Getting your race put right
The situation
A sailor is fouled by a boat that doesn't take her turns, and the contact breaks her rudder fitting so she can't finish the race.
The question
Beyond protesting, can the fouled sailor get her result fixed?
The ruling
She can ask for redress under rule 61. Redress may be given when a boat's score is made significantly worse, through no fault of her own, by physical damage caused by a boat breaking a Part 2 rule (among other grounds, like a race-committee error or giving help under rule 1.1). She should protest the foul and request redress; the protest committee can then adjust her score to be fair — for example, awarding average points. Redress is how the system makes things right when something outside her control wrecks her race.
Wrecked through no fault of your own (e.g. damaged by a fouling boat)? Ask for redress (rule 61) to get your score put right.
Opens the situation on the boat-length grid — scrub it and see exactly how the boats meet. Free, no account needed.
Rules cited
- Rule 61 — Redress
- Rule 14 — Avoiding Contact
See the underlying rule: Rule 14 — Avoiding Contact.
Related cases
- A competitor in trouble · Any Time
Racing along in a good position, a sailor sees a competitor capsized and tangled in her rig, clearly in trouble and unable to free herself.
- Contact and damage · Any Time
Two Optis collide at a mark and one cracks her hull. The right-of-way boat says it wasn't her fault, so she keeps racing.
- Right of way, but contact · Any Time
Starboard-tack Green stands on, confident in her rights. Port-tack Red misjudges the cross, the hulls touch, and there's damage.
- How to protest · Any Time
A boat fouls Harper and doesn't take a penalty. Harper wants to protest so it gets sorted out on shore.
Related guide
- How to file a sailing protest: the step-by-step
How to file a sailing protest under RRS Part 5: hail "Protest", show your red flag if required, beat the time limit, and write clear, factual evidence.