As those who race in JAM C are well aware, on Aug 9th there was an error in the starting sequence. One of the boats affected by this filed a Request for Redress. The decision of the protest committee hearing that Request for Redress was to award all JAM C boats which participated in the race on August 9th average points, in accordance with A10(a) of the Racing Rules of Sailing. This has been reflected in the revised race results.
Following are the Facts Found, Conclusion and Decision of the protest committee made in accordance with Racing Rule of Sailing (RRS) 64.2:
FACTS FOUND:
1. NSC Sailing Instruction (SI) 2.1 modifies RRS 26 but this is not noted in the NSC SIs.
2. NSC SI 2.1 prescribes the starting order.
3. RC did not post an amendment to NSC SI 2.1.
4. Three boats from Jam C started in accordance with RRS 26 but contrary to NSC SI 2.1.
5. The remaining boats from Jam C started in the third start in accordance with NSC SI 2.1 but contrary to RRS 26.CONCLUSION:
1. There is no Rule which dictates whether RRS 26 or NSC SI 2.1 takes precedence; however NSC SI 2.1 fails to note that RRS 26 has been modified.
2. An error was made by the RC in altering the order of the starts without posting an amendment to NSC SI 2.1.
3. All boats competing on Aug 9/2012 were impacted by the the error of the RC.
4. RRS 64.2 requires the Protest Committee to make as fair an arrangement as possible for all boats affected whether or not they asked for redress.DECISION:
The Protest Committee agrees to grant redress to all of the boats in Jam C which participated in the race of August 9, 2012 and award them average points in accordance with A10 (a) of the Racing Rules of Sailing.Protest Committee:
Mike McEvoy, Chair
Marg Hurley, Member
Konrad Lewinski, Member
Tamara Terzic, Observer
Thank you to the protest committee for hearing this difficult Request for Redress.
Hugh Morrin
Protest Committee Coordinator