(pillow)Case of the Week (47) - 66

(This is an instalment in a series of blogposts about the ISAF Call book 2009-2012 with amendments for 2010. All calls are official interpretations by the ISAF committees on how the Racing Rules of Sailing should be used or interpreted. The calls are copied from the Call book, only the comments are written by me.)

CASE 66

Rule 64.1(a), Decisions: Penalties and Exoneration
Rule 85, Governing Rules

A race committee may not change, or refuse to implement, the decision of a protest committee, including a decision based on a report from an authority qualified to resolve questions of measurement.

Assumed Facts 

A race committee protests a number of boats, under rule 60.2, for measurement defects. The protest committee, after a hearing, concludes that it is satisfied that there is reasonable doubt about the interpretation or application of the elevant class rules. Acting under rule 64.3(b), it refers the matter to the class association, as being the appropriate authority qualified to resolve such questions. The class association reports that all the boats concerned have broken a class rule, and the protest committee, accepting the report, disqualifies the boats. The race committee then refuses to implement these decisions because it alleges that for various reasons they are unfair.

Questions

May the race committee change or decide not to implement the decisions of a protest committee, whether or not these decisions are based on a report made under rule 64.3(b)? If not, who may take what action?

Answers

Rule 85 states that the race committee shall be governed by the rules. A race committee has no jurisdiction over a protest committee and is not entitled to change or refuse to implement any decision that the protest committee may have made. Rule 64.1(a) provides that a protest committee’s decision to  penalize must be implemented.

In this case, the race committee and each boat protested by it are the parties to the hearing. Under rule 66 a party may ask that the hearing be reopened on the grounds that the protest committee made a significant error or that significant new evidence has become available. Also, under rule 70.1, a party may appeal the protest committee’s decision or its procedures.

RYA 1984/16