Cases

A boat that breaks a rule while racing but continues to race may protest over a later incident, even though after the race she is penalized for her breach.

This case covers a situation involving two boats at a downwind mark in which a boat clear astern reaches the zone before a boat clear ahead . In that situation the boat clear ahead is required by rule 18.2(a)(2) to give mark-room to the boat clear astern .

A leeward port-tack boat, hailing for room to tack when faced with an oncoming starboard-tack boat, an obstruction , is not required to anticipate that the windward boat will fail to comply with her obligation to tack promptly or otherwise provide room .

A competitor may hold a sheet outboard.

A boat that is anchored during a race is still racing . A boat does not break rule 42.1 or rule 45 if, while pulling in her anchor line to recover the anchor, she returns to her position at the time the anchor was lowered. However, if pulling in the anchor line clearly propels her to a different position, she breaks those rules.

A starboard-tack boat that tacks after a port-tack boat has borne away to go astern of her does not necessarily break a rule .

When, after having been clear astern , a boat becomes overlapped to leeward within two of her hull lengths of the other boat, the windward boat must keep clear , but the leeward boat must initially give the windward boat room to keep clear and must not sail above her proper course . The proper course of the windward boat is not relevant.

Repeated helm movements to position a boat to gain speed on each of a series of waves generated by a passing vessel are not sculling unless they are forceful, and the increase in speed is the result of a permitted use of the water to increase speed.

When a starboard-tack boat chooses to sail past a windward mark , a port-tack boat must keep clear . There is no rule that requires a boat to sail a proper course .

If a boat hails ‘Room to tack’ when she is neither approaching an obstruction nor sailing close-hauled or above, she breaks rule 20.1 . The hailed boat is required to respond even if the hail breaks rule 20.1 .

When boats are overlapped at an obstruction , including an obstruction that is a right-of-way boat, the outside boat must give the inside boat room between her and the obstruction .

In determining the right of an inside boat to mark-room under rule 18.2(a)(1) , it is irrelevant that boats are on widely differing courses, provided that an overlap exists when the first of them reaches the zone .

Before her starting signal, a leeward boat does not break a rule by sailing a course higher than the windward boat’s course.

When, because of a difference of opinion about a leeward boat’s proper course , two boats on the same tack converge, the windward boat must keep clear . Two boats on the same leg sailing near one another may have different proper courses .

In tacking to round a mark , a boat clear ahead must comply with rule 13 ; a boat clear astern is entitled to hold her course and thereby prevent the other from tacking.

A boat is no longer subject to rule 13 when she is on a close-hauled course, regardless of her movement through the water or the sheeting of her sails.

Interpretation of the term ‘damage’.

When it is possible that a boat is in danger, another boat that gives help is entitled to redress, even if her help was not asked for or if it is later found that there was no danger.

When a right-of-way boat is obligated to give mark-room to a boat overlapped inside her, there is no maximum or minimum amount of space that she must give. The amount of space that she must give depends significantly on the existing conditions including wind and sea conditions, the speed of the inside boat, the sails she has set and her design characteristics.

A written protest does not need to identify a rule that the protestor believes was broken. If it does identify such a rule , it is not relevant to the validity of the protest that the protest committee decides that a different rule had been broken.

On a run, rule 19 does not apply to a starboard-tack boat that passes between two port-tack boats ahead of her. Rule 10 requires both port-tack boats to keep clear of her.

When a boat becomes overlapped to leeward from clear astern , the other boat must act promptly to keep clear . When she cannot do so in a seamanlike way, she has not been given room as required by rule 15 .

After an inside overlapped windward boat has been given mark-room , rule 18 no longer applies, but rule 11 continues to apply. The inside windward boat must keep clear of the outside leeward boat, and the leeward boat may luff provided that she gives the windward boat room to keep clear .

A right-of-way boat need not act to avoid a collision until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear . However, if the right-of-way boat could then have avoided the collision and the collision resulted in damage, she must be penalized for breaking rule 14 .

A boat is not required to anticipate that another boat will break a rule . When a boat acquires right of way as a result of her own actions, the other boat is entitled to room to keep clear .

When one boat breaks a rule and, as a result, causes another to touch a mark , the other boat is 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(c) only when the change in the mark ’s position has directly affected the safety or fairness of the competition.

A leeward boat is an obstruction to an overlapped windward boat and a third boat clear astern . The boat clear astern may sail between the two overlapped boats and be entitled to room from the windward boat between her and the leeward boat, provided that the windward boat has been able to give that room from the time the overlap began.

A boat clear astern that is required to keep clear but collides with the boat clear ahead breaks the right-of-way rule that was applicable before the collision occurred. A boat that loses right of way by unintentionally changing tack is nevertheless required to keep clear .

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 on the course side of the line she must return and start correctly.

A competitor is entitled to look exclusively to the notice of race or to written sailing instructions for all details relating to sailing the course . If the race committee wants to change the direction in which boats are required to cross the finishing line to finish , this must be stated in the sailing instructions. When a boat fails to finish correctly because of a race committee error, but none of the boats racing gains or loses as a result, an appropriate and fair form of redress is to score all the boats in the order they crossed the finishing line.

When a boat approaching an obstruction hails ‘Room to tack’, but does so before the time when she needs to begin the process described in rule 20 to avoid the obstruction safely, she breaks rule 20.1(a) . However, even if the hail breaks rule 20.1(a) , the hailed boat must respond. An inside overlapped boat is entitled to room between the outside boat and an obstruction under rule 19.2(b) even though she has tacked into the inside overlapping position.

Hindering another boat may be a breach of rule 2 and the basis for granting redress and for action under rule 69.2 .

When a boat hails ‘Room to tack’ at an obstruction and the hailed boat replies ‘You tack’, and the hailing boat is then able to tack and avoid the hailed boat in a seamanlike way, the hailed boat has complied with rule 20.2(c) .

Positioning of crew members relative to lifelines.

Each race of an event is a separate race. In a multi-class event, abandonment may be suitable for some classes, but not for all.

The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (IRPCAS) are intended to ensure the safety of vessels at sea by precluding situations that might lead to collisions. When the IRPCAS right-of-way rules replace the rules of Part 2 , they effectively prohibit a right-of-way boat from changing course towards the boat obligated to keep clear when she is close to that boat.

A race committee is not required to protest a boat. The primary responsibility for enforcing the rules lies with the competitors.

Unless otherwise specifically stated in the class rules, notice of race or sailing instructions, the owner or other person in charge of a boat is free to decide who steers her in a race, provided that rule 46 is not broken.

A discussion of how rule 19.2(b) and the definitions Obstruction , Continuing Obstruction , and Clear Astern and Clear Ahead; Overlap apply when two overlapped boats on the same tack overtake and pass to leeward of a boat ahead on the same tack . There is no obligation to hail for room at an obstruction , but it is prudent to do so.

A close-hauled port-tack boat that is sailing parallel and close to an obstruction must keep clear of a boat that has completed her tack to starboard and is approaching on a collision course.

A boat is not permitted to protest a race committee for breaking a rule. However, if she tries to do so, her ‘protest’ may meet the requirements of a request for redress, in which case the protest committee shall treat it accordingly.

A leeward boat is entitled to luff to her proper course , even when she has established a leeward overlap from clear astern and within two of her hull lengths of the windward boat.

A boat that deliberately hails ‘Starboard’ when she knows she is on port tack has not acted fairly, and has broken rule 2 .

Part 5 of the racing rules aims to protect a boat from being unfairly treated, not to provide loopholes for protestees. A protestee has a duty to protect herself by acting reasonably before a hearing.

When two protests arise from the same incident, or from very closely connected incidents, they should be heard together in the presence of representatives of all the boats involved.

When a protest committee finds that in a port-starboard incident S did not change course and that there was not a genuine and reasonable apprehension of collision on the part of S, it should dismiss her protest. When the committee finds that S did change course and that there was reasonable doubt that P could have crossed ahead of S if S had not changed course, then P should be disqualified.

A protest committee must find that boats were exonerated at the time of the incident when, as a result of another boat’s breach of a rule, they were compelled to break a rule.

Rule 16.1 does not restrict the course of a keep-clear boat. Manoeuvering to drive another boat away from the starting line does not necessarily break this rule.

A boat clear ahead need not take any action to keep clear before being overlapped to leeward from clear astern.

Interpretation of rule 20 ’s requirements for hails and signals and their timing.

When a current, properly authenticated certificate has been presented in good faith by an owner who has complied with the requirements of rule 78.1 , the final results of a race or series must stand, even though the certificate is later withdrawn.

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, a boat may leave it on either side.

When a boat comes abeam of a mark but is outside the zone, and when her change of course towards the mark results in a boat that is in the zone and that was previously clear astern becoming overlapped inside her, rule 18.2(a)(2) requires her to give mark-room to that boat, whether or not her distance from the mark was caused by giving mark-room to other boats overlapped inside her.

When the decision of a protest committee is changed or reversed upon appeal, the final standings and the awards must be adjusted accordingly.

At a mark, when space is made available to a boat that is not entitled to it, she may, at her own risk, take advantage of the space.

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 breach of sportsmanship and of rule 2 , and her helmsman commits an act of misconduct.

When a boat is racing and meets a vessel that is not, both are bound by the government right-of-way rules. When, under those rules, the boat racing is required to keep clear but intentionally hits the other boat, her helmsman commits an act of misconduct.

The failure of a race committee to discover that a rating certificate is invalid does not entitle a boat to redress. A boat that may have broken a rule and that continues to race retains her rights under the racing rules, including her rights under the rules of Part 2 and her rights to protest and appeal, even if she is later disqualified.

Momentum of a boat after her preparatory signal that is the result of being propelled by her engine before the signal does not break rule 42.1 .

Discussion of the word ‘flag’.

When, by deliberate action, L’s crew reaches out and touches W, which action could have no other intention than to cause W to break rule 11 , then L breaks rule 2 .

There is no rule that dictates how the helmsman or crew of a leeward boat must sit. Contact with a windward boat does not break rule 2 unless the helmsman’s or crew’s position is deliberately misused.

When rule 18 applies, the rules of Sections A and B apply as well. When an inside overlapped right-of-way boat must gybe at a mark, she is entitled to sail her proper course until she gybes. A starboard-tack boat that changes course does not break rule 16.1 if she gives a port-tack boat adequate space to keep clear and the port-tack boat fails to take advantage of it promptly.

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.

In a fleet race either for one-design boats or for boats racing under a handicap or rating system, a boat may use tactics that clearly interfere with and hinder another boat’s progress in the race, provided that, if she is protested under rule 2 for doing so, the protest committee finds that there was a reasonable chance of her tactics benefiting her final ranking in the event. However, she breaks rule 2 , and possibly rule 69.1(a) , if while using those tactics she intentionally breaks a rule.

When a boat has no reason to know that part of her hull crossed the starting line early and the race committee fails to signal ‘Individual recall’ promptly, yet 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.

When a boat entitled to mark-room under rule 18.2(a)(2) passes head to wind, rule 18.2(a)(2) ceases to apply and she must comply with the applicable rule of Section A.

When a finishing line is laid so nearly in line with the last leg that it cannot be determined which is the correct way to cross it in order to finish according to the definition, a boat may cross the line in either direction and her finish is to be recorded accordingly.

Repeated sail trimming with a competitor’s torso outside the lifelines is not permitted.

If a racing rule is not one of the rules listed in rule 86.1(c) , class rules are not permitted to change it. If a class rule attempts to change such a rule, that class rule is not valid and does not apply.

A right-of-way boat need not act to avoid contact until it is clear that the other boat is not keeping clear.

A boat may avoid contact and yet fail to keep clear .

Except on a windsurfer or a kiteboard, a competitor may not wear or otherwise attach to his person a drinking container.

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.

A boat required to keep clear must keep clear of another boat’s equipment out of its normal position when the equipment has been out of its normal position long enough for the equipment to have been seen and avoided.

When a right-of-way boat changes course, the keep-clear boat is required to act only in response to what the right-of-way boat is doing at the time; she is not required to anticipate what the right-of-way boat might do subsequently.

If a boat luffs immediately after she becomes overlapped to leeward of another boat and there is no seamanlike action that would enable the other boat to keep clear, the boat that luffs breaks rules 15 and 16.1 . The other boat breaks rule 11 , but is exonerated.

If two overlapped boats on the same tack are on a beat to windward and are subject to rule 18.2(a)(1) , rule 18 ceases to apply when either of them turns past head to wind. When a boat is required to give another boat mark-room , the space she must give includes space for the other boat to comply with rule 31 . When the boat entitled to mark-room is compelled to touch the mark while sailing within the mark-room to which she is entitled, she is exonerated for her breach of rule 31 .

When after a general recall a boat learns from seeing her sail number displayed that she has been disqualified by the race committee under the second sentence of rule 30.4 and believes the race committee has made a mistake, her only option is not to start, and then to seek redress. However, if the race committee does not display her sail number and she sails in the restarted race, she should be scored BFD, and not DNE.

The use of a jockey pole attached to a spinnaker guy is permitted.

The rules listed in the definition Rule apply to races governed by The Racing Rules of Sailing whether or not the notice of race explicitly states that they apply. A rule in the notice of race or the sailing instructions, provided it is consistent with any prescription to rule 88.2 , may change some or all of the prescriptions of the national authority. Generally, the notice of race may not change a class rule. When a boat races under a handicapping or rating system, the rules of that system apply, and some or all of her class rules may apply as well. When the notice of race conflicts with the sailing instructions, neither takes precedence.

The fact that a boat required to keep clear is out of control does not entitle her to exoneration for breaking a rule of Part 2 . When a right-of-way boat becomes obligated by rule 14 to ‘avoid contact ... if reasonably possible’ and the only way to do so is to crash-gybe, she does not break the rule if she does not crash-gybe. When a boat’s penalty under rule 44.1(b) is to retire, and she does so (whether because of choice or necessity), she cannot then be disqualified.

When a boat asks for and receives tactical racing advice she receives outside help, even if she asks for and receives it on a public radio channel.

When a boat with right of way is required to give another boat room for a manoeuvre, right of way does not transfer to the boat entitled to room. When, in reply to her hail ‘Room to tack’ when approaching an obstruction, a boat is hailed ‘You tack’, and when she does so and is then able to tack again to keep clear in a seamanlike way, the other boat has given the room required.

When a boat requests redress because of an incident she claims affected her score in a race, and thus in a series, the time limit for making the request is the time limit for the race, rather than a time limit based on the posting of the series results.

The phrase ‘seamanlike way’ in the definition Room refers to boat-handling that can reasonably be expected from a competent, but not expert, crew of the appropriate number for the boat.

Attempting to distinguish between facts and conclusions in a protest committee's findings is sometimes unsatisfactory because findings may be based partially on fact and partially on a conclusion. A national authority can change a protest committee’s decision and any other findings that involve reasoning or judgment, but not its findings of fact. A national authority may derive additional facts by logical deduction. Neither written facts nor diagrammed facts take precedence over the other. Protest committees must resolve conflicts between facts when so required by a national authority.

When two boats are running on opposite tacks, the starboard-tack boat may change course provided she gives the port-tack boat room to keep clear.

When the string representing a boat’s track lies on the required sides of finishing marks or gate marks, it is not relevant that, when drawn taut, it also passes one of those marks on the non-required side.

During the starting sequence, a boat that is not keeping a lookout may thereby fail to do everything reasonably possible to avoid contact. Hailing is one way that a boat may ‘act to avoid contact.’ When a boat’s breach of a rule of Part 2 causes serious damage and she then retires, she has taken the applicable penalty and is not to be disqualified for that breach.

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 she is no longer touching the mark and is well clear of other boats, and when no question of advantage arises.

The IRPCAS or government right-of-way rules apply between boats that are racing only if a rule in the notice of race says so, and in that case all of the Part 2 rules are replaced. An IRPCAS or government rule, other than a right-of-way rule, may be made to apply by including it in the notice of race, the sailing instructions or another document governing the event.

Under rule 61.4(b)(2) or 61.4(b)(3) , a boat physically damaged is eligible for redress only if the damage itself significantly worsened her score or place. Contact is not necessary for one boat to cause injury or physical damage to another. A worsening of a boat’s score or place caused by an avoiding manoeuvre is not, by itself, grounds for redress. In rules 61.4(b)(2) and 61.4(b)(3) , ‘injury’ refers to bodily injury to a person and ‘damage’ is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment.

If a boat breaks rule 30.2 or rule 30.4 during a starting sequence that results in a general recall after the starting signal, the race committee is required 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.

A boat that makes, and does not correct, an error in sailing the course does not break rule 28.1 until she finishes. If a boat makes such an error, a second boat may notify the first that she intends to protest before the first boat finishes, or at the first reasonable opportunity after the first boat finishes.

An explanation of the application of rule 20 when three boats sailing close-hauled on the same tack are approaching an obstruction and the leeward-most boat hails ‘Room to tack’, but cannot tack unless both boats to windward of her tack.

When a boat is entitled to room , the space she is entitled to includes space for her to comply with her obligations under the rules of Part 2 and rule 31 .

Interpretation of the word ‘new’ as used in rule 63.7(a)(3) .

A discussion of redress in a situation in which a boat is damaged early in a series, is entitled to redress under rule 61.4(b)(2) , and is prevented by the damage from sailing the remaining races. In such a situation, to be fair to the other boats in the series, the protest committee should ensure that fewer than half of the race scores included in her series score, after any exclusion(s), are based on average points.

When three boats are on the same tack and two of them are overlapped and overtaking the third from clear astern , if the leeward boat astern becomes overlapped with the boat ahead, the boat ahead is no longer an obstruction , and rule 19.2(b) does not apply. There are no situations in which a row of boats sailing close to one another is a continuing obstruction .

In the definition Mark-Room , the phrase ‘ room to sail to the mark’ means space to sail promptly in a seamanlike way to a position close to, and on the required side of, the mark.

When a race is conducted for boats racing under a rating system, the rating that should be used to calculate a boat’s corrected time is her rating at the time the race is sailed. Her score should not be changed if later the rating authority, acting on its own volition, changes her rating.

‘Information freely available’ in rule 41(c) is information that is available without monetary cost and that may be easily obtained by all boats in a race. Rule 41(c) is a rule that may be changed for an event provided that the procedure established in the rules is followed.

The procedure that must be followed in order to change a racing rule for an event is described in detail.

An interpretation of the term ‘comfortable satisfaction’ and an example of its use.

If, at the moment it would be clear to a competent, but not expert, sailor at the helm of a starboard-tack boat that there is substantial risk of contact with a port-tack boat, but there is time for the starboard-tack boat to change course sufficiently to avoid the contact, she will break rule 14(a) if contact occurs.

At any point in time while two boats are approaching an obstruction, the right-of-way boat at that moment may choose to pass the obstruction on either side provided that she can then comply with the applicable rules.

When an outside overlapped boat is required to give room to one or more inside boats to pass an obstruction , the space she gives must be sufficient to permit all the inside boats to comply with their obligations under the rules of Part 2 .

For the purpose of determining whether rule 23.2 applies to an incident, a boat is sailing on the leg which is consistent with her course immediately before the incident and her reasons for sailing that course.

A boat ‘clears the finishing line and marks’ when no part of her hull, crew or equipment is on the line, and no mark is influencing her choice of course.

If the race committee observes a boat make an error under rule 28.1 in sailing the course and fail to correct that error, it is required to score her NSC. If it observes a boat touch a mark as she finishes, it must score her in her finishing position. The boat may be protested for breaking rule 31 .

When the course is shortened at a rounding mark, the mark becomes a finishing mark. Rule 32.2(a) permits the race committee to position the vessel displaying flag S at either end of the finishing line. A boat must cross the line in accordance with the definition Finish , even if in so doing she leaves that mark on the side opposite the side on which she would have been required to leave it if the course had not been shortened. The committee sets the finishing line as shown in the diagram. At the time that flag S is displayed, the boats are between the last rounding mark and the finishing line. Boats A and B approach the finishing line, see flag S and sail the courses shown in the diagram.

If a boat has broken rule 78.2 by not producing a required certificate, or by not arranging for its existence to be verified before the start of the last day of an event, the race committee is required, without a hearing, to score her DSQ for all races of the event.

Interpretation of the phrase ‘on a beat to windward’.

A boat’s proper course at any moment depends on the existing conditions. Some of those conditions are the wind strength and direction, the pattern of gusts and lulls in the wind, the waves, the current, and the physical characteristics of the boat’s hull and equipment, including the sails she is using.

Discussion of the decisions that a protest committee must make if a boat breaks a rule of Part 2 by failing to keep clear , and the right-of-way boat, or a third boat, requests redress under rule 61.4(b)(2) .

In finding facts, a protest committee will be governed by the weight of evidence. In general, a race committee member sighting the starting line is better placed than any competing boat to decide whether a boat was over the line at the starting signal and, if so, whether she returned to the pre-start side and started.

When deciding if a conflict of interest is significant, the protest committee should take into account the degree of conflict, the level of the event and the overall perception of fairness.

Generally, an action by a competitor that directly affects the fairness of the competition or failing to take an appropriate penalty when the competitor is aware of breaking a rule, should be considered under rule 2 . Any action, including a serious breach of rule 2 or any other rule, that the committee considers may be an act of misconduct should be considered under rule 69 .

Examples illustrating when it would be ‘appropriate’ under rule 69.2(j)(3) to report a rule 69 incident to a national authority or World Sailing.

How the rules apply when a boat is compelled to cross the starting line by another boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 .

Interpretation of the term ‘serious’ in the phrase ‘serious damage’.

When the organizing authority for an event is not an organization specified in rule 89.1 , a party to a hearing does not have access to the appeal process.

A boat’s string, described in the definition Sail the Course , when drawn taut, is only constrained by the marks that begin, end or bound each leg of the course.

When boats are approaching a starting mark to start and a leeward boat luffs, the windward boat is exonerated by rule 43.1(b) if she breaks rule 11 while sailing within the room to which she is entitled under rule 16.1 .

When a right-of-way boat changes course, her obligation to give a keep-clear boat room to keep clear under rule 16.1 begins. The right-of-way boat may give that room by making an additional change of course. If, while the right-of-way boat is making that additional change of course, the keep-clear boat unavoidably breaks a rule of Part 2 Section A, the keep-clear boat is exonerated by rule 43.1(b) .

When a boat crosses the finishing line from the course side twice, her second crossing constitutes her finish if, at all times between her first and second crossing, her actions are consistent with continuing ‘to sail the course ’. An error in sailing the course made at a mark other than a finishing mark is not an error made at the finishing line.

After getting well clear, a boat making penalty turns that interrupts her turns for just the time she needs to comply with rule 21.2 has made her penalty turns ‘promptly’. When a boat interferes with a boat taking a penalty, she breaks rule 23.2 if she was not sailing her proper course at that time.

An interpretation of the terms ‘at’, ‘inside/outside’ and ‘overlap’ as used in rule 19 .