Rules Disputes
The RYA has produced a
Rules Disputes Best Practice to help clubs, race officials and sailors ensure that racing is carried out in an enjoyable way within the Racing Rules of Sailing.
Background:
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Rules observance is key to good racing however,
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Rules observance is becoming neglected, because
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Rules observance is not backed up by rules enforcement, because
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Too few protests are lodged, because
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Protest hearings are too slow, too late and too adversarial.
The RYA has addressed this with new Rules Disputes procedures, of which the main elements are:
- A new 20% place penalty the Exoneration Penalty which can be accepted after coming ashore.
- When no protest is being lodged, a competitor can ask for an Advisory Hearing with a Rules Advisor that formalises the type of discussion that often occurs anyway after racing, arising from which a boat might agree to take an Exoneration Penalty.
- When a protest is lodged for an uncomplicated incident, it can be decided promptly by RYA Arbitration run by a single Rules Advisor, whose power to penalize is limited to offering an Exoneration Penalty. If this is accepted, it resolves the matter; if not, it goes to a full protest hearing with the normal possibility of disqualification.
The RYA Protest Form on the RYA Website has been modified to deal with Arbitration.
To bring this into force:
- It must be provided for in the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions.
- The Club or event must have one or more Rules Advisors ready to handle rules disputes after racing.
To help this process, the RYA offers a days training at local venues for potential Rules Advisors. This is not a formal qualification, and the decision as to who shall be a Clubs Rules Advisor(s) is purely for the Club.
The course is aimed at
(a) the process of running an advisory hearing or an arbitration hearing, and
(b) the techniques of finding facts establishing what happened.
This course cannot hope to teach all the rules themselves, although there is plenty of practical work to get experience of applying the rules to the facts.
The ideal arrangement is a course at one club attended by members of local clubs between 12 and 16 people is a good figure. The expenses of the presenter are met by the RYA. A screen and Powerpoint projector are needed.
Courses in your area will be run or arranged by your Regional Rules Advisor, whose contact details can be found at
www.rya.org.uk/workingwithus/raceofficials/judump/rradvisors
Alternatively contact the RYA Racing Rules Administrator on 0845 345 0382 or
rulesadmin@rya.org.uk?