GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR UMPIRE DECISIONS

The following general principles apply to umpire decisions:

1. 'Last Point of Certainty'

There are many occasions when umpires are required to judge (often from imperfect positions) the exact moment when the state of a boat, or her relationship with another boat, changes. Examples include passing head to wind or establishing an overlap.

In such cases the umpires will assume this state or relationship has not changed until they are certain that it has changed.


2. Disagreement between Umpires
There are occasions when umpires disagree over what the decision should be. In such cases, even if there has been contact, the umpires will signal 'no penalty' rather than penalize one boat or the other.

3. Rule 14: Avoiding Contact
Any incident involving contact will also involve rule 14. However, when the umpires decide that a boat required to keep clear or give room is to be penalized for breaking another rule of Part 2, a breach of rule 14 will not result in an additional penalty unless there is damage. Except in this case, rule 14 has no impact on the immediate umpire decision, and is therefore not addressed separately in each call in this book.

4. Definition: Room, and meaning of 'in a seamanlike way'
World Sailing Case 21 states that ‘extraordinary’ and ‘abnormal’ manoeuvres are unseamanlike. Some actions that are abnormal and therefore unseamanlike in a fleet of many boats will be considered normal and therefore seamanlike in a team race. However, any manoeuvre that puts a boat or crew at risk of damage is unseamanlike. The umpires will judge each incident on the basis of the boat’s actions in relation to the wind and water conditions she is experiencing at the time.


5. Advantage Gained after Breaking a Rule
When a boat breaks a rule and she, or another boat on her team, takes a penalty, the umpires will decide if the boat's team has gained an advantage despite the penalty taken. If so, they will act under rule D2.3(c). Except for some calls in Section M, this is not addressed separately in each call in this book.