CASE 120
Rule 41(c), Outside Help
‘Information freely available’ in rule 41(c) is information
that is available without monetary cost and that may be
easily obtained by all boats in a race. Rule 41(c) is a rule
that may be changed for an event provided that the
procedure established in the rules is followed.
Question 1
What is the meaning of the term ‘information freely available’ as used in
rule 41(c)?
Answer 1
„‘Information freely available’ means information that is available without
monetary cost and that may be easily obtained by all boats in a race. ‘Easily
obtained’ means the information is available from a public source that
competitors can reasonably be expected to be aware of and can locate with
little effort. An example of information found by little effort is information
that can be found near the top of the list of internet addresses identified by
conducting a search for the information using a widely-used internet search
program. Information for which a fee has been paid (even if that fee is very
small) or that is not easily obtained by all boats in a race is not ‘freely
available’. Examples are information supplied only to those boats that have
paid a subscription fee or other fee for the information, and information
whose location on the internet is hidden or obscure.
The costs of equipment or software and fees for communication services are
not costs for the information that can be obtained with that equipment,
software or communications service. For example, a cost to a competitor for
a computer or cell phone and for internet access is not considered a cost for
the information that the competitor can obtain with that equipment. If there
is no charge for access to that information, the information is ‘freely
available’.
However, information is not ‘freely available’ if access to it is limited to
persons who have purchased special-purpose equipment or software from
the person or organization that provides the information. Such information
is not ‘freely available’ even if there is no additional charge made for
receiving the information using the special-purpose equipment or software.
For example, any data or information that can be retrieved at no cost using
an existing internet access account is ‘freely available’. However, data or
information is not ‘freely available’ if it is only accessible if one pays the
person or organization that provides the information for special-purpose
hardware or application software.
In addition to the above considerations, information is not ‘freely available’
if it becomes available so close to the start of a race that competitors do not
have a reasonable period of time to find it and familiarize themselves with
it. This prevents one competitor from arranging for data to be posted just
before a race, with other competitors not having the time to find it and
familiarize themselves with it.
Note that, in addition to the provisions in rule 41, a class rule may prohibit
certain equipment from being on board a boat, and such a class rule may,
therefore, limit information that a boat may use.
Facts for Question 2
Boat A is a large boat with plenty of space for equipment and a large crew
with a dedicated navigator/weather router on board. She has an Inmarsat or
VSAT system and pays a monthly communications fee of $5000, enabling
large amounts of downloads and browsing of the internet. The boat’s
objective in having very good access to the internet is to have access to
digital weather information for use in routing. All the data used by the boat
are available throughout the year at no charge, to anyone with internet
access. None of the data that is downloaded comes from the Inmarsat or
VSAT communications provider themselves.
Boat B is a 40-foot (12 m) boat with a crew of eight. She uses a tablet
computer with a mobile data card for which she pays a small monthly
communications fee similar to a phone communications fee. The crew
purchased a routing and weather analysis application for use during the race.
The application costs $2000 and is available on the open market for
purchase by anyone. The application includes a paid-in-advance
subscription to weather data that can be downloaded during the race. The
weather data is the same for all boats that have purchased the application.
The weather data is race-specific. The weather data cannot be used with
other weather or routing applications and is not usable without purchasing
the routing and weather analysis application.
Boat C is a 40-foot boat with a crew of eight. She uses a tablet computer
with a mobile data card for which she pays a small monthly communications
fee similar to a phone communications fee. The crew is downloading hiresolution
weather files for a small monthly subscription fee. The files are
not tailored to the boat; all boats subscribing to the files receive the same
data. Nobody, even ashore with internet access, could access this data
without subscribing and paying for it.
Boat D is a 40-foot boat with a crew of eight. She uses a tablet computer
with a mobile data card for which she pays a small monthly communications
fee similar to a phone communications fee. She additionally contracts for a
subscription for private weather data for $15,000 for the race. That private
weather data includes extremely high resolution satellite imagery on which
every squall can be seen and tracked. This imagery is not customized for the
particular boat and is available to any boat that pays for it and has the ability
to download it.
Question 2
Do any of these boats break rule 41(c) if they receive information using the
services described?
Answer 2
Boat A does not break rule 41(c). She does not pay a fee for the information
she receives. Paying a fee for a communications system, such as an Inmarsat
or VSAT system, and a monthly communication fee that enables her to
communicate and access information on the internet does not break rule
41(c).
Boat B breaks rule 41(c). The routing and weather information that B
downloads cannot be accessed without the special-purpose software that B
purchased. Therefore she is receiving information that is not freely available
to boats that have not made that purchase.
Boats C and D break rule 41(c). The fees that they pay enable them to
receive weather information that they would not be able to receive if they
had not paid the fees. The requirement to pay a fee for information, whether
it is large or small, means that that information is not available at no
monetary cost, and therefore the information is not ‘freely available’.
Question 3
Can rule 41(c) be changed for a particular event?
Answer 3
Yes. See rule 86.1. Rule 41(c) is a rule that may be changed for an event
provided that the procedure established in the rules for such changes is
followed. Case 121 discusses that procedure.
Question 4
Can the restriction stated in rule 41(c) be changed for an event without
changing the rule?
Answer 4
No.
World Sailing 2012