Case 110
Rule 62.1(b), Redress
A boat physically damaged from contact with a boat that was breaking a rule of Part 2 is eligible for redress only if the damage itself significantly worsened her score or place. Contact is not necessary for one boat to cause injury or physical damage to another. A worsening of a boat's score or place caused by an avoiding manoeuvre is not, by itself, grounds for redress. “Injury” refers to bodily injury to a person and, in rule 62.1(b), “damage” is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment.
Facts
Boat B is required to keep clear of Boat A. However, B collides with A, turning A 180 degrees before she is able to continue sailing to the next mark. A loses five finishing places because of the incident. She protests B and requests redress under rule 62.1(b). During the hearing, A’s protest is upheld and B is penalized. The protest committee also finds that there was physical damage to A but that the damage itself did not affect her ability to proceed in the race at normal speed.

Question 1
Is A entitled to redress?

Answer 1
No. Under rule 62.1(b), the damage itself must be the reason a boat's score is made significantly worse. In this case the damage had no effect on A's score.

Question 2
Must contact between the boats occur in order for redress to be granted under rule 62.1(b)?

Answer 2
No. A boat that suffers injury to a member of her crew or physical damage while acting to avoid contact with a boat that has broken a rule of Part 2 may be entitled to redress if the injury or damage is found to have made her score significantly worse and was not her fault. See also Case 135.

Question 3
If there had been no collision because A had been able to avoid B by changing course 180 degrees, but A lost five places as a result, would she have suffered “injury” or “damage” as those terms are used in rule 62.1(b)?
 
Answer 3 No. "Injury" in the racing rules refers only to bodily injury to a person, and “damage” is limited to physical damage to a boat or her equipment. 

USA 1996/73 and 2007/98 
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