Page 88 - Misconduct a Reference for Race Officials

● In cases of doubt it may be preferable to proceed with a smaller protest committee.
Except for hearings under rule 69, there is no minimum number of protest committee
members required.

● When a request for redress is made under rule 62.1(a) and is based on an improper
action or omission of a body other than the protest committee, a member of that body
should not be a member of the protest committee.

M3 THE HEARING
Complete the protest committee’s side of the protest form as the hearing proceeds,
using it as a procedural aide-memoire.
Recoding in Hearings
In some situations, it may be beneficial to make an audio and/or video recording or
transmission of a haring; for example: for the purpose of training race officials or
athletes, to assist in keeping track of the evidence given in a complex case, etc.
Recording should only be permitted under the following conditions:
 The purpose of the recording should be declared and all persons in the hearing
must give permission before recording begins. Permission can be withdrawn at any
time; recording must be stopped immediately if any person involved so requests.
When children are involved, permission must be obtained from the responsible
adult. The protest committee chairman should confirm that permission has been
given in the protest documentation.
 All persons recorded are entitled to an un-edited copy of the recording; if this is not
possible, permission should be refused. The cost of providing copies should
normally be borne by the person requesting the recording. If a person recorded
does not consent to his data being shared, it must be redacted from the copy.
 No recording of protest committee deliberations should be permitted.
 No recording, or transcript, should be transmitted or published in any form, including
social media, without the permission of all persons recorded.
Making a recording of a hearing that does not comply with these conditions is an act of
bad manners.

M3.1 Check the validity of the protest or request for redress.

 Are the contents adequate (rule 61.2 or 62)?

For a protest, only a brief description of ‘the incident’ and the identity of the protesting
and protested boats are required before the hearing.

All the other information can be provided during the hearing.
If “where and when the incident occurred” is provided during the hearing, the protested
boat must be given reasonable time to prepare before the hearing continues.

The 'when' may be an explicit time, or a moment whose time can be deduced, such as
'race 3, first beat'.

For a request for redress, wording that ‘identifies the reason’ for possible redress is
sufficient.

If the protestor has misidentified the protested boat, the protest remains valid, but it
must be dismissed. Such an error will not normally be a ‘good reason’ to extend the
time limit for a new protest against the correct boat.

December 2017 86