Rule C7: PENALTY SYSTEM

Section C — Match Racing Rules

Match races shall be sailed under The Racing Rules of Sailing as changed by this appendix. Matches shall be umpired unless the notice of race or sailing instructions state otherwise.

Note: A Standard Notice of Race, Standard Sailing Instructions, and Match Racing Rules for Visually Impaired Sailors are available on the World Sailing website.

PENALTY SYSTEM

C7.1: Deleted Rule

Rule 44 is deleted.

C7.2: All Penalties

(a) A penalized boat may delay taking a penalty within the limitations of rule C7.3 and shall take it as follows:
- (1) When on a leg of the course to a windward mark, she shall gybe and, as soon as reasonably possible, luff to a close-hauled course.
- (2) When on a leg of the course to a leeward mark or the finishing line, she shall tack and, as soon as reasonably possible, bear away to a course that is more than ninety degrees from the true wind.
(b) Add to rule 2: ‘When racing, a boat need not take a penalty unless signalled to do so by an umpire.’
(c) A boat completes a leg of the course when any part of her hull crosses the extension of the line from the previous mark through the mark she is rounding, or on the last leg when she finishes.
(d) A penalized boat shall not be recorded as having finished until she takes her penalty and her hull is completely on the course side of the line and she then finishes, unless the penalty is cancelled before or after she crosses the finishing line.
(e) If a boat has one or two outstanding penalties and the other boat in her match is penalized, one penalty for each boat shall be cancelled except that a red-flag penalty shall not cancel or be cancelled by another penalty.
(f) If one boat has finished and is no longer racing, and the other boat has an outstanding penalty, the umpires may cancel the outstanding penalty.

C7.3: Penalty Limitations

(a) A boat taking a penalty that includes a tack shall have the spinnaker head below the main-boom gooseneck from the time she passes head to wind until she is on a close-hauled course.
(b) No part of a penalty may be taken inside the zone of a rounding mark that begins, bounds or ends the leg the boat is on.
(c) If a boat has one outstanding penalty, she may take the penalty any time after starting and before finishing. If a boat has two outstanding penalties, she shall take one of them as soon as reasonably possible, but not before starting.
(d) When the umpires display a red flag with or soon after a penalty flag, the penalized boat shall take a penalty as soon as reasonably possible, but not before starting.

C7.4: Taking and Completing Penalties

(a) When a boat with an outstanding penalty is on a leg to a windward mark and gybes, or is on a leg to a leeward mark or the finishing line and passes head to wind, she is taking a penalty.
(b) When a boat taking a penalty either does not take the penalty correctly or does not complete the penalty as soon as reasonably possible, she is no longer taking a penalty. The umpires shall signal this as required by rule C5.6.
(c) The umpire boat for each match shall display blue or yellow flags or shapes, each flag or shape indicating one outstanding penalty. When a boat has taken a penalty, or a penalty has been cancelled, one flag or shape shall be removed, with the appropriate sound signal. Failure of the umpires to signal correctly shall not change the number of penalties outstanding.

Definitions in Context

Finish

A boat finishes when, after her starting signal, any part of her hull crosses the finishing line from the course side. However, she has not finished if after crossing the finishing line she

(a) takes a penalty under rule 44.2,
(b) corrects an error in sailing the course made at the line, or
(c) continues to sail the course.

After finishing she need not cross the finishing line completely. The sailing instructions may change the direction in which boats are required to cross the finishing line to finish.

Leeward and Windward

A boat’s leeward side is the side that is or, when she is head to wind, was away from the wind. However, when sailing by the lee or directly downwind, her leeward side is the side on which her mainsail lies. The other side is her windward side. When two boats on the same tack overlap, the one on the leeward side of the other is the leeward boat. The other is the windward boat.

Mark

An object the sailing instructions require a boat to leave on a specified side, a race committee vessel surrounded by navigable water from which the starting or finishing line extends, and an object intentionally attached to the object or vessel. However, an anchor line is not part of the mark.

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.

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.

Zone

The area around a mark within a distance of three hull lengths of the boat nearer to it. A boat is in the zone when any part of her hull is in the zone.