officials

c) Unplaced and Penalty Points

There are a number of circumstances (see rule A11) in which a boat’s score in a race is not
her place or redress score:

SCP: Use of the Scoring Penalty must be specified in the event sailing instructions for it to
be available. Where available, the penalty is to make a boat’s finishing place points worse
(i.e. more) by the number of places stated in the sailing instructions, but when no number is
stated it is 20% of the score for Did Not Finish rounded to the nearest whole number (0.5
rounded upwards) but cannot be worse than the score for DNF. Scores of other boats are
not changed.

DNC: A boat that is entered in the series but does not come to the starting area for a race, is
scored one more than the number of boats entered in the series. This score can be difficult
to determine when the series is “longer than a regatta” (rule A9) and boats may enter during
the series (see below).

DNS, OCS, DNF, UFD and BFD: These are statements of judgements by the race
committee and may arise from a variety of reasons, including boats not finishing within the
time limit if one is stated in the sailing instructions. RET is a notification to the race
committee by a boat that she has retired from the race and may be made during the race or
after finishing.

These are all scored one more than the number of boats entered in the series (rule A4.2),
except when it is “a series longer than a regatta” (rule A9) when the score is one more than
the number of boats that came to the starting area.

ZFP: Also a judgement by the race committee. The penalty is a scoring penalty as described
above. It is 20% of the score for DNF unless the sailing instructions state another
percentage (and it is not a rule change to do so). More than one ZFP can be incurred by a
boat in one race (where there is one or more restarts), but the boat’s race score cannot be
made worse than the score for DNF.

DSQ and DNE: These decisions, together with RDG and DPI, can only be made by the
protest committee (rule A5). These disqualifications are both scored one more than the
number of entries in the series and the difference is that a DNE score cannot be excluded in
calculating the series score.

DPI: A discretionary penalty score will be whatever is specified by the protest committee –
see RYA guidance on discretionary penalties at www.rya.org.uk/go/RRSguidance and in this
book.

The availability of discretionary penalties first appeared in the rule book in 2013 in rule 41
and then in 2017 in rule 55. However, also from 1.1.2017, a rule (including those in the
notice of race and sailing instructions) may be annotated ‘DP’ so that a breach of that rule
may, at the discretion of the protest committee, be less than disqualification.

Race Scores in a Series Longer than a Regatta

This is the title of rule A9. Unfortunately the length of a regatta is not defined. The rule is
understood to be applicable to any series longer than an event or series sailed on one or
more consecutive days (which may include a spare day(s) on which racing is not scheduled)
and lasting no longer than a week or so (e.g. a weekend open meeting, a 5-day or 7-day
championship, Cowes Week, etc.).

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