(pillow)Case of the Week (6) -110

CASE 110

Rule 62.1(b), Redress

A boat physically damaged from contact with a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 is eligible for redress only if the damage itself significantly worsened her score. Contact is not necessary for one boat to cause injury or physical damage to another. A worsening of a boat’s score caused by an avoiding manoeuvre is not, by itself, grounds for redress. ‘Injury’ refers to bodily injury to a person and, in rule 62.1(b), ‘damage’ is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment.

Assumed Facts
Boat B is required to keep clear of Boat A. However, B collides with A, turning A 180 degrees before she is able to continue sailing to the next mark. Boat A loses five finishing places because of the incident. She protests B and requests redress under rule 62.1(b). During the hearing, it is established that there was physical damage to A but that the damage itself did not affect her ability to proceed in the race at normal speed. A’s protest is upheld and B is disqualified.

Question 1
Is A entitled to redress?
Answer 1
No. Under rule 62.1(b), the damage itself must be the reason a boat’s score is made significantly worse. In this case the damage had no effect on A’s score.

Question 2
Must contact between the boats occur in order for redress to be granted under rule 62.1(b)?
Answer 2
No. A boat that suffers injury to a member of her crew or physical damage while acting to avoid contact with a boat that has broken a rule of Part 2 may be entitled to redress if the injury or damage is found to have made her score significantly worse and was not her fault.

Question 3
If there had been no collision because A had been able to avoid B by changing course 180 degrees, but A lost five places as a result, would she have  suffered ‘injury’ or ‘damage’ as those terms are used in rule 62.1(b)?
Answer 3
No. ‘Injury’ in the racing rules refers only to bodily injury to a person, and ‘damage’ is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment.

USSA 1996/73 and 2007/98






This has been and always will be an important case. The answers may not always satisfy the sailors’ perception of justice, but they are the only answers the rules permit.
In many sports there’s no redress at all. At least in sailing we can salvage a score sometimes.

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