Racing Rules: Exoneration penalties, arbitration, etc

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Exoneration penalties, arbitration, etc

Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Racing Rules
Forum Discription: Discuss the rules and your interpretations here
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9294
Printed Date: 28 Jun 25 at 8:15pm
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Topic: Exoneration penalties, arbitration, etc

Posted By: Vronny
Subject: Exoneration penalties, arbitration, etc
Date Posted: 04 May 12 at 5:53pm

It seems like lots of clubs have adopted the Exoneration Penalty system and the Advisory Hearings and Arbitration procedures. We're thinking of doing this at my club. What do people make of it? Is it good in helping understanding and observance of the racing rules?

Replies:

Posted By: Vronny
Date Posted: 05 May 12 at 8:55am

I'm curious to know if most clubs have adopted the scheme just as set out in the RYA Best Practice doc or have some made adjustments - eg. using a higher scoring penalty than the usual 20%?

Posted By: gordon
Date Posted: 07 May 12 at 12:31pm

I believe that the Exoneration Penalty should only be available for infringements that boats can take turns on the water. Not sure if the RYA system is completely clear on this.

If, after arbitration, it is found that a boat has broken a rule for which rule 44 does not allow her to take turns then I beleive that that boat should be invited to retire, and if she refuses then the incident should go to the protest room.

Gordon

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Gordon

Posted By: Vronny
Date Posted: 07 May 12 at 4:28pm

Yes, that's the system as I understand it. But it does worry me that it could be abused a bit. For example, the usual penalty clubs have adopted is 20% (minimum 2 points). In a club race in windy weather someone might decide it's better for their chances to not do a 2-turns penalty but accept the scoring penalty afterwards. That way they save themselves the worry of a capsize or losing to half the fleet when doing turns.

Is this fair?

Have some clubs increased the scoring penalty because of this?

Posted By: sargesail
Date Posted: 07 May 12 at 8:09pm

My word - I'd take 2 turns rather than 20% any day!

Posted By: gordon
Date Posted: 07 May 12 at 8:14pm

If you can demonstrate that a competitor knew they had broken a rule and did not take a penalty then that is a Rule 2 infringement the penalty for which is DNE. There is aslo the possiility of taking action under rule 69.

IMHO we should be more pro-active in using rules 2 and 69
Gordon

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Gordon

Posted By: Vronny
Date Posted: 07 May 12 at 10:24pm

Originally posted by sargesail

My word - I'd take 2 turns rather than 20% any day!

But if that just means a 2 point penalty as opposed to doing a 2-turn penalty which could lose you several places, especially late in a race when it might be hard to get those places back ?

And the other thing is that taking a penalty doesn't affect anyone else's score. So if you were leading you get 2 extra points and so end up with 3 points. But the boat that was second still has 2 points, and the boat that was third has 3 points just like you've ended up with. So that penalty doesn't seem very punishing!

Posted By: Vronny
Date Posted: 07 May 12 at 10:32pm

Originally posted by Vronny

Originally posted by sargesail

My word - I'd take 2 turns rather than 20% any day!

But if that just means a 2 point penalty as opposed to doing a 2-turn penalty which could lose you several places, especially late in a race when it might be hard to get those places back ?

Obviously, as the fleet size gets bigger the penalty points increase - so 3 points for a fleet of 15 boats.

But if other boats scores stay the same, it's still not a big difference.

Have any clubs that have introduced the scheme noticed anyone prefering to take scoring penalties rather than do turns? Hopefully not. But at my club I'm proposing we adopt this scheme and I just want to know if there are any unexpected consequences.