› Fleet 27 Chalk Talk › Collision at the start. 2 boats involved › Reply To: Collision at the start. 2 boats involved
If there was serious damage or injury, AFAIK, the only scoring options are DSQ or RET (i.e., the at-fault boat could retire before the protest meeting starts). And both could be DSQ’d if both are found at fault for different rules (i.e., RRS11 and RRS14).
If no serious damage or injury, then arbitration might be held before the protest meeting, and the at-fault boat could accept an alternate scoring penalty (30%, per RRS V2).
Per RRS 44.3, at the time of the foul and there is no serious damage or injury, the at fault boat could hoist a yellow flag to accept a 20% penalty, rather than do a circle. I have never seen this done, have you?
I don’t think your #2 issue really matters. Someone needs to file a protest to get the ball rolling. I don’t think it really matters who that is. The 3rd party protest is for the actual incident, not for 1 (or both) of the 2 boats “not protesting.” No one is required to file a protest. But, if there is an incident, then anyone who saw it can file a protest.