The Racing Rules of Sailing
Can a Boat "Unfinish"?
Red and Yellow are approaching an upwind finishing line. Red crosses the line (1).
Red turns downwind to sail back to the Club and opens a suitable beverage (2).
Yellow, close hauled on starboard tack (1 - 2), luffs to avoid Red (3) and hails “Protest!” (4).
Red immediately acknowledges her error (4), takes a Two-Turn Penalty (RRS 44.2) and crosses the finish line again (6).
After (2), Red has finished and is no longer racing. When she fouls Yellow (3) and takes her penalty, then under (a) of the Definition Finish she has now "unfinished" and Yellow's protest is not upheld.
Am I missing something? I also noted that before 2021, Red's only available penalty was to withdraw.
Red turns downwind to sail back to the Club and opens a suitable beverage (2).
Yellow, close hauled on starboard tack (1 - 2), luffs to avoid Red (3) and hails “Protest!” (4).
Red immediately acknowledges her error (4), takes a Two-Turn Penalty (RRS 44.2) and crosses the finish line again (6).
After (2), Red has finished and is no longer racing. When she fouls Yellow (3) and takes her penalty, then under (a) of the Definition Finish she has now "unfinished" and Yellow's protest is not upheld.
Am I missing something? I also noted that before 2021, Red's only available penalty was to withdraw.
Created: Tue 15:55
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If the rule she breaks is only RRS 10, then she can take a RRS 44.1 penalty and cross again.
So use Case 148 to determine her racing status, then rule(s) broken, then if 44.1 is avail.
Thinking about Red loosing the boom between 1-2 and then seeing where she is at 2 with the line bisecting her hull .. at pos 2.5, Red might have just cleared the line .. and that's likely when Yellow initiated her avoidance. One might say it isn't clear that Red cleared the line until pos 2.5.
That's consistent with the diagram.
Between @2.5 and @4 R's actions are not consistent with her continuing to sail the course and she is not racing and she cannot 're-finish'.
That's consistent with the diagram.
Between @2.5 and @4 R's actions are not consistent with her continuing to sail the course and she is not racing and she cannot 're-finish'.
On the other hand if she's still on the finishing line (and really quick with the beer opening) when she fouls Yellow, then the rest of the story plays out as shown. She hasn't finished because the definition Finish says, "However, she has not finished if after crossing the finishing line she
(a) takes a penalty under rule 44.2, ...".
As your title suggests, that clause "unfinishes" Red. While she's sailing downwind to get well clear she's no longer racing, but when she begins to take her penalty she's racing again and has not yet finished.
That's kind of my point. Once Red clears the finishing line the first time, she no longer meets the definition of racing, but if she then sails in a circle twice (and meets the other requirements of rule 44.2) and crosses the finishing line again, then her path in total would seem to meet the definition of Finish at (6) and she can avoid retirement or disqualification.
Why isn't RRS 44.1 available to her if she broke RRS 23.1? It's a rule of Part 2, no?
Overall, I think that Red broke both RRS 10 and 23.1.
The first sentence of 44.1 is .. (emphasis added)
Rule 23.1 ..
The 2 rules are mutually exclusive.
The dictionary definition for clear is:
: unhampered by restriction or limitation: such as
clear passage
staying clear of controversy
keep clear of the boundary
In the OP, the rules of Part 2 (in this case 10 and 23.1) will still apply throughout as I think there is no doubt that Red is still 'sailing in or near the racing area' and she has 'been racing'. As Rob points out, the two-turn penalty is only available to boats that are racing and so the determination of whether or not she has 'cleared the finishing line' is the critical point. If she has not cleared the line, then she breaks rule 10 and can take a two-turn penalty and finish a second time. If she has cleared the line then she breaks rule 23.1 and her only option is to retire.
Using the last point of certainty principle, you would assume that she has not cleared the line until you are certain she has cleared the line. In this case, I would fall on the side of 'has not cleared', that she breaks rule 10 and not rule 23.1, and take her finish as the one after she did the turns.
I am not sure that Case 148 is all that helpful here as it doesn't give any criteria for what it means to be 'clear of the finishing line'.
The notion of 'unfinishing' is very similar to the notion of 'unbreaking' rule 16 when a boat breaks rule 16 by altering course and not giving a boat the room to keep clear but then continuing to alter course to give that room. It is the recognition that there is a time element to some of our rules.
I like the concept of "unbreaking rule 16" in the situation you describe.
In this case, it seems to me that allowing the boat to "unfinish", take a Two-Turn Penalty, and not have to retire or be disqualified fulfills many purposes of rule 44:
1. Proportionality. The punishment fits the crime. The farther away from the finishing line where Red breaks a rule of Part 2 (rules 10, 23.1, or both), the more severe will be her penalty in the extra time and distance that she has to sail in order to cross the finishing line again.
2. Basic Principle - Sportsmanship and the Rules. A boat that realizes that she has infringed a rule can make amends.
3. Self-Policing. No need for the Protest Committee to convene.
It seems to me that with the current definition of "Finish", if a boat breaks a rule of Part 2 in the racing area, it's a good thing if she can take a rule 44 penalty and not be forced to retire or be disqualified.
Putting that framing into play is useful I think
Definitions, Racing
A boat clears the finishing line and marks when no part of
her hull, crew or equipment is on the line, and no mark is
influencing her choice of course.
Red @3,5
Yellow @2: current is NOT setting her towards the mark
Green @2+delta
Grey @3
Have these boat 'cleared' and then 'uncleared' the finishing line? Or can you only tell when they have cleared the line at some random future time or distance from the line?
What happens if Green breaks a rule in position 3 before going down and hitting the mark? Could she break 23.1 in position 3 w.r..t a boat going downwind (easier to imagine if Green is on port and the boat going downwind is on stbd) and would she then break 31 when she hits the mark?
I think this opens a whole can of 'it depends'.
See Case 127 last sentence
However, a boat that crosses the finishing line, and sails to a position at which no finishing mark is influencing her choice of course, is no longer racing. If, later, she hits a finishing mark, she does not break rule 31.
I'm good with 'unfinishing' (sometimes), but not with 'uncleared'.
To finish is an instantaneous action
'Giving room' is a continuous process (which may culminate in 'room given' or 'room not given').
As I said, I'm happy with 'unfinishing' in the context of a boat taking a turns penalty after first crossing the finishing line, but I'm not keen on 'un***' in other contexts.
John
Case 127 (cited above with a link) seems to speak to this sort of situation.
I think Clark makes 3 very good points.
The problem arises from the 'while racing' condition in RRS 44.1.
The rules could be rewritten to remove the 'while racing' condition in RRS 44.1 and provide that when a boat takes a turns penalty after finishing and then crosses the finishing line from the course side before all other boats have finished, this second crossing shall constitute her finish.
There are some counter-arguments:
On the downwind leg where there may have been a 10 or obstruction, does it matter.
You have not finished if you do a penalty under 44.2.
44.2 says a two turns penalty.
She did this so she has not finished and she finishes on her second cross.
If she was not racing, she broke both 10 and 23.1 when in a non-racing state and therefore 44.1 is not available to her for those breaches.
The first sentence of 44.1 is .. (emphasis added)
They see a rrs 42.2 penalty. The part about racing is in 44.1. They see the turns and finish her on the second crossing.
She may consider redress, but with nofault, where will she get?
Finish only refers to 44.2.
Why should the rc check anything else?
I'd argue that 44.1 defines the terms "Two-Turns" and "One-Turn Penalty" .. through capitalization of the term in 44.1 and reuse of those capitalized-terms in 44.2.
In 44.2 .. it describes how a boat executes those penalties, but 44.1 declares under what circumstances those penalties are available. Therefore 44.2 refers back to 44.1 through those defined terms.
The turns-penalties are not applicable to breaches that occur when "not-racing" .. therefore the boat executed turns but did not succeed in taking a penalty that can be applied to her rules-breach(s) which occurred while not-racing.
PS: interesting thought .. this is not restricted from change by RRS 86 .. so NOR/SI could allow a more open 44.1 window (remove/reword 44.1's "while racing") ... which in turn would impact def: finish(a)'s interpretation.
I wonder if that secondary effect on def: finish (a) would make that change disallowed?
Do not forget it is may have broken a rule and when racing, with no rc having an answer to either.
Finish on the second crossing.
Too many assumptions to. Finish on the first.
Thenawaitif it comes the redress, if bo request no problem.
This is what protest committies are for!
In this instance we may judge that the combination of finish marks and incoming traffic still affect Red's available course selection.
Hence, Red is still racing after her stern clears the line and to position 2.5 when she fouls Yellow (long before Yellow actually alters her course.
Why does the presence of other boats affect ending racing?
Myself and other posters have been basing comments on understanding Definition Finish (a) as saying 'takes a penalty in accordance with RRS 44', which would include the 'while racing' condition in RRS 44.1.
Mike has pointed out that the actual wording is 'takes a penalty under RRS 44.2'.
I think Mike makes good arguments about not burdening the race committee with observation and analysis about other parts of RRS 44.
The fact that, in accordance with RRS 44.1 the Two Turns taken by Red are not an 'applicable penalty' in accordance with RRS 60.5(c)(2) with respect to Red's breach of RRS 23.1 is a separate issue, which would be considered by a protest committee only at the end of all other considerations in a protest hearing.
So, I'm turned around: the race committee should score Red's second crossing of the finishing line as her finish.
It may be that Y, seeing that result, may decide not to proceed with a protest.
If not, in a protest hearing, Red would be disqualified for breaking RRS 23.1, and would not be protected by taking the Turns Penalty.
Here's an interesting question though.
What if the RC wants to get the PC involved to sort it out because from the get-go they questioned which finish was correct?
If they score the boat at the 2nd finish and file an R4R .. seems that many judges here would say that there was no RC error in doing so ... and the 2nd finish would stand even if facts-found include that the turns were not applicable for breaking 23.1 (let's say the skipper of the boat states he cleared the line in both directions and was no longer racing when he fouled the boat .. admitting the turns were for breaking 23.1).
Am I summarizing that correctly?
If so, an RC would need to actually have the foresight to protest the boat .. not R4R.
But given the OP has the other boat protesting ... it would seem likely the RC would leave that in the hands of the other boat.
Well, I hope not many judges here would use the word 'error'. What RRS 61.4(b)(1) is looking for is an 'improper action' or an 'improper omission'. Race committees make errors all the time that are not improper.
I think you're right.
What the protest committee then cannot do is validly protest the boat for breaking RRS 23.1 because RRS 60.4(b)(1) says that a protest based on information from a request for redress (Anyone want to argue that an admission during the hearing of a request for redress is not information from a request for redress?)
Yes. For the race committee to validly protest, they need to:
Yes.
Other rule breaches are something else which really should be protested by boats.
There is no reason for a rc to act if they score the finish after the turns.