Here is a philosophical question. Here is the rule:
60.2 Intention to Protest- If a protest concerns an incident observed by the protestor in the racing area:
- If the protestor is a boat, she shall hail ‘Protest’ and, if her hull length is longer than 6 metres, conspicuously display a red flag, at the first reasonable opportunity for each. She shall display the flag until she is no longer racing.
If it makes sense that a simple hail of "protest" is sufficient notice of intention to protest in a 5.5 meter boat, what is the rationale for why it insufficient in a boat 6 meters and greater?
A redflag generally means a protest, if seen as it should be you can take a penalty.
I like the flag, as a protest committeeit is easyif you gave flown it.
To me optimists and other small singlehanded boats had developed simple ways of displaying flags.
I agree the size distinction is not justifiable.
All boats should display flags if it was my call.
Secund thing, imagine a TP52 race with a lot of noise onboard due to the fact of carbone structure, do you really think you could hear « protest » !
As to Didier's question: kodak film cannisters, under the boom. But we don't use film anymore ...
1. A boat should know if she has broken a rule.
2. A boat that has broken a rule is required to take a penalty even if there is no hail or flag.
3. It therefore follows that to only take a penalty if and after the protest notification requirements have been met is at the least verging on unsportsmanlike conduct.
4. Given a really strict and literal interpretation of 44.2 it could be held that the time interval for hearing a hail and seeing a flag exceeds the delay permissable for starting to get clear of other boats, and therefore makes the alternate penalty invalid.
My own view is less extreme. I find it unacceptable that a failure to follow procedure precisely on the part of the injured party should constitute a get-out-of-gaol-free for the guilty, but it could justify a PC imposing a lesser penalty than disqualification.
Here's some history
Red Flag
Prior to 1961(?) the purpose of the red flag was to inform other boats that a boat was 'sailing under protest'. The red flag was the primary means of signifying this information, and was required, at least since 1947, to be displayed at the first reasonable opportunity.
Up to 1985, the requirement to inform the protestee orally was ancilliary and was not time limited: Rule 68 merely provided A protesting yacht shall try to inform the yacht she intends to protest that a protest will be lodged.
My personal recall is that in the late 1960s/early 1970s, at least by convention, for Lasers, a white handkerchief was acceptable in lieu of he red flag.
I'm not sure when the under size dispensation for dinghies was introduced, but I recall that it was originally 20 feet, which was exactly the loa of a Flying Dutchman.
The argument for introducing the dispensation was that for trapeze or solo boats it was impractical to display the flag without delay after an incident in manuy cases
Hail
The requirement for an immediate hail was introduced in 1985 in support of taking on-water penalties, which were introduced at that time as 'alternative penalties'.
The 1985 rules added the requirement for an immediate hail: A protesting yacht shall try to inform the yacht she intends to protest that a protest will be lodged. When an alternative penalty is prescribed in the sailing instructions, she shall hail the other yacht immediately.
The requirement that the hail include the word 'Protest' was introduced in the 1995 rewrite.
The hail thus became the primary means of informing the protestee, or perhaps better said the means of informing the protestee became the hail and flag together [at the first reasonable opportunity for each].
The requirement that the hail include the word 'Protest' was introduced in the 1995 rewrite.
Considering the background it is clear that the ONLY purpose of the hail of 'protest' is to facilitate the taking of a penalty.
Practicalities
In a small solo or trapeze boat it is often impractical to display a red flag without delay and continue to sail the boat to advantage. Incidents will usually take place at fairly low relative speeds between boats so that it will be usual for a hail to be readily heard.
For larger boats, it is usually quite possible to display a red flag immediately after an incident without affecting the performance of the boat. Larger boats may have greater speeds of separation after an incident so that it may be impractical to repeat an indistinct hail, and confirmation by the display of the red flag us useful. A protestee may be unsure that they have heard a hail of protest, but the red flag may assist them to make the decision to take an on-water penalty.
Protests were extremely rare. It was unusual to have a protest at a Championship .
Few people carried a red flag.
The red flag requirement served only to discourage protests and discredit the rules enforcement process.
And yes, we were lectured just as much then about how easy it was to carry and display a flag, and how it wasn't a pointless bureaucratic imposition, but the plain fact is that flags weren't carried, the rule was strongly resented, it did absolutely nothing to make the sport better and the removal of the requirement was arguably the best rule change of the era.
68. Should the owner of any Canoe duly entered for a Race consider that he has fair ground for complaint against another Canoe for foul sailing during the Race, or for any 'violation of the Club Rules, he must signify the same to the Racing Committee or Officer of the day on the first opportunity. The protest shall be made in writing, and delivered to the Racing Committee or Officer of the day within two hours after the arrival of the protesting Canoe at the winning post; and a sum of 5s shall be lodged with each Protest, which amount will be forfeited to the Club, provided the Protest is adjudged to be frivolous. The Racing Committee or Officer of the day shall, after hearing such evidence as they or he may think necessary, decide the Protest, and such decision shall be final unless they or he think fit, on the application of one of the parties—or otherwise—to refer the question at issue for the decision of the Committee of the Club. No Member of Committee shall take part in the decision upon any disputed question in which he is directly interested. In all cases in which a protest is lodged on the ground of foul sailing, evidence of actual contact, such as collision or grounding, shall be necessary to substantiate the Protest. The Racing Committee or Officer Of the day may, without Protest, disqualify any Canoe which to their or his knowledge has committed a breach of the Rules.
So the OA was asking Judges/Umpires to give them refereed racing. Were you OK with that?
So what? If you were satisfied that they took an on-water penalty you could withdraw the committee protest, or if not immediately satisfied, go ahead with a hearing and maybe conclude that they had taken an applicable penalty and not penalise them further.
Only if the NOR/SI have switched off RRS D2.1(b) which always requires a red flag.
Don't your team racers have red flags sewed into the cuffs of their sailing shirts?
If the hail is incorrect (NOT FIRST) or the flag slow then we are quick to say the protest is invalid.
We are less harsh on late penalties being taken, though there do not often come before a protest committee
Until being the wrong side of it.
Racing assym dinghy in f5-6. Speed greater than 10 knots and high angles - the small boat less separation thing was not really valid!
We passed behind on port. Heard nothing.
Apparently there was contact between our spinnaker and the hiking helm (well aft) which we didn’t see.
Had we known then we’d have spun.
We lost the protest (no requirement to be heard just to hail).
Ever since I’ve been of the belief that flags should be back in.
While I like Jim’s point that generally a boat knows it has infringed and that there should not be procedural blocks to enforcement, for me the greater evil is a boat in the situation above not having the opportunity to exonerate because it does not know there is a protest.
That in turn ..
-> feeds-back into the system of reduced protests,
-> that tends to increase the likelihood someone with break a rule "on the margins" and take risks (thinking that they will "get away with it",
-> over time that tends to grow those margins
-> that over time deteriorates fair competition fleet racing.
I wonder if it would be worth suggesting to the OA's, as an experiment in some regattas, to change RRS 60.2 and remove the flag requirement, keep the hail .. and see how it goes over time.
It might be that we have happier customers who feel better about the process.