Discretionary penalties

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The standard penalty for a breach of a rule in sailing is disqualification. However, it is becoming increasingly common for the penalty for some rules to be decided by the protest committee. Such penalties may be less than disqualification and are known as discretionary penalties. The rules concerned may be specified in the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), such as rule 47 (Trash Disposal), or in the notice of race (NoR) or sailing instructions (SIs) themselves.

The RYA does not support discretionary penalties for breaches of the rules of Parts 1 and 2 of the RRS, except in the context of RYA Arbitration or the Post-Race Penalty – see RYA guidance on ‘Rules Disputes’ – or in long distance races.

If discretionary penalties are to be used, additional to those in the RRS, care must be given to the drafting of the NoR and SIs and to which rules they will be applied.

Since the notation [DP] is described in the Introduction within the RRS (page 15 of the RYA version of the RRS), all that is required to allow the protest committee discretion is to add ’[DP]’ beside the relevant rule in the NoR or SIs.

When [DP] is to be used, the RYA recommends that the appropriate document includes the following statement at the outset:

The notation ‘[DP]’ in a rule in the (NoR/SI) means that the penalty for a breach of that rule may, at the discretion of the protest committee, be less than disqualification.

If the penalty for a breach of a rule of the RRS is to be made discretionary, this should be shown under ‘Rules’ in the NoR or SIs as ‘rule xx.x [DP]’.

It is quite common to apply discretionary penalties to all rules other than the rules of Parts 1 and 2 of the RRS. When doing so, the RYA recommends the following statement:

The penalty for a breach of a rule, other than a rule of Parts 1 and 2 of the Racing Rules of Sailing may, at the discretion of the protest committee, be less than disqualification.

The scoring abbreviation for a discretionary penalty is ‘DPI’. It is not necessary to amend rule 64.2 as it already allows discretionary penalties. If the protest committee decides that a penalty greater than disqualification may be appropriate, then it should consider initiating action under rule 2 or rule 69.

How to decide a discretionary penalty

When a protest committee has discretion to decide the appropriate penalty for a breach of a rule, the penalties available following a protest hearing may range from no penalty to disqualification. Rule 64.6 requires the protest committee to decide the appropriate penalty when a boat reports within the protest time limit that she has broken a rule subject to a discretionary penalty. However, it is important that consistent decisions are made when exercising this discretion. The RYA therefore recommends that the following guidelines be observed when assessing penalties.

Penalties should be considered in 5 bands:

• Band 0 – zero penalty
• Band 1 – 1% - 10% place penalty (mid-point 5%)
• Band 2 – 10% - 30% place penalty (mid-point 20%)
• Band 3 – 30% - 70% place penalty (mid-point 50%)
• Band 4 – disqualification

Place penalties are more appropriate and applicable than time penalties, even in handicap racing. There may be events where time penalties are appropriate, but these will be rare.

1. The first step is to decide in which band to start. The protest committee should refer to the table below, where the RYA suggests bands for some examples of the more common breaches of rules that may result in discretionary penalties.

If a band is not recommended, then the protest committee will have to choose a starting band, using the examples where possible to assist.

Advertising on boats and personal equipment at events is now governed by rule 6 and World Sailing regulation 20. As rule 6 is a rule of Part 1, no discretionary penalty can be applied. Further information is available in the RYA Guidance on Advertising.

2. The second step is to consider the following questions in order to decide if there is a reason, based on the facts of the case (beyond what is already defined in the table above), whether or not it is appropriate to increase the band or the penalty within the band:

• Was the breach deliberate? Increase band at least one level – and consider rule 2.
• Was there any attempt to conceal the breach? Increase band at least one level – and consider rule 2.
• Has the breach been repeated?
• Did the breach compromise the safety of competitors, race officials or general public?
• Did the boat gain a competitive advantage through her breach?
• Could the breach bring the sport or the organization into disrepute?
• Did the breach result in damage or injury?
• Was the breach a careless or cavalier disregard of the rules?
• Was anybody inconvenienced by the breach?

3. The third step is to consider the following questions in order to decide if there is a reason, based on the facts of the case, whether or not it is appropriate to decrease the band or the penalty within the band:

• Was the breach necessary for the safety of the boat or her crew?
• Was there a good reason or justification for the breach?
• Was the breach reported by the competitor?

In general, the protest committee should apply the following principles:

• A change to a different band should only be made when justified by the facts of the case.
• Any penalty must exceed any likely gain.
• A discretionary penalty should not make a boat’s score worse than retirement or disqualification.
• Percentage penalties are calculated and rounded to a whole number of points in accordance with rule 44.3(c). The penalty should be based on the size of the fleet on the day of racing (or, if racing in flights, the size of the largest flight).
• When a breach affects more than one race in a day, but it is appropriate to penalise in one race only, the penalty should be applied to either the first race of the day or to the race nearest the incident.

In all cases, the protest committee’s decision should adequately explain how the committee has come to any penalty. Deviating from this guidance is justified if there is a good reason to do so, but the protest committee should explain its reasoning in the decision.

Support persons

Rule 64.4 allows protest committees to penalise a support person who is a party to a hearing and who has broken a rule. The protest committee can issue a warning, exclude the person from the event or venue or remove any privileges or benefits, or take any other action within its jurisdiction as provided by the rules. 

The protest committee may also penalise a competitor for a rule breach by a support person by changing a boat’s score in a single race (up to and including DSQ) when it decides the competitor may have gained a competitive advantage as a result of the breach by the support person or the support person commits a further breach after the competitor has been warned that a penalty may be imposed. A protest committee should exercise caution before penalising the competitor under this rule.

[1] For guidance on rule 69 (and rule 2) penalties, see World Sailing’s ‘Misconduct Guidance’ at www.sailing.org/racingrules/documents and the RYA’s ‘Misconduct’ on (yellow) pages 174-175 of the RYA version of the Racing Rules of Sailing 2021-2024