ABSTRACTS BY RULE NUMBER 25-36  

PART 3 – CONDUCT OF A RACE
Rule 26, Starting Races

CASE 31
When the correct visual recall signal for individual recall is made but the required sound signal is not, and when a recalled boat in a position to hear a sound signal does not see the visual signal and does not return, she is entitled to redress. However, if she realizes she is over the line she must return and start correctly.

Rule 28.1, Sailing the Course

CASE 28
When one boat breaks a rule and, as a result, causes another to touch a mark, the other boat is to be exonerated. The fact that a starting mark has moved, for whatever reason, does not relieve a boat of her obligation to start. A race committee may abandon under rule 32.1(d) only when the change in the mark’s position has directly affected the safety or fairness of the competition.
CASE 90
When a boat’s string passes a mark on the required side, she does not break rule 28.1 if her string, when drawn taut, also passes that mark on the non- required side.
CASE 106
When a boat’s ‘string’ lies on the required sides of finishing marks or gate marks, it is not relevant that the string representing her track, when drawn taut, also passes one of those marks on the non-required side.
CASE 108
When taking a penalty after touching a mark, a boat need not complete a full 360°turn, and she may take her penalty while simultaneously rounding the mark. Her turn to round the mark will serve as her penalty if it includes a tack and a gybe, if it is carried out promptly after clearing and remaining clear of the mark and other boats, and when no question of advantage arises.
CASE 112
If one boat makes an error in sailing the course, a second boat may notify the first that she intends to protest when the error is made, or at the first reasonable opportunity after the first boat finishes, or at any time in-between.

Rule 28.2, Sailing the Course

CASE 58
If a buoy or other object specified in the sailing instructions as a finishing- line limit mark is on the post-finish side of the finishing line, it is not a mark.

Rule 29.1, Recalls: Individual Recall

CASE 31
When the correct visual recall signal for individual recall is made but the required sound signal is not, and when a recalled boat in a position to hear a sound signal does not see the visual signal and does not return, she is entitled to redress. However, if she realizes she is over the line she must return and start correctly.
CASE 71
A hail is not the ‘sound signal’ required when flag X is displayed. Answers to questions arising from requests for redress after a procedural error by the race committee.
CASE 79
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.

Rule 30.2, Starting Penalties: Z Flag Rule
Rule 30.3, Starting Penalties: Black Flag Rule

CASE 65
When a boat knows that she has broken the Black Flag rule, she is obliged to retire promptly. When she does not do so and then deliberately hinders another boat in the race, she commits a gross breach of sportsmanship and of rule 2, and her helmsman commits a gross breach of sportsmanship.
CASE 96
When after a general recall a boat learns from seeing her sail number displayed that she has been disqualified by the race committee under rule 30.3 and believes the race committee has made a mistake, her only option is not to start, and then to seek redress. When a boat breaks the rule in the first sentence of rule 30.3, she is not entitled to redress because of a procedural error by the race committee that is unrelated to her breach.
CASE 111
If a boat is penalized under rule 30.2 or rule 30.3 after a starting sequence that results in a general recall, it is a proper action of the race committee to penalize her even if the race had been postponed before that starting sequence or if, during a later starting sequence, a postponement was signalled before the starting signal.

Rule 31, Touching a Mark

CASE 77
Contact with a mark by a boat’s equipment constitutes touching it. A boat obligated to keep clear does not break a rule when touched by a right-of-way boat’s equipment that moves unexpectedly out of normal position. Rule 32.1, Shortening or Abandoning After the Start
CASE 28
When one boat breaks a rule and, as a result, causes another to touch a mark, the other boat is to be exonerated. The fact that a starting mark has moved, for whatever reason, does not relieve a boat of her obligation to start. A race committee may abandon under rule 32.1(d) only when the change in the mark’s position has directly affected the safety or fairness of the competition.
CASE 37
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.