Protest Room logoProtest Room
RulesCasesAsk AI
Auth not available
  • Rules Explorer
  • Case Book
  • AI Judge
New protest
  1. Home/
  2. Rules/
  3. Rule 60.5

Part 5 — When Boats Meet

Section A — Right Of Way

A boat has right of way over another boat when the other boat is required to keep clear of her. However, some rules in Sections B, C and D limit the actions of a right-of-way boat.

60.5

Protest Decisions

(a) The protest committee shall conduct a hearing as required by rule 63 to decide a protest. (b) A boat shall only be penalized (1) at a protest hearing to which she is a party, (2) under rule 62.4, 64 or 69, or (3) under a rule which expressly states that a penalty may be applied without a hearing. (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. (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.

Definitions in Context

Committee

The protest committee, the race committee or the technical committee.

Party

A party to a hearing is

  • (a) for a protest hearing: a protestor, a protestee;
  • (b) for a redress hearing: a boat requesting redress or for which redress is requested; a boat for which a hearing is called to consider redress under rule 61.1; a committee acting under rule 61.1;
  • (c) for a redress hearing under rule 61.4(b)(1): the body alleged to have made an improper action or improper omission;
  • (d) a person against whom an allegation of a breach of rule 69.1(a) is made; a person presenting an allegation under rule 69.2(e)(1);
  • (e) a support person subject to a hearing under rule 62 or 69; any boat that person supports; a person appointed to present an allegation under rule 62.2.

However, the protest committee is never a party.

Protest

An allegation made under rule 60 by a boat or a committee that a boat has broken a rule.

Racing

A boat is racing from her preparatory signal until she finishes and clears the finishing line and marks or retires, or until the race committee signals a general recall, postponement or abandonment.

Rule
  • (a) The rules in this book, including the Definitions, Race Signals, Introduction, preambles and the rules of relevant appendices, but not the Basic Principles or titles;
  • (b) World Sailing Regulations that have been designated by World Sailing as having the status of a rule and are published on the World Sailing website;
  • (c) the prescriptions of the national authority, unless they are changed by the notice of race or sailing instructions in compliance with the national authority’s prescription, if any, to rule 88.2;
  • (d) the class rules (for a boat racing under a handicap or rating system, the rules of that system are ‘class rules’);
  • (e) the notice of race;
  • (f) the sailing instructions; and
  • (g) any other documents that govern the event.
Start

A boat starts when, her hull having been entirely on the pre-start side of the starting line at or after her starting signal, and having complied with rule 30.1 if it applies, any part of her hull crosses the starting line from the pre-start side to the course side.

Related Cases

Case 1

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.

Case 19

Interpretation of the term ‘damage’.

Case 22

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.

Case 26

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.

Rule 60.4

(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...

© 2026 Protest Room. Open source and available under MIT License