Problem with third-party protests

The Racing Rules of Sailing are updated every four years by World Sailing, with each new edition applying suggestions deemed necessary. However, the US Sailing Racing Rules Committee has found a problem in the latest book. Here’s their advisory:

The wording of RRS 60.4(a)(2) in The Racing Rules of Sailing for 2025-2028 makes an unintended change to the validity of “third-party protests.”

As currently written, the rule makes a protest invalid if it comes from a boat that witnessed but was not involved in an incident that resulted in a rule breach. This is a major and unintended change in protest validity.

To remedy this, it is necessary for OAs to change the rule in the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions for each of their events to say “…from a boat that was not involved in, or and did not see…”

The US Sailing Racing Rules Committee strongly recommends that the NoR and SI for your events include the following:

1.x – Rule 60.4(a)(2) is changed as follows: (2) if it alleges a breach of a rule of Part 2 or rule 31 and is from a boat that was not involved in, and did not see, the incident, or

For an extended discussion of this issue, please see the May 2025 issue of the Judges newsletter, “RRS 68.”