Situation
A sailing instruction, using the wording of Appendix L16.4, states that notices of protests by the race committee or protest committee will be posted to inform boats under rule 61.1(b).

The race committee decides to protest boat X and informs her orally, within the protest time limit, of its intention to protest. However, no notice of protest against the boat is posted on the official notice board within the protest time limit. The protest is included in the schedule of hearings that is posted after the protest time limit as required by a sailing instruction using the wording of Appendix L16.3.

Question
Is the protest valid?

Answer
Yes.

By informing the boat of their intention to protest the race committee fulfilled the requirement of rule 61.1(b) to inform the boat.

Sailing instruction L16.4 informs the competitors that a notice will be posted and that they have to look for information on the notice board. However, as it does not change rule 61.1(b) by specifically referring to the rule and stating the change, it does not limit the ways of communicating an intention to protest to that notice. The schedule of hearings, posted after the protest time limit according to sailing instruction L16.3, is irrelevant to both rule 61.1(b) and sailing instruction L16.4.

Note that although sailing instruction L16.4 does not change rule 61.1(b), posting a notice of protest within the protest time limit, regardless of the oral information given, will avoid any doubt or misunderstandings.