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I've Chaired the Protest Committee at a couple of events recently, and thought
to give a short 2 minute welcome speech at the initial competitors' briefing.
Hello and Welcome.
The Protest Committee offers a dispute resolution service. If you are aggrieved,
promptly hail "X X protests Y Y". We'll do what we can to help if no turn is
taken.
If there is a protest, by all means have a chat to clarify what happened. You
may decide not to be aggrieved after all, and that is ALWAYS a choice.
In your chat, explain your point, respect theirs. No bullying, telling anyone what to do,
repeating allegations, raising voices, etc. There are three relevant Rules.
Unique to Radio Sailing is Rule E2.2. A competitor
shall not give advice to another competitor.
Then there is Rule 2 FAIR SAILING. A boat and her owner shall compete
[with] sportsmanship and fair play.
And Rule 69 MISCONDUCT, which is, very simply, defined as bad manners
[etc].
If there was contact and no boat took a turn, keep in mind
that the Race Committee WILL be aggrieved.
If an observer called "Contact", a chat to clarify what happened is acceptable.
But arguing with an observer could bring Rule 2 and even Rule 69 into play.
Always good manners, please.
There may be some chat about Rule E4.3(b), Taking a Penalty: "If a boat gained
an advantage despite taking a penalty, she shall take additional turns until her
advantage is lost".
It may help to know that any advantage is relative to the whole fleet (*).
Sometimes a boat may be in a better position after taking a turn compared to the
boat she fouled, but she is almost always in a worse position in the fleet.
In this case
no further turns are due.
When you are an observer, call ONLY if you are quite certain. Do NOT call if you
think that the contact probably happened, or likely happened because the mark
bobbed up and down, or because some competitor is making a noise.
It is good practice for you to take a moment to consider what you saw and heard
before calling. Your call does not need to be instantaneous, and it gives the
boat a moment to acknowledge their breach.
Please ask if you'd like to know more about any of this. Fair winds!
(*) As explained in Call P4 of the World Sailing Call Book for
Radio Sailing.
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