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Originally posted by polc1410
I'm a dinghy sailor. I often sail with a handheld VHF Radio, which if sailing in open water will be on CH16 or if within the confines of a sailing club CH37M or the local working chanel. It has just always been something that felt the right thing to do... to have the option to communicate with safety personnel if needed, and to be aware of other local issues (shipping etc).
If the Notice of Race / Sailing Instruction says:
Except in an emergency, A boat shall neither make radio transmissions while racing nor receive radio communications not available to all boats. This restriction also applies to mobile telephones.
Can I carry, and listen to the race operating chanel (eg 37M or 80) if every other boat is not carrying a VHF radio. Or if I'm carrying it does it need to be off (or on CH16) rather than a chanel where race officers may be communicating.
I would expect few other dinghy sailors have VHF with them. So the situation is probably different from Yacht Racing where every craft would have VHF and so the debate would be how its used. The only example in the case book relates to a yacht that saught what was deemed tactical advice from another competitor, and was disqualified for seeking outside assistance, in my situation my concern is that someone may argue any communication I make or hear may not be available to all boats because not all boats have VHF radio??
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See RYA Appeals 1998/1 and 2005/5.
RYA Appeal 2005/5 states:
Information available at no cost other than the cost of subscribing to and using a generally available and nonspecialised service through which it is to be obtained is 'freely available'.
Thus a VHF transmission by a race committee is 'freely available'. It cannot then be argued that such a transmission is 'not available'.
Additionally, anyone wishing to protest you would be faced with some difficulty in proving what you heard.
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