Page 12 - Misconduct a Reference for Race Officials

Decisions from an international jury cannot be appealed (rule 70.5). Furthermore, in
certain rare situations defined in rule 70.5, the right of appeal may be denied – but
this will always be stated in the notice of race and sailing instructions.

Q9. What can you appeal about?

A9. You cannot appeal directly against the facts found, since the RYA is required to
accept those facts – see rule 70.1(a). However, if the facts given are inadequate, the
RYA will take steps to obtain adequate facts – see rule R5. One type of ‘inadequate
fact’ that would lead the RYA to seek to get better facts is a fact found that appears
clearly perverse in the light of all the information in the appeal. However, many
appeals fail because they are in effect a disagreement between the views of the
appellant and the protest committee as to what happened.
You can certainly appeal against the conclusions of the protest committee. The
appeal form asks you to identify the racing rule or the sailing instruction (or other
document governing the event) that you believe the protest committee misapplied.
You can appeal against the procedures of the protest committee. Normally, an
appeal on procedural issues will succeed only when an objection to defective
procedure was made at the original hearing. It is not a way of getting an otherwise
correct protest committee decision overturned on a technicality. A denial of the right
of a party to be present throughout a hearing may result in the upholding of an
appeal.
You can appeal if you are denied a hearing of your protest or request for redress
(rule 70.1(b)).
Normally, the outcome of a successful appeal against a protest committee’s
procedures will be the granting of a new hearing by the same or a different protest
committee, from whose decision all parties will retain the right to appeal. Likewise,
the outcome of a successful appeal against denial of a hearing will usually be the
granting of a hearing.

Q10. What should a protest committee do to reduce the risk of an appeal?

A10. It is most important that protest committees do not confuse finding facts with reaching
conclusions when completing a protest form. Without a fact, there cannot be a
conclusion. Writing clear, non-judgemental facts is a vital part of protest committee
procedure, whether or not there is any prospect of an appeal or a reference. The
facts found are a statement of what happened. They should provide a clear picture of
the incident that could be readily understood when read by someone with no
knowledge of the incident or of the club – for that is the precise position of the
members of the Racing Rules Committee who will hear any resulting appeal.

Q11. What should a protest committee do when an appeal is likely?

A11. It should ask itself whether it might have made a mistake, leading to the option to
reopen the hearing and forestall the appeal process. Informal advice can be sought
from RYA Racing.

While protest committee diagrams concerning incidents on the water are not needed
in uncontested decisions, they form an important part of appeals, and a protest
committee aware that a decision may be appealed should promptly prepare a
diagram, if possible adding it to the requested written decision. Lack of such
diagrams at the outset is a major reason for delay in deciding appeals. The RYA will

December 2016 10