A regatta is held over two days, with five races scheduled. Under the scoring system if five races are completed, each boat's series score is the total of her race scores excluding her worst score. On the first day, only Race 1 is completed and boat A finishes in second place. On the second day, A finishes fifth in Race 2. Before the start of Race 3, A collides with boat B and the damage is so extensive that A is unable to compete in the remaining races of the series. She protests B and requests redress under rule 62.1(b). The protest committee finds that A is entitled to redress, and acting under rule A9(b) it awards her for Races 3 and 4 the average of her points in Races 1 and 2 for Races 3 and 4. A is scored DNC in Race 5, but discards that score. A's series score is the lowest and so she wins the regatta, despite having competed in only two of the five races.

Was the redress granted to A appropriate?

No. Although the protest committee did not break any rule, its decision in awarding the redress was not the fairest arrangement for all boats affected (see rule 64.3). In this case, awarding a boat her average scores for half of the races that counted towards her series score is not fair to the other boats.

What would have been a fair award of redress to A?

When giving redress, the protest committee should ensure that fewer than half of a boat's race scores included in her series score are based on average points. Different situations may require different redress arrangements. One possibility in this particular case is that the protest committee could have given A redress only for the race in which the collision took place.

World Sailing 2011; revised 2020