Zeilraad Archieven on-line op Watersport website

De uitspraken van de Zeilraad zijn door Henk Botterweg opnieuw gerubriceerd en geactualiseerd, en vanaf heden staan ze de site van het Watersportverbond. 

Vanaf het jaar 2000 zijn ze per jaar gebundeld, bovenaan staan de samenvattingen gevolgd door de volledige uitspraak.
De actuele stand van zaken van de hoger beroepen die in behandeling zijn kunt u vinden in de rubriek "Samenvattingen 2009". Bovendien staat in rubriek "Uitsprakenregister" een lijst met hoger beroepen en de daarbij behorende regels uit de Regels voor Wedstrijdzeilen.

De hoger beroepen staan als PDF op de site waardoor ze eenvoudig te raadplegen zijn en gemakkelijk te printen. U vindt de uitspraken van de Zeilraad via deze link.
Hieronder vindt u per jaar de samenvattingen van de hogerberoepen.

• Uitsprakenbundel 2000  (Appeal decisions 2000)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2001  (Appeal decisions 2001)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2002  (Appeal decisions 2002)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2003  (Appeal decisions 2003)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2004  (Appeal decisions 2004)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2005  (Appeal decisions 2005)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2006  (Appeal decisions 2006)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2007  (Appeal decisions 2007)
• Uitsprakenbundel 2008  (Appeal decisions 2008)
• Samenvattingen 2009   (Summaries 2009)
• (uitsprakenregister)  (Appeal decisions register)

Binnenkort kunt u de uitspraken overzichtelijk terugvinden op www.watersportverbond.nl/wedstrijdzeilen. Op die nieuwe website zal dan ook de rubriek "Schorsingen" te vinden zijn, hierin staan de personen vermeld die op dit moment door de zeilraad voor een bepaalde periode zijn geschorst.

Voor nadere inlichtingen of vragen kunt u contact opnemen met de secretaris van de Zeilraad Henk Plaatje.

The above posted text is about the Dutch National Appeal Committee: "de Zeilraad". They've reorganized and published their decisions in a pdf-archive going back to 2000.
With internet translation possibilities you should be able to translate the general gist of the 'verdicts'. If you come across a case you need clarification about, you can either ask Henk Plaatje (mail address above) or send me an Email.

Appealing the PC

This evening I'll have the opportunity to attend my first appeal committee meeting. As I posted before I was invited to attend this year as an observer.

Last month three appeals have been send in. Due to the confidentiality in this process I'm not allowed to tell you about the actual cases, just yet.

Appeals are the second layer provided in the rules, in case parties do not agree with the decision of the protest-committee. Only a party to the hearing can "appeal" that decision to the National Authority. In the Netherlands our MNA has formed "de Zeilraad" (translates as: Sailing Counsel) to handle those appeals.

Most PC's are done by more knowledgeable sailors or persons who have studied the rules, like me. But still we amateurs. And we do make mistakes or don't know everything. Therefore it's not something to feel ashamed of if your decision is appealed. Unless a PC has been very sloppy or made procedural mistakes, it should welcome the help of experts.

Appeal committees have a couple of options: (rule 71.2 RRS)

- They can uphold, change or reverse the decision of the PC

After collecting all the relevant papers and asking for comments on the appeal from all parties, they will give a decision. The facts found however are not open to appeal. This is because the appeal committee does not conduct a hearing finding those facts. That was the job of the PC and unless they are missing or inadequate, the appeal committee accepts the facts as found. On those facts they will draw a conclusion based on the rules and give a decision.

- They can declare the protest or request for redress invalid

If the appeals committee finds that validity has been compromised they will draw this conclusion.

- They can send the protest or request back for another hearing to the original or different protest-committee.

Typically this will be done when those facts are missing or inadequate. Sometimes because the procedure to get those facts were not adhered to. Like parties not present during the hearing or validity not established or witnesses not allowed. A new hearing is then conducted and the facts found, conclusion and decision are send to the appeals committee.

A picture of Valk 830 "Sledgehammer" sailed by Onno Yntema and Klaas Weissenbach jr. They won the National Championship 2008 yesterday!

In the past I have had a couple of appeals on protest were I was a member of the PC. With the first ones I felt a little anxious and nervous. Would the appeals committee agree with the decision? But lately that has not been the case. Those appeals were almost always about very tricky or seldom used rules, where I was glad more people looked at it and gave their verdict.

I didn't always agree with their interpretation, but that's not been a problem. The rules are complicated enough and we all have to accept that different insights will lead to different decisions.

How about you? Any appeals on your decisions?