There is a rarely used rule that allows protest committee’s to have their decision confirmed or corrected. This can really help those protest committees get decisions right and avoid appeals.

The rarely used rule in question is RRS 70.2. This rule simply says, “A protest committee may request confirmation or correction of its decision.” This permits any protest committee in Australia to follow the process and get Australian Sailing to confirm or correct its work.

One benefit is that protest committees who are inexperienced, under practiced, or dealing with particularly complex (politically or technically) hearings aren’t left exposed to potentially incorrect decisions. Another benefit is that sailors who rarely protest, let alone appeal, can be absolved of the complexities of appealing. Requesting confirmation or correction also may save a little time in the whole appeal process.

How this works is that the protest committee decides to do this. The race committee or any party to a hearing might suggest it, even ask it, but ultimately it is the protest committee’s decision to do so.

Once deciding to do so, the protest committee compiles the same information required by an appeal under Appendix R and sends it to Australian Sailing on the same appeal form. The information Australian Sailing requires is listed in rule Appendix R2.2. These are:

• the written protest(s) or request(s) for redress
• the diagram showing positions and tracks of boats, etc
• the race documents governing the event
• any additional documents
• the names and contact details for every party to the hearing

All this information needs to be sent by the protest committee to Australian Sailing within 15 days. The protest committee can do it immediately, if they wish. That really fast tracks the process.

Australian Sailing then treats the information as an appeal. A panel of rules experts get pulled together who are usually people from other states or territories get used to avoid the risk of perceived local biases. Fortunately, Australia has a pool of national and international judges who are at the top of their field.

Once the process is complete and Australian Sailing issues its decision either confirming or correcting the protest committee’s decision, the matter is closed. Rule 71.4 says that the national authority decision is final, and all parties are bound by the decision. This can be very helpful to those protest committees dealing with complex cases. Their first responsibility is to deal with the protest, but they can have their work checked independently.

There has been a recent case from the Southport Yacht Club that took advantage of this process. The SYC’s protest committee is commended for knowing this provision is available to them, and for not being too proud to get their work checked. The decision is available and listed with other appeal decisions.

The SYC request decision is listed with all other decisions here.
For information about appeals, please click here.
All things RRS, go to the Rules Hub.

By Melanie Peasey