› Fleet 27 Chalk Talk › Collision at the start. 2 boats involved › Reply To: Collision at the start. 2 boats involved
Per the SI, the protest filing time limit is 45 minutes after the R/C docks. See RRS 61.3 and SI 17.3. So, if there is no filing within the time limit, then there can be no protest. However, the PC, under 61.3 is obligated to extend the filing time if there is good reason to do so, but I think extending the time is the PC’s call to make.
—I think the RC should have protested both boats because the contact was obvious and strong
I would say don’t put it on the R/C’s shoulders to file a protest. Any boat competing in the race that witnessed the incident can file a protest. See RRS 60.1.a.
So, once another boat learns there was not a protest filed, that boat has a little time to file a protest regarding that incident. Standard RRS time limit would be 2 hours, but maybe in this case that might be limited to the 45 minute window stated in the Fleet 27 SI.
—If the RC protest were executed, I believe both boats would have been penalized with at least DNS.
FYI – A decision in this type of incident would never end up awarding a scoring code of DNS to a boat that started the race.