This guide is for the protest committee chair and members, and for the race officer who handles hearing requests at an event without a separate jury. Competitors filing a request should read filing a hearing request.
Before the event
- Add the chair and members to the event with the protest chair role. They see hearing requests and the hearing record without access to the rest of the race office.
- Check that the sailing instructions state the protest time limit, where hearings are held, and whether hearing requests are filed online. Unless the sailing instructions say otherwise, rule 60.3 sets the limit at two hours after the last boat in the race finishes for an incident in the racing area, and two hours after the protestor has the information for any other protest. Many events use the last race of the day instead; if yours does, say so in the SI.
- Decide whether to offer arbitration (Appendix T) and whether on-water judges will apply rule 42 penalties under Appendix P.
Receiving requests
Requests arrive in the hearings list as they are filed, stamped with the time of filing. Each one shows the type (protest, redress, reopening, or a scoring inquiry), the parties, the race, the incident description and the rules the filer believes were broken, and how the protestee was informed.
A request filed after the time limit is marked late. Whether to extend the limit under rule 60.3 is the committee's decision; the software does not refuse a late request.
Scoring inquiries go to the scorer, not to a hearing. If the scorer cannot settle one and the competitor believes their score was made worse through no fault of their own, they can file a redress request.
Scheduling
Give each hearing a time, a room, a chair and a panel, with each member's conflict-of-interest declaration ("None" is fine). Choose a hearing or Appendix T arbitration. The schedule is posted on the event's notice board and Protests tab as soon as you save it, and the parties are emailed. Group hearings about the same incident so the witnesses are called once.
In the hearing
Record the facts found, the conclusions and the rules that apply, and the decision. The form follows the order in which rule 63.6 asks a committee to inform the parties, so completing it in order produces the written decision a party can ask for.
Decisions and scoring
When the decision changes a score (a disqualification, a scoring penalty, redress, a discretionary penalty) record it as the decision's outcome. It goes to the scorer as a scoring case, with the hearing referenced, and the next results publication applies it. Redress follows the options in Appendix A9 or the committee's own arrangement.
Publishing a decision posts it on the event's notice board and Protests tab, with the facts found, the conclusions, the rules and the deadline for asking to reopen. A party can ask for the decision in writing; the published decision is that record.
Reopening
A request to reopen a hearing under rule 63.7 is filed like any other request and is linked to the original hearing, so the committee sees the earlier decision when it considers it. The request is due within 24 hours of the party being told the decision, and sooner on the last scheduled day of racing.
The rule 42 list
Penalties signalled on the water by judges under Appendix P are entered against the boat and race, and the list is posted with the protest decisions.