3/1/2014 10:34:05 AM by Andrew Alberti

March 2014 - Protest Committees I

The Racing Rules of Sailing begin with Basic Principles and the first of these is, “Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce.” Ideally sailors will follow the letter and spirit of this principle and protests aren’t necessary, but sometimes things happen on the race course that require a protest committee to sort out. I am going to spend the next couple of articles discussing some of the key points about hearing protests. I will deal with the structure and process of a protest itself, rather than who was right and who was wrong on the water. This should help you, whether you find yourself serving on a protest committee as a volunteer or as a competitor on the other side of the table.