Rule 29.1, Individual Recall
When a boat has no reason to know that she crossed the starting line early
and the race committee fails to promptly signal ‘Individual recall’ and scores
her OCS, this is an error that significantly worsens the boat’s score through
no fault of her own, and therefore entitles her to redress.
Assumed Facts
At the start of a race for one-design boats, ten boats near the middle of the
starting line were slightly across the line at their starting signal. The race
committee signalled ‘Individual recall’ by displaying flag X with
one gun. However, these signals were made approximately 40 seconds after the
starting signal. None of the boats returned to start, and several of them lodged
requests for redress upon learning after the race that they had been scored
OCS.
Question 1
In rule 29.1, what does 'promptly display' mean?
Answer 1
No specific amount of time will apply in all circumstances, but in this rule
it means a very short time. A race committee should signal ‘Individual
recall’ within a very few seconds of the starting signal. Forty seconds
is well beyond the limits of acceptability.
Question 2
Is it reasonable for a boat to request redress because of a less-than-prompt
individual recall signal, even when she did not return to start?
Answer 2
Yes.
Question 3
Why should a boat be given redress because of the committee’s failure
to signal promptly, when the rules say that failure to notify a boat that she
is on the course side of the starting line at her starting signal does not relieve
her of her obligation to start correctly?
Answer 3
The rules do not say this. Rule 29.1 obligates the committee to signal all boats
that one or more of them are on the course side of the starting line at the
starting signal. Rule 28.1 and, if it applies, rule 30.1 obligate each boat
to return to the pre-start side of the line and then start, but this assumes
that the signals, both visual and sound, have been made. When a signal is not
made or, as in this case, when the signal is much too late, it places a boat
that does not realize that she was slightly over the line at the starting signal
at a significant disadvantage because she can not use the information the signal
provides, in combination with her observations of her position relative to other
boats at the time the signal is made, to decide whether or not to return to
the pre-start side of the line.
Question 4
How can a boat that fails to start properly be entitled to redress when rule
62.1 requires that her score be made significantly worse ‘through no fault
of her own’?
Answer 4
A boat that has no reason to believe that she was on the course side of the
line at her starting signal has the right to assume that she started correctly
unless properly signalled to the contrary. As Answer 3 indicates, a boat can
be significantly disadvantaged by a delay by the race committee in making the
recall signal. That error is entirely the race committee’s fault, and
not that of the disadvantaged boat. (See Case 31 for a discussion of appropriate
redress in a similar situation.)
USSA 1992/285