Case 116
Rule 62.1(b), Redress
Rule 64.2, Decisions: Decisions on Redress
Rule A10, Guidance on Redress
A discussion of redress in a situation in which a boat is damaged early in a series, is entitled to redress under rule 62.1(b), and is prevented by the damage from sailing the remaining races. In such a situation it is not fair to the other boats in the series to award her average points for half or more of the races that comprise her series score.
Facts
A regatta is held over two days, with five races scheduled. Under the scoring system if five races are completed, each boat's series score is the total of her race scores excluding her worst score. On the first day, only Race 1 is completed and boat A finishes in second place. On the second day, A finishes fifth in Race 2. Before the start of Race 3, A collides with boat B and the damage is so extensive that A is unable to compete in the remaining races of the series. She protests B and requests redress under rule 62.1(b). The protest committee finds that A is entitled to redress, and acting under rule A10(b) it awards her for Races 3 and 4 the average of her points in Races 1 and 2. A is scored DNC in Race 5, but discards that score. A's series score is the lowest and so she wins the regatta, despite having competed in only two of the five races.

Question 1
Was the redress granted to A appropriate?

Answer 1
No. Although the protest committee did not break any rule, its decision in awarding the redress was not the fairest arrangement for all boats affected (see rule 64.2). In this case, awarding a boat her average scores for half of the races that counted towards her series score is not fair to the other boats.

Question 2
What would have been a fair award of redress to A?

Answer 2
The protest committee should ensure that, after excluding her worst score, more than half of a boat's race scores are based on her finishing positions in races that she starts. Different situations may require different redress arrangements. One possibility in this particular case is that the protest committee could have awarded A redress only for the race in which the collision took place.

World Sailing 2011
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