Section P - Protests and Penalties

RS CALL P2

Rule 61.1(a), Protest Requirements: Informing the Protestee
Rule E2.1, Hailing Requirements
Rule E6.3, Informing the Protestee

When a sail number is not visible, a competitor wishing to protest may hail a short description of the boat providing that he hails the correct sail number as soon as reasonably possible.

Assumed Facts

Several boats round a mark together at the same time. A boat wishes to protest another boat, but the sail number is obscured to the competitor by other boats.

Question

How may a competitor protest an unidentified boat?

Answer

In radio sailing, a hail of protest is obligatory for a boat intending to protest another boat for an incident in the racing area. Rule E6.3 requires that the protesting boat must inform the other boat at the first reasonable opportunity, and prescribes the form of the hail that must be made when the protest concerns an incident in the racing area.

The competitor controlling a boat will normally be able to identify the other boat in an incident. However, mark roundings in radio sailing can be very crowded and competitors are often unable to read immediately the sail numbers of one or more specific boats that are rounding at the same time. In this case, in any hail, other features may be used initially to identify a boat, provided that she is identified by her sail number at the first reasonable opportunity, which would be immediately that sail number becomes visible. Descriptions such as 'the red boat' or 'the boat to windward of Y' would establish the identity of a boat at a time before it is possible to read the sail number. A hail of “Y protests red boat”, would identify the protested boat and be deemed a valid protest if followed shortly afterwards by “Y protests red boat number ….”

Also, whilst competitors may not be able to identify nearby boats, they will know where their own boat is. Therefore, when protesting without being able to read the sail numbers, a competitor may indicate where the incident took place: “Y, at the windward mark, protests the boat outside her”

Even hailing “Y protests unidentified boat” will establish that Y believes that a rule has been broken, although this hail could not be deemed a valid protest unless followed rapidly by a clear identification of the boat. Such a hail would inform any boat in the proximity of Y that Y had reason to believe t hat a rule had been broken.