APPENDIX E - RADIO-CONTROLLED BOAT RACING RULES 
Races for radio-controlled boats shall be sailed under The Racing Rules of Sailing as changed by this appendix.
E1 TERMINOLOGY, RACE SIGNALS, DEFINITIONS AND FUNDAMENTAL RULES
E1.1 Terminology
‘Boat’ means a boat that is radio-controlled by a competitor who is not on board. For ‘race’ used as a noun outside this appendix and outside Appendix A read ‘heat’. Within this appendix, a race consists of one or more heats and is completed when the last heat in the race is finished. An ‘event’ consists of one or more races. A ‘series’ consists of a specified number of races or events.
E1.2 Race Signals
Delete Race Signals. All signals shall be made orally or by other sounds described in this appendix or the sailing instructions.
E1.3 Definitions
(a) Add to the definition Interested Party: ‘but not a competitor when acting as an observer’.
(b) Delete the definition Two-Length Zone and add
a new definition, Four-Length Zone: ‘The area around a mark or
obstruction within a distance of four hull lengths of the boat nearer
to it.’ Wherever ‘two-length zone’ is used in rule 18
replace it with ‘four-length zone’.
E1.4 Personal Buoyancy
Rule 1.2 is changed to ‘When on board a rescue boat, each competitor shall be responsible for wearing personal buoyancy adequate for the conditions.’
E1.5 Aerials
Transmitter aerial extremities shall be adequately protected. When a protest committee finds that a competitor has broken this rule it shall either warn him and give him time to comply or penalize him.
E2 PART 2 WHEN BOATS MEET
Rule 21 is changed to
CAPSIZED OR ENTANGLED
If possible, a boat shall avoid a boat that is capsized or entangled, or has not regained control after capsizing or entanglement. A boat is capsized when her masthead is in the water. Two or more boats are entangled when lying together for a period of time so that no boat is capable of manoeuvring to break free of the other(s).
E3 PART 3 CONDUCT OF A RACE
E3.1 Races with Observers
The race committee may appoint race observers, who may be competitors. They shall remain in the control area while boats are racing and they shall hail and repeat the identity of boats that contact a mark or another boat. Such hails shall be made from the control area. Observers shall report all unresolved incidents to the race committee at the end of the heat.
E3.2 Course Board
Rule J2.1(4) is deleted. A course board showing the course and the limits of the control area and launching area(s) shall be located next to or within the control area with information clearly visible to competitors while racing.
E3.3 Control and Launching Areas
The control and launching area(s) shall be defined by the sailing instructions. Competitors racing shall remain in the control area while a heat is in progress, except that competitors may briefly go to and return from the launching area to perform functions permitted in rule E4.5. Competitors not racing shall remain outside the control and launching areas except when offering assistance under rule E4.2 or when acting as race observers.
E3.4 Non-applicable Rules
Delete the second sentence of rule 25 and all of rule 33.
E3.5 Starting Races
Rule 26 is changed to
Audible signals for starting a heat shall be at one-minute intervals and shall be a warning signal, a preparatory signal and a starting signal. During the minute before the starting signal, oral signals shall be made at ten-second intervals, and during the final ten seconds at one-second intervals. Each signal shall be timed from the beginning of its sound.
E3.6 Starting Penalties
In rules 29.1 and 30 delete the word ‘crew’. Throughout rule 30 oral announcements shall be used instead of flag signals.
E3.7 Starting and Finishing Lines
The starting and finishing lines shall be tangential to, and on the course side of, the starting and finishing marks.
E3.8 Individual Recall
In rule 29.1 replace all after ‘the race committee shall promptly’ with ‘twice hail "Recall (sail numbers)"’.
E3.9 General Recall
In rule 29.2 replace all after ‘the race committee may’ with ‘twice hail "General recall" and make two loud sounds’. The warning signal for a new start for the recalled class shall be made shortly thereafter, and the starts for any succeeding classes shall follow the new start.
E3.10 Shortening or Abandoning after the Start
In rule 32.1(b) replace ‘foul weather’ with ‘thunderstorms’. Delete rule 32.1(c).
E4 PART 4 OTHER REQUIREMENTS WHEN RACING
E4.1 Non-applicable Rules
Rules 43, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52 and 54 are deleted.
E4.2 Outside Help
Rule 41 is changed to
(a) A competitor shall not give tactical or strategic advice to a competitor who is racing.
(b) A competitor who is racing shall not receive outside help except
(1) A boat that has gone ashore or aground outside the launching area, or become entangled with another boat or a mark, may be freed and relaunched only with outside help from a rescue boat crew.
(2) Competitors who are not racing and others may give outside help in the launching area as permitted by rule E4.5.
E4.3 Propulsion
Rule 42 is changed so that any reference to body movement is deleted. Rule 42.3(f) is also deleted.
E4.4 Penalties for Breaking Rules of Part 2
Throughout rule 44 the penalty shall be one turn, including one tack and one gybe.
E4.5 Launching and Relaunching
Rule 45 is changed to
(a) A boat scheduled to race in a heat may be launched, held on the bank, taken ashore or relaunched at any time during the heat. However, she shall not be released between the preparatory and starting signals.
(b) Boats shall be launched or recovered only from within a launching area, except as provided in rule E4.2(b)(1).
(c) While ashore or within a launching area, boats may be adjusted, drained of water or repaired; have their sails changed or reefed; have entangled objects removed; or have radio equipment repaired or changed.
E4.6 Person in Charge
In rule 46 replace ‘have on board’ with ‘be radio-controlled by’.
E4.7 Radio
(a) A competitor shall not transmit radio signals that cause interference with the radio reception of other boats.
(b) A competitor found to have broken rule E4.7(a) shall not race until he has proven compliance with that rule.
E4.8 Boat Out of Radio Control
A competitor who loses radio control of his boat shall promptly hail and repeat ‘(The boat’s sail number) out of control’. Such a boat shall be considered to have retired and shall thereafter be an obstruction.
E5 PART 5 PROTESTS, REDRESS, HEARINGS, MISCONDUCT AND APPEALS
E5.1 Right to Protest; Right to Request Redress or Rule 69 Action
Add to rule 60.1(a): ‘A protest alleging a breach of a rule of Part 2, 3 or 4 shall be made only by a competitor within the control or launching area and by a boat scheduled to race in the heat in which the incident occurred.’
E5.2 Informing the Protestee
In rule 61.1(a) replace all after the first sentence with ‘When her protest concerns an incident in the racing area that she is involved in or sees, she shall twice hail "(Her own sail number) protest (the sail number of the other boat)".’
E5.3 Protest Time Limit
In rule 61.3 replace ‘two hours’ with ‘15 minutes’ and add: ‘A boat intending to protest shall also inform the race committee within five minutes of the end of the relevant heat.’
E5.4 Accepting Responsibility
A boat that acknowledges breaking a rule of Part 2, 3 or 4 before the protest is found to be valid may retire from the relevant heat without further penalty.
E5.5 Redress
(a) Add to rule 62.1:
(e) radio interference, or
(f) an entanglement or grounding because of the action of a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 or of a vessel not racing that was required to keep clear.
(b) In rule 62.2 replace ‘two hours’ with ‘15 minutes’.
E5.6 Right to Be Present
In rule 63.3(a) replace ‘shall have been on board’ with ‘shall have been radio-controlling them’.
E5.7 Taking Evidence and Finding Facts
Add to rule 63.6: ‘Evidence about an alleged breach of a rule of Part 2, 3 or 4 given by competitors shall be accepted only from a competitor who was within the control or launching area and whose boat was scheduled to race in the heat in which the incident occurred.’
E5.8 Penalties and Exoneration
When a protest committee finds that a boat has broken rule E3.3, E4.2(a) or E4.5, it shall either disqualify her from her next race or require her to make one or more penalty turns in her next race as soon as possible after starting.
E5.9 Decisions on Redress
Add to rule 64.2: ‘If a boat given redress was damaged, she shall be given reasonable time, but not more than 30 minutes, to effect repairs before her next heat.’
E5.10 Reopening a Hearing
In rule 66 replace ‘24 hours’ with ‘ten minutes’.
E6 APPENDIX G IDENTIFICATION ON SAILS
Appendix G is changed as follows:
(a) The text of rule G1.1 before rule G1.1(a) is changed to
Every boat of an ISAF Radio Sailing Division (RSD) class shall display a sail number on both sides of each sail. Class insignia and national letters shall be displayed on mainsails as stated in rules G1.1(a), G1.1(b) and E6(f)(1).
(b) Rule G1.1(c) is changed to
a sail number, which shall be the last two digits of the boat registration number or the competitor’s personal number allotted by the relevant issuing authority. A single-digit number shall be prefixed with a ‘0’. There shall be space in front of a sail number for the prefix ‘1’, which may be required by the race committee where there is a conflict between sail numbers. Where a conflict remains, the race committee shall require that sail numbers be suitably changed until the conflict is resolved. Any prefix ‘1’ or other required change shall become part of the sail number.
(c) Delete the sentence after rule G1.1(c).
(d) Rule G1.2(b) is changed to
The height of characters and distance between them on the same and opposite sides of the sail shall be as follows:
|
Minimum |
Maximum |
|
|
Class insignia: Except where positioned back to back, shortest distance between insignia on opposite sides of sail |
20 mm |
|
|
Sail numbers: Height of characters Shortest distance between adjoining characters on same side of sail Shortest distance between sail numbers on opposite sides of sail and between sail numbers and other identification |
100 mm 20 mm 60 mm |
110 mm 30 mm |
|
National letters: Height of characters Shortest distance between adjoining characters on same side of sail Shortest distance between national letters on opposite sides of sail |
60 mm 13 mm 40 mm |
70 mm 23 mm |
(e) Rule G1.3 is changed to
(1) Class insignia may be positioned back to back on opposite sides of the sail where the design coincides. Otherwise class insignia, sail numbers and national letters shall be positioned at different heights, with those on the starboard side being uppermost.
(2) On a mainsail, sail numbers shall be positioned above the national letters and below the class insignia.
(3) Sail numbers shall be positioned on a mainsail above the line perpendicular to the luff through the quarter leech point.
(f) Where the size of a sail makes it impossible to comply with the minimum dimensions in rule E6(d) or the positioning requirements in rule E6(e)(3), exceptions are permitted in the following order of priority:
(1) omission of national letters;
(2) position of the mainsail sail numbers lower than the line perpendicular to the luff through the quarter leech point;
(3) reduction of the shortest distance between sail numbers on opposite sides of the sail provided the shortest distance is not less than 20 mm;
(4) reduction of the height of sail numbers.