CASE 48        

Rule 63.2, Hearings: Time and Place of the Hearing; Time for Parties to Prepare

Part 5 of the racing rules aims to protect a boat from miscarriage of justice, not to provide loopholes for protestees. A protestee has a duty to protect herself by acting reasonably before a hearing.

Summary of the Facts
Two close-hauled port-tack boats, W and L, were approaching a windward port-hand mark. W established an inside overlap on L five to six hull lengths from the mark and hailed L for room to round it. L refused, saying that W was not entitled to room on a beat. W passed the mark on the wrong side, circled back, rounded the mark to port, displayed a protest flag, and informed L that a protest would be lodged. L was disqualified under rule 18.2(a) and appealed.

The appeal alleged that, contrary to rule 63.2, L’s helmsman was aware that a hearing was being held only when he was told to attend it; he was refused permission to read the protest outside the hearing room but was required to read it while the hearing was in progress; and he was not given a reasonable time to prepare a defence. Further, no facts were presented in the hearing to establish that W had attained an inside overlap in proper time.

The protest committee commented upon the appeal as follows: the time of the hearing was posted on the official notice board; W’s protest was lodged with the race office and was available for reading for well over an hour prior to that time; her helmsman informed L’s helmsman that the protest had been lodged; he made no effort to prepare a defence; he had to be summoned from the club’s dining room when the protest committee, the other party, and the witnesses were assembled and ready to proceed.

Decision
Appeal dismissed for the reasons given by the protest committee in its comments. L’s helmsman knew that his boat was being protested, and it was his duty to protect himself by acting reasonably, which included seeking out W’s protest form, reading it, and using the ample time available to prepare his defence. The protest committee found as fact that W became overlapped inside L in proper time, and that finding, as required by rule 70.1, is final.

RYA 1980/5