Racing Rules
The Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions are controlled by the ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing. All the athletes have a detailed knowledge of the Rules, what the various sound signals and flags mean and what they must do if they break any of the Rules.
STARTING:
Races begin with a rolling start - sailors aim to cross the line immediately following the starting gun. The start line is set between a committee boat, from which officials run the racing, and a pin end boat.
There is a five minute countdown to a start - sailors can start anywhere on the line, which means sailors continually jostle for the best position determined by the course, the wind direction and the fleet. This leads to very intense moments during this pre-start period.
By getting a good start sailors are able to take advantage of the changing weather and of their competitors’ position on the course.
A premature starter does not necessarily result in a re-started race. Instead, the race officer will sound another signal and raise the ‘X’ flag. This informs the sailors that one or more boats jumped the start and those boats must return and start again.
Boats that are on the course side of the start line before the start signal and do not return and re-cross the start line will be noted as 'On Course Side' (OCS) and will be disqualified. If several boats start early the race officer may start the race again – this is known as a ‘general recall’. If the race officer displays a black flag during the starting sequence, any boat over the line within a minute to the start signal will be disqualified from the race.
Competitors have four minutes after the start to cross the start line, or else they will be recorded as 'Did Not Start' (DNS).
The winner of a race is the first boat to sail the course and cross over the finish line that is between the committee boat and pin end boat.
PROTESTS:
If a competitor believes a fellow sailor has broken the rules the helm will instantly call protest to signal that they believes a rule infringement has occurred.
Depending on the type of infringement made, a sailor can negate the protest by immediately completing a 360 or 720 degree turn. For the Paralympic two-person SKUD class the two-turns penalty is replaced by a one-turn penalty.
After each day's racing there is a protest period in which sailors who believe they have been wronged can protest other sailors who have failed to negate their protests. They appear before an official protest committee that will listen to all parties involved and decide which boat was in the wrong and penalise the offending boat. Protests will be adjudicated in a series of hearings conducted by the International Jury. Protests may result in scores being adjusted by disqualification (DSQ) or redress (RDG).