With the pandemic affecting people’s ability to attend their clubs or be in close proximity the number of organisations using electronic meeting and web-conferencing systems has proliferated. Protest committees can take advantage of the same technology.

Sailing clubs have found themselves in new circumstances and people who may have been ‘technically reluctant’ are now adept users of online web-conferencing systems. Australian Sailing has been asked if these systems can be used for hearings conducted under the RRS and the answer is yes.

The Rules Specialist Group has produced an excellent resource that offers guidance on doing hearings by remote or electronic means. The advice offers information on good techniques and common problems, handling witnesses and the parties, and provides a code of conduct that competitors should agree to adhere to.

Jonathan Rees, one of Australia’s National Judges recently conducted a remote hearing to handle a boat on boat protest.

We made the following changes to usual protest procedure:
1. The day before the hearing the participants received a notice of hearing outlining the arrangements (see below)
2. Before formally commencing the hearing with both parties present the chair confirmed that the parties understood and agreed to the process.
3. When the remote party told his story the Jury Secretary positioned the models on the whiteboard according to the remote parties instructions.
4. While the committee deliberated the secretary moved the remote party into the zoom waiting room.
The process worked well and both parties were satisfied with both the process and outcome.  There were some intermittent issues with the remote parties audio which did not unduly disrupt the process.”

The risk of intermittent issues is important. Everyone’s technology must work and the protest committee, witnesses and parties must be in appropriate places to do an online hearing. Good video cameras and microphones, understanding frame composition so people can see each other properly, and having no background noises are all part of a remote hearing’s success. 

The Rules Specialist Group’s advice can be found at https://www.sailingresources.org.au/class-assoc/rsg/. 
The RRS can be found here https://www.sailingresources.org.au/class-assoc/racing-rules/.

By Glen Stanaway https://www.sailing.org.au/about/ourstaff/