Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing
Redress considerations
Matthew Blake
0
I am looking at USSailing appeal 54, where the RC made an error by starting a race after a specified cut-off time and one of the boats applied for redress due to the RC error. The Appeals Committee ruled that the "scores for this race should be omitted" (is this the same as abandoning the race?). No doubt, there could be other redress situations that might fall under this general scenario.
1) Under the recommendation that PCs should avoid abandoning a race if possible, could the PC/AC instead have let this race stand, but awarded redress (only) to individual boats that requested redress (say assigning a score that is the average of the boat's finishes)?
2) If the answer to 1) is YES, the race could stand with redress given to individual boats:
- Then, what if a boat that was granted redress in this situation was also DSQ'd for a Part 2 infraction during this race. How would the redress and DSQ scoring play out? I can imagine that the boat gets redress (average score), but the DSQ is then applied over the top of that to negate the benefit of the redress. Or, I can see that the redress overrides the DSQ score (which is why the boat requested redress).
- Is there a protocol for scoring this?
Comments
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No, to 'omit' a race from a series score is not to abandon the race.
The requirement in rule 64,3 that a protest committee in giving redress shall make as fair an arrangement as possible for all boats affected confers, within the bounds of compliance with the rules, an almost unlimited power on a protest committee to mould the redress given, to suit the fairness of the situation.
In the USA Appeal US54 scenario, suppose there was a trophy for the late started race, and let's assume that the Appeals Committee had no reason to doubt the conclusion of the protest committee that the late start did not prejudice the finish of the applicant in that race. The Appeal decision to omit the race from the series score would allow the award of prizes for that race to stand, while remedying the specific detriment that the applicant claimed.
It could also be said that the protest committee, cleverly, has adopted a minimalist approach, giving just enough redress, and no more.
Rule 64,3 does not permit a protest committee to consider for redress only those boats that asked for it. Once the protest committee concludes that one boat is entitled to redress, then it must consider redress for all boats affected, and the US Sailing Prescription to rule 63.2 makes this even more clear.
So in the USA Appeal US54 scenario, it would not have been proper to give redress only by adjusting scores of boats requesting redress.
A boat that is disqualified can't be given redress because her DSQ score is necessarily through fault of her own (unless the disqualification itself was an improper action).