Sailing is a tight sport, and officials need to be aware of conflicts of interest and how to handle them.

Measurers, protest committees, equipment auditors and others need to be aware of their conflict of interests and how to manage them. Awareness is the first step, followed by declaring them and then declining appointments or activities if appropriate.

Excellent guidance can be found in the Equipment Rules of Sailing’s H1.1 which states that “An official measurer shall not carry out certification control of any part of a boat owned, designed or built by himself, or in which he is an interested party, or has a vested interest, except where permitted by the MNA or World Sailing for In-House Certification.”

What this tells us is that you cannot do it unless an authority gives you permission, or the system you’re operating in permits it. This is the case for example, with IRC and ORC, and class measurers in Australia. There are cases from time to time where for some genuine, practical reason an exemption has been approved, but generally it is a no go zone. If the measurer has an interest and there is someone else appropriately qualified who could do it, get them to do it.

Exactly the same applies for equipment auditors. In December 2019 Australian Sailing made a statement that: “An Equipment Auditor shall not audit any part of a boat owned, designed or built by themselves, or that they provide equipment or services to, or crews on, or in which they are an interested party, or have a vested interest, except where permitted by Australian Sailing.” Fortunately most clubs that require equipment audits have a number of people accredited as Club or National Equipment Auditors and conflicts of interest can be avoided.

World Sailing provides an excellent framework for protest committees that need to manage this in rule 63.4 which says, in part “A member of a protest committee with a conflict of interest shall not be a member of the committee for the hearing, unless all parties consent, or the protest committee decides that the conflict of interest is not significant.” Appendix M2.3 in the RRS provides further advice to protest committees for assessing and handling conflicts of interest.

Ultimately people who are playing an official role have an obligation to act in the best interests of sailing and in accordance with the rules. They are expected to act impartially and objectively and to actively take steps to avoid conflicts. And the conflicts matter because they affect discussions and decision-making and may result in decisions being reached that are not in the best interests of sailing. They can give the impression that improper conduct has occurred even when it has not.

The Equipment Rules of Sailing can be found here.
Australian Sailings policy for equipment auditors is here.
For the Racing Rules of Sailing go here.
World Sailing have a policy on their website here.

By Glen Stanaway