Dear All
Last year, my son hit a mark of the course and whilst completing his penalty turn, hit the mark again. Does he need to complete a second penalty turn?
We have had advice both ways on this one from two different "rules experts" and reviewed documentation, but couldn't get a clear answer ...
If the answer is "Yes" a second penalty turn does need to be completed, how is this different from the situation where a boat hits the same mark multiple times for example, the mark bounces on and off the boat as the boat passes the mark?
This incident is not the subject of any on-going proceeding.
Thanks for your thoughts
Richard
I would write facts for the two scenarios you suggest:
Boat A hit Mark 1.
The mark bounced off of Boat A, then hit Boat A again before she passed the mark.
or
Boat A hit Mark 1.
After passing mark 1, boat A hit mark 1 again while completing a one-turn penalty.
My conclusions would be:
Boat A touched mark 1 multiple times in the same incident and broke RRS 31.
or
Boat A touched mark 1 and broke RRS 31.
In a separate incident, Boat A touched mark 1 and broke RRS 31 again.
This could clearly go to an appeals committee for a definite decision, but my opinion is that these would satisfy an appeal.
If it is touched again, in a different incident, then it is a new penality.
Edit: what John said
Yes, he needs to take a second penalty turn as these are separate incidents. He was taking a penalty turn for the first incident and while doing so has broken another rule, albeit the same rule he broke in the first incident. The mark is still relevant to his course, that is it is either the mark that ends the leg he just finished or starts the next leg of the course, so touching it breaks rule 31.
In the situation where the mark is bouncing on and off the boat as it goes by in a single pass, that is considered one incident and so rule 31 is only broken once.
For those of you reading this in the US - you should look at Appeal 65. The USAC uses the term 'inevitable result' as the way to decide whether a situation is one or more incidents.
It sounds like two separate incidents, to me. Bummer, though. Get well clear of the mark before doing turns!
For the future - 44.2 says take the Penalty After getting well clear of other boats - I would add that this logically means getting well clear of the Mark. We have too many instances of competitors taking their penalty right away without looking around - and they slam into another Dinghy.
“The test of whether two occurrences were one or two incidents is whether the second occurrence was the inevitable result of the first. Times, distances, the actions of each boat and the prevailing conditions are all relevant to this test; the number of rules that may have been broken is not.”
Therefore, in the US, a protest committee would probably find that a second circle was necessary.
It also occurred to me that the protest committee in Appeal 65 COULD have protested FS 112 for what the Appeals Committee called "the second incident" under rule 60.3 and disqualified her. That hardly seems equitable to me: The boat acknowledged that she had failed to keep clear of another boat and took a Two-Turn Penalty but gets tossed later in the hearing. This would seem to be "an abuse of prosecutorial discretion" but there seems to be nothing that would prevent a protest committee from taking that action.
If a boat hails "protest" twice in fairly quick succession is the other boat to assume that she's being protested for two incidents, or just that the protesting boat wants to make sure her protest was heard? What if the skipper of the protesting boat hails "protest" and then the tactician says "protest"?
Must a second red flag be displayed? Or are you supposed to shake the one that's already displayed?
Unfortunately, I have deeply imprinted upon my soul the directive that I heard at my very first US Sailing Judges Seminar in 1998.
The seminar leader, Tom Farquhar, asked, "What is the purpose of having judges at a regatta?"
There were several responses from the attendees. They included, "To hear protests", "To enforce the rules", and "To review the actions of the organizing authority, the race committee, and the competitors."
After all of the offerings, Tom said, "No. The purpose of Judges is to insure the fairness of the event."
I have always thereafter been guided by that advice.