Racing Rules of Sailing

Section M — Recommendations For Protest Committees

This appendix is advisory only; in some circumstances changing these procedures may be advisable. It is addressed primarily to the protest committee chair but may also help judges, protest committee secretaries, race committees and others involved in hearings.

In a hearing, the protest committee should weigh all testimony with equal care; should recognize that honest testimony can vary, and even be in conflict, as a result of different observations and recollections; should resolve such differences as best it can; should recognize that no boat or competitor is guilty until a breach of a rule has been established to the satisfaction of the protest committee; and should keep an open mind until all the evidence has been heard as to whether a boat or competitor has broken a rule.

M6.4

When it is desirable to call a hearing under rule 69 as a result of a Part 2 incident, it is important to hear any boat-vs.-boat protest in the normal way, deciding which boat, if any, broke which rule, before proceeding against the competitor under rule 69.

Definitions in Context

Protest

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

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.