ISAF has released the
2013-2016 Racing Rules of Sailing. There will be a lot of presentations, blogs, and magazine articles over the next few months discussing the changes in the new rules, some of which are big, and some are just technical.
I am going to focus on an area of the rule book that was heavily overhauled and, in my biased opinion, much improved: Appendix D (Team Racing). A small ISAF working group invested a lot of time in improving Appendix D. The goals were:
- Make the Appendix more user friendly by consolidating topics and organizing things more logically. We made a special effort to reduce cross references and, where Appendix D modifies part of a rule, to re-state the modified rule in full so you don't have to jump back and forth in the rule book to piece it together. (For an example of this see new rule D1.1(b) which modifies rule 18.2(b)).
- Spell out explicitly certain procedures which had been implied or assumed (for example, when you hail improperly for an umpire, the response is no penalty).
- Make some small substantive changes (especially with respect to umpire procedures and scoring) to improve the flow of the game.
With that in mind, here is a point-by-point review of what I think are the important changes in the new Appendix D:
- D1.1(d): As has always been the case in match racing, hand signals are now required for Room to Tack hails under rule 20. Even though this provision modifies a rule of Part 2, it may be deleted by the SIs.
- D1.2(c): The "red flag" requirement for redress is expanded. You must now show a red flag for an incident in the racing area for which you will seek redress. Previously this applied only to redress for breakdowns. It now applies generally. Additionally you must now continue to display the red flag until it is acknowledged.
- D1.2(d): This rule clarifies that the RC and PC shall not protest a boat for breaking a rule of Part 2, rule 31, or rule 42. This was always the case, except that before this rule appeared under a heading which mentioned umpired races. However, the headings are not part of the rules. I recall an incident at a non-umpired team race I was sailing last spring where an International Umpire, serving as the PRO, announced his intent to protest me for an incident where he thought I broke Rule 11 and didn't take an appropriate penalty. This rule make clear what has always been the case: in team racing, the RCs job is not to be the umpire, although RCs are free (and in my view, should) enforce egregious Rule 14 violations in fleets of supplied boats.
- D1.3(b): Clarifies that a boat may take a penalty by retiring, and states that when she does so she shall notify the RC as soon as possible, and her score is increased by 6 points (the same as if she were penalized in a protest hearing). This fixes a loophole.
- D2.2: This establishes the modern single-flag umpire procedure as the default under the RRS. Que the complaints now!
- D2.2(b): Clarifies that a boat involved in an incident is given time to respond, and she may respond by either taking her penalty, or clearly indicating that she will do so as soon as possible.
- D2.2(c) and (d): Cleans up a long-standing ambiguity in single-flag procedure about whether the umpires can penalize where both boats in an incident break a rule, and one takes a penalty. Here is how it works now: if only one boat has broken a rule, and one boat (not necessarily the one that broke the rule) spins, the incident is closed. If both boats break a rule, and at least one boat that broke a rule (without being exonerated) doesn't spin, then the umpires can penalize her.
- D2.3: Adds a few new grounds for which an umpire can give a penalty without a protest by a competitor. (b) states that there can be an umpire-initiated penalty for fouling a boat in a different race. (e) states that there is a penalty (consistent with a 2012 rapid response call) where you indicate that you will spin, but don't spin (or don't spin properly). (d) states that there can be a penalty for rule 14 only where there was damage or injury, not "may" have been as under the old rule. (Sorry Bry!)
- D2.4(c): The "black flag" is now a black-and-white flag. Time to make up some new flags! Likewise, a solid-green flag is no longer acceptable. It has to be green-and-white. This is good news for the 1/3 or so of men who are red-green color blind (yes -- this is a real issue!).
- D2.5: Note that under the optional two-flag procedure for protests, "safety circles" (a.k.a. insurance circles) are still allowed; you can still spin and protest/hail for umpire.
- D2.7(c): An interesting change here: an umpire error is no longer grounds to abandon a race *after* it has started. I know of at least one incident where this took place. I thought it was the right call at the time, but the rules have no changed so this is not allowed.
- D3.1(b): There is now a 10-point automatic penalty if you are OCS and don't restart or retire.
- D3.1(c): This rule emphasizes that competitors need not complete penalty turns for incidents that happen at the finish line if doing so would serve no purpose other than to move them into last. Instead they will just be scored as last. This is to avoid delays between races. Some people see it as a sportsmanship issue that you should spin the circle even though the race is effectively over, and if you want to do that, it's your option -- but not required.
- The distinction between 10 points penalties for rule 28 where and advantage was gained, and 6 point penalties for other rules, is now gone. The penalty for breaking a rule is 6 points, and you can receive additional points if you gained an advantage. This addresses the weird case where a boat breaks rule 28, but doesn't gain any advantage, and therefore isn't given a penalty.
- A "match" is a race OR series of races between two teams.
- Where a round-robin is terminated early, the RC will score the round-robin if 80% or more of the races are completed. Otherwise, the races are not scored, except that they may be used as tie breakers.
- D2.4 is expanded to clarify how the tie breakers are applied, but not substantively changed.
- D4.7 sets out tie breakers for incomplete knock-out matches.
Look for a new callbook incorporating these changes in the late fall.
Please let me know if you see any errors or omissions and I will update the blog post!
