The 2025-2028 RRS changed 44.3(c) to the nearest 10th of a point from the nearest whole number rounded up, perhaps to be consistent with A9.
44.3(c) The race score for a boat that takes a Scoring Penalty shall be the score she would have received without that penalty, made
worse by the number of points stated in the notice of race or sailing instructions. When the number of points is not stated,
the penalty shall be 20% of the score for Did Not Finish, rounded to the nearest tenth of a point (0.05 rounded upward).
A9 GUIDANCE ON REDRESS
If the protest committee decides to give redress by adjusting a boat’s score for a race, it is advised to consider scoring her
(a) points equal to the average, to the nearest tenth of a point (0.05 to be rounded upward), of her points in all the races in the
series except the race in question.
My question is, is there a need for scoring to the nearest tenth of a point today besides race ties? Does anyone know of or have examples? The only examples of decimals in scoring that I can think of are covered in A8 Race Ties. If two boats cross the finish at the same instant in third place, they will both be scored 3.5.
Thank you.
https://d7qh6ksdplczd.cloudfront.net/sailing/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/05014723/017-23-Rule-44.3c.pdf
So when redress is given as other than a whole number, the score of boats that placed below the redress score is worsened by 1 place.
RRS 60.5(b) says
(b) A boat shall only be penalized
(1) at a protest hearing to which she is a party,
(2) under rule 62.4, 64 or 69, or
(3) under a rule which expressly states that a penalty may be applied without a hearing.
Isn't worsening a boat's score penalising her?
Surely the opposite position would prohibit any redress, since whether you award a non finisher 8.6 points or 9 points as redress, every boat with 10 points or more drops one place in the sequence of finishers, though their score is unchanged.
When I said 'the score of boats that placed below the redress score is worsened by 1 place' I was being loose with 'score' and 'place'.
I agree that scoring one boat with a fractional score does not change or worsen the score of any other boat.
But it does change the place of some boats in the race or pointscore.
RRS 61.4(b) refers to 'score or place in a race or series' for that very reason.
So, I should have said in the last line of my previous post:
Isn't worsening a boat's place in a race or series penalising her?
Interesting and very reasonable point. Practically speaking any adjustment of a boats score potentially affects other competitors race order and more importantly series places, so I go to my dictionary and get penalise - subject [competitor] to disadvantage or penalty. So on one reading one may certainly say that any redress award may penalize other boats, and therefore is forbidden. Clearly that's not the intent of the rule! But can we look at it another way? Redress comes up as put right again, restore equality etc. Redress is not a bonus for the boat receiving it, its the PC's best attempt to restore the race results to what they would have been had the improper or illegal action not occurred. So may we argue that the pre-redress award placing was actually a temporary artefact of the scoring process, rather than a genuine result, and therefore should be corrected just as any other scoring error would be corrected? And further may we argue that in detail the boats below the redressee are actually slightly benefitted, since they receive a score one point better than they would have done had the redress been unnecessary and the redressee finished in the place they should have done?
I'm not sure I've phrased this as well as I might, but hope the thread is intelligible.