PROTESTS
60.1: Right to Protest
A boat or committee may protest a boat.
60.2: Intention to Protest
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(a) If a protest concerns an incident observed by the protestor in the racing area:
- (1) If the protestor is a boat, she shall hail ‘Protest’ and, if her hull length is longer than 6 metres, conspicuously display a red flag, at the first reasonable opportunity for each. She shall display the flag until she is no longer racing.
- (2) If the protestor is a committee, it shall inform the boat after the race within the protest time limit of its intention to protest her.
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(b) However, if
- (1) the protestee is not within hailing distance at the time of the incident,
- (2) the incident was an error in sailing the course,
- (3) the incident was not observed by the protestor in the racing area, or
- (4) a protest committee decides to protest a boat under rule 60.4(c),
then the only requirement for the protestor is to inform the protestee of its intention to protest at the first reasonable opportunity.
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(c) If at the time of the incident it is obvious to a protesting boat that a member of either crew is in danger, or that injury or serious damage has resulted, rules 60.2(a) and 60.2(b) do not apply to her, but she shall attempt to inform the other boat within the protest time limit of her intention to protest.
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(d) A committee may inform a boat of its intention to protest by posting a notice on the official notice board.
60.3: Delivering a Protest
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(a) When delivered, a protest shall be in writing and identify the protestor, the protestee, and the incident.
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(b) A protest shall be delivered to the race office (or by such other method as stated in the sailing instructions) within the protest time limit unless the protest committee decides there is good reason to extend the time. The protest time limit is
- (1) for protests about an incident observed in the racing area, two hours after the last boat in the race finishes, or
- (2) for other protests, two hours after the relevant information is available to the protestor.
However, if the sailing instructions state a different protest time limit, then that time limit applies instead.
60.4: Protest Validity
- (a) A protest is invalid
- (1) if it does not comply with the definition Protest or rule 60.2 or 60.3,
- (2) if it is from a boat that alleges a breach of a rule of Part 2 or rule 31, but she was not involved in it or did not see the incident, or
- (3) as far as it alleges a breach of rule 69 or a Regulation referred to in rule 6, unless permitted by the Regulation concerned.
- (b) A protest is invalid also if it is from a committee and is based on information from
- (1) a request for redress,
- (2) an invalid protest, or
- (3) a report from a person with a conflict of interest (other than a representative of the boat herself).
- (c) However, rule 60.4(b) does not apply to a protest from
- (1) the protest committee if it learns of an incident involving a boat that may have resulted in injury or serious damage,
- (2) the protest committee if it learns during the hearing of a valid protest that the boat, although not a party to the hearing, was involved in the incident and may have broken a rule, or
- (3) the technical committee if it has first conducted an inspection and decided a boat or personal equipment does not comply with the class rules or rule 50.
60.5: Protest Decisions
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(a) The protest committee shall conduct a hearing as required by rule 63 to decide a protest.
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(b) A boat shall only be penalized
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(c) If the protest committee decides that a boat has broken a rule it shall disqualify her whether or not the applicable rule was mentioned in the protest. However, the boat shall not be disqualified if
- (1) she is exonerated or some other penalty applies,
- (2) the boat has already taken an applicable penalty, in which case she shall not be penalized further unless the penalty for a rule she broke is disqualification that is not excludable,
- (3) the race is restarted or resailed, in which case rule 36 applies, or
- (4) she broke a class rule and rule 60.5(d)(1) applies.
If a boat has broken a rule when not racing, her penalty shall apply to the race sailed nearest in time to the incident.
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(d) If the protest committee decides that a boat has broken a class rule:
- (1) the boat shall not be penalized if any deviations in excess of tolerances specified in the class rules were caused by damage or normal wear and they did not improve the performance of the boat,
- (2) the boat shall not race again until any such deviations have been corrected unless the protest committee decides there is, or has been, no reasonable opportunity to do so,
- (3) any breach of the same rule in earlier races in the same event may have the same penalty imposed for all such races without further protest, and
- (4) the boat may compete in subsequent races without changes to the boat, but only if she states in writing that she intends to appeal. If she fails to appeal, or the appeal is not successful, she shall be disqualified without a hearing from all subsequent races in which she competed.