Rule 32.1(d), Shortening or Abandoning After
the Start
Rule 62.1(a), Redress
Each race of a regatta is a separate race; in a multi-class regatta, abandonment may be suitable for some classes, but not for all.
Summary of the Facts
In the third race of a regatta involving about 120 boats and 15 offshore classes,
all classes sailed the same course on which a reaching mark was found to have
moved almost a mile out of position. Various boats in several classes sought
redress because of it. The mark moved out of position over an hour before any
of the boats in the last two classes reached it. None of the boats in those
two classes requested redress. The protest committee, however, abandoned the
races for all classes. The boats in the last two classes then asked for redress,
claiming that the abandonment of their races was improper. Redress was denied.
They appealed.
Decision
The protest committee failed to distinguish between different procedures under
which a race may be abandoned. The race committee could have abandoned the race
under rule 32.1(d) because the mark was out of position. It did not do so, however,
and appeared to have been satisfied to let the several races stand.
When several classes are racing at the same time, each class is competing in
a separate race. If the protest committee had taken up the question on a class-by-class,
race-by-race basis, it would have found that there was no requirement or need
to abandon the race for the last two classes. There may have been sufficient
reason to abandon the races of some classes, but the protest committee erred
when it abandoned the races for the classes in which no redress was requested.
Its decision to do so was an ‘improper action’ within the meaning
of rule 62.1(a). The appeals are upheld, and all of the boats in the races of
the two classes in question are reinstated in their finishing places.
USSA 1977/200