What can a boat do if its race was spoiled through no fault of its own?
A · Advanced · Penalties and protests · 9 of 12It can ask for redress. The boat's score must have been made significantly worse through no fault of its own. The grounds include an official's mistake, damage from a boat that broke a rule and stopping to help someone in danger. The protest committee then makes as fair an arrangement as possible, often average points.
How it works
A boat is entitled to redress if its score or place in a race or series has been made, or may be made, significantly worse through no fault of its own by:
- an improper action or omission of the race committee, protest committee, technical committee or organizing authority;
- injury or physical damage caused by a boat that was breaking a right-of-way rule and took a penalty or was penalised;
- injury or physical damage caused by a vessel not racing that was required to keep clear;
- giving help to a person or vessel in danger, other than to itself or its own crew;
- an action of another boat that resulted in a penalty for unfair sailing or misconduct.
- The request: in writing, giving the reason. For an incident in the racing area, within the protest time limit or two hours after the incident, whichever is later.
- Who may ask: the boat, or the race committee or technical committee on its behalf. The protest committee may also call a hearing of its own accord.
- The remedy: "as fair an arrangement as possible for all boats affected". It may be to adjust scores or finishing times, to abandon the race, to let the results stand or something else.
- Typical scores: the average of the boat's points in all the other races of the series, the average of the races before the one in question, or points based on its position at the time of the incident.
- In the results: RDG.
Tricky cases
A boat lost five places because the wind died on its side of the course. Can it get redress?
No. Redress needs one of the listed causes. Bad luck with the wind is part of the sport.
A boat was knocked out of a race by a boat that broke a rule, but nothing was damaged and nobody was hurt. Is that enough?
No. That ground requires injury or physical damage.
Can a boat get redress against a protest committee's decision to disqualify it?
No. A protest committee decision is not a ground for redress when the boat was a party to the hearing. The route is an appeal or a request to reopen.
A boat stopped to rescue a capsized sailor and finished last. What can it expect?
Redress, because it gave help as the safety rule requires. The committee decides the arrangement, and average points is one of the options the rules suggest.
Why the rule exists
A boat sunk by another's foul gets nothing from seeing that boat disqualified. And a crew that stops racing to pull someone from the water must not lose the regatta for it. Redress exists so that neither doing the right thing nor being the victim costs a boat its series.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Racing Rules of Sailing | As above | RRS 61; RRS A9 |
| Rule 42 penalties given on the water | Redress is limited to cases where a race committee signal or a class rule was overlooked | RRS P4 |
| Rejected entries | A boat whose entry is rejected may ask for redress | RRS 76.3 |
From the rule book
World Sailing The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028, rules 1.1, 61 and 76.3 and rules A9, A10 and P4. In force from 1 January 2025. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025-2028 (PDF).