Rule F5: CHANGES TO THE RULES OF PART 5

CHANGES TO THE RULES OF PART 5

(a) If a protest concerns an incident observed by the protestor in the racing area:
- (1) If the protestor is a kiteboard, she shall hail ‘Protest’ at the first reasonable opportunity.
- (2) If the protestor is a committee, it shall inform the kiteboard after the race within the protest time limit of its intention to protest her.
(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 kiteboard 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.
(c) If at the time of the incident it is obvious to a protesting kiteboard that a member of either crew is in danger, or that injury, serious damage or a tangle has resulted, rules 60.2(a) and 60.2(b) do not apply to her, but she shall attempt to inform the other kiteboard within the protest time limit of her intention to protest.

(d) If the protest committee decides that a kiteboard has deviations in excess of acceptable manufacturing tolerances:
- (1) The kiteboard shall not be penalized if any deviations in excess of tolerances specified were caused by damage or normal wear and they did not improve the performance of the kiteboard.
- (2) However, the kiteboard 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.

(e) If the protest committee decides that a kiteboard has broken a rule and is not exonerated and, as a result, caused a tangle for the second or subsequent time during the event, her penalty shall be a disqualification that is not excludable.

Rule 63.5(d) is changed to:

(d) When the protest committee is in doubt about any matter concerning the measurement of a kiteboard, the interpretation of a class rule, or a matter involving damage to a kiteboard, it shall refer its questions, together with the relevant facts, to an authority responsible for interpreting the rule. In making its decision, the committee shall be bound by the reply of the authority.

Add new rule 63.8:

For a race of an elimination series that will qualify a kiteboard to compete in a later stage of an event:

(a) Rules 60.3(a) and (b), 61.2(a), 63.6(b) are deleted.
(b) Rule 63.4 is changed to:
Protests and requests for redress need not be in writing; they shall be made orally to a member of the protest committee as soon as reasonably possible following the race. The protest committee may take evidence in any way it considers appropriate and may communicate its decision orally.

70.6 Appeals are not permitted in disciplines and formats with elimination series.