Protests and Penalties
- Adherence to the racing rules relies on a “protest system”, in which competitors protest to the implicated competitor(s) AND to the Race Referee, when they feel the rules have not been followed.
- It is the responsibility of all competitors to be familiar with the race rules and regulations.
- The Race referee meets to
- Establish the facts
- Lay blame to any boat which has broken the rules.
- For the protest system to work, the facts have to be presented clearly and without bias.
- For a protest to be valid, the protester has to both hail the offending boat at the time of the incident, and notify the Race Referee immediately after the race.
- If during the race a boat recognizes it is at fault, it can exonerate itself by performing a penalty of 2 complete circles (720º turn).
- Touching a mark has the penalty of 1 complete boat circle (360º turn).
- Protests brought to the Race Referee are resolved with
- Disqualification of the offending boat if found at fault; or
- Disqualification of the protestor if the accused boat is NOT found to be at fault.