Rule 60, Right to Protest; Right to Request
Redress or Rule 69 Action
Rule 61.2, Protest Requirements:Protest Contents
Rule 62(a), Redress
Rule A5, Scores Determined by the Race Committee
A hearing of a protest or a request for redress must be limited to the alleged incident, action or omission. Although a boat may be scored DNF if she does not finish according to that term’s definition, she may not be scored DNF for failing to sail the course correctly.
Summary of the Facts
When boat A crossed the finishing line in the direction of the course from the
last mark, the race committee scored her DNF because it believed from its observations
that she had not left one of the rounding marks on the required side and, therefore,
had failed to sail the course correctly. A requested redress on the grounds
that, even though she had finished properly, she was not given a finishing place.
The protest committee did not give A redress, deciding that rule 62.1(a) did
not apply because A failed to sail the course correctly, and that her failure
to do so was not due to an act or omission of the race committee but was entirely
her own fault. A appealed.
Decision
A’s appeal is upheld. The race committee acted improperly in scoring A
DNF when she did finish according to the definition Finish. The race committee
could have scored boat A as DNF only for failing to finish correctly (see rule
A5). Since A crossed the finishing line from the direction of the last mark,
she should have been recorded as having finished.
A fundamental principle of protest committee procedure is that a hearing must
be limited to the particular ‘incident’ alleged in a protest (see
rule 61.2(b)) or to the particular incident alleged to be ‘an improper
action or omission’ in a request for redress under rule 62.1(a). Although
the incident that was the subject of A’s request for redress was that
she had been incorrectly scored DNF, the protest committee turned to a different
incident when it considered whether or not she had failed to sail the course
correctly and therefore broken rule 28.1. Since that incident was not the incident
alleged in the redress for request, the committee acted improperly. If a race
committee believes from its observations that a boat has not sailed the course
correctly, it may protest the boat for that breach as permitted by rule 60.2(a).
In this case, the race committee did not protest A. Because A had not been protested
for failing to sail the course correctly, she could not be penalized for that
failure.
In summary, the facts show that A finished according to the definition Finish.
She should not have been scored DNF and was therefore entitled to redress under
rule 62.1(a) for an improper action of the race committee. The decision of the
protest committee is reversed and A is to be scored as having finished at the
time she crossed the finishing line.
USSA 1993/289