Over the line

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by jeffers The sound signal means nothing, it is purely there to draw attention to a flag. Are you sure that's the case? Are you thinking of rule 26 "the absence of a sound signal shall be disregarded"? Surely that only applies to the start sequence flags doesn't it?

A race committee signal comprises both the flag and the sound.

• rule 27.3 postpone or abandon before starting:  the signal flag with sounds
• rule 29.1 individual recall:  flag X with one sound signal (and many cases)
• rule 29.1 general recall:  First Sub with two sounds
• rule 32 shorten or abandon after starting:  the sigal flag with sounds
• rule 33 changing a leg:  flag C with repetitive sounds

Originally posted by JimC Was there a redress hearing? They shouldn't really be reinstated without one. Case 79 says Rule 29.1, Recalls: Individual Recall When a boat has no reason to know that she crossed the starting line early and the race committee fails to promptly signal ‘Individual recall’ and scores her OCS, this is an error that significantly worsens the boat’s score through no fault of her own, and therefore entitles her to redress.

Edited by Brass - 14 Jun 12 at 4:06pm

Originally posted by Brass   I agree with Paul, that the race committee should have recorded her finishing time ('cos if they didn't that will make calculating redress allowance harder).   If the race committee did score her with a finishing place, then she can sit pat.   [/QUOTE   And just to expand on that, the calculated redress (based on an actual finish position/time) would be adjusted to take into account the act of returning and starting correctly.

Whilst the results are provisional - usually until the end of the series and any associated hearings- the Race Committee may correct any scoring errors without a hearing, within the bounds of rule A5. The boat can always request redress if she is unhappy.

In this case, if the boat was clearly on course side the chances of her obtaining redress for the improper action of the Race Committee are zero - see cases 31 and 79

You could change the results a long time after the prizes are presented and everyone has gone home - but this is perhaps not the best way to win friends and get them to come back. Personally I consider results as provisional until the time limit for lodging an appeal is past.

If the boat has no reason to know she is over the line (that would be what you are talking about) then she can hope for redress, but if a boat is clearly informed that she is OCS (as was the case many years ago when recall numbers were standard practice) she must return and start correctly.

If the boat could not know she was over because it was by a very narrow margin,, there was an error in the signals and she was later informed then, if redress was granted I would include the time it took for her to be informed that she was included in the redress - this is the time it took for the race committee to repair it's improper action. If the signal had been made correctly then the boat could have returned immediately. She should lose no more time than that required to return after a proper signal.