US Sailing announces new Protest and Redress Hearing rules

by US Sailing and Sail-World on 17 Apr 2010 US SAILING President Gary Jobson and US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Farrah Hall today announced that the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has agreed to Hall’s request to dismiss her February 2008 complaint that The Racing Rules of Sailing do not comply with the Ted Stevens Act, a federal law, and USOC’s Bylaws.

Hall’s request followed US SAILING’s adoption of three prescriptions regarding the conduct of protest and redress hearings.

The prescriptions will become official for certain events on July 1, 2010 (see below).

When the prescriptions apply at an event, these new protest and redress hearing practices will be in effect. The new protest and redress hearing procedures are:

Notification of redress hearings: Protest committees must make a reasonable attempt to notify all boats in a race when redress is to be considered for another boat. This notice, which will likely be posted on the official notice boards commonly used at events, must allow reasonable time for the other boats to make written requests to participate in the redress hearing.

Participation in redress hearings: Boats that request to participate in a redress hearing must be allowed to do so, and may present evidence, call witnesses, and fully participate. The request must be made in writing before the redress hearing begins.

Evidence from Protest Committee members: A protest committee member who brings an incident to the attention of the protest committee, or gives evidence at a protest or redress hearing, will not serve on the protest committee for that hearing if that is practical.

Redress based on protest committee decisions: If a boat requests redress based on a protest committee decision, the request must be heard by a different protest committee if that is practical.

In addition to these prescriptions, US SAILING will encourage all event organizers to appoint protest committees that are comprised of at least 20% racing sailors. Finally, US SAILING will follow additional procedures at events conducted in the United States that are designated by US SAILING as a direct qualifier for funding or one of its international teams. Sailors competing in these qualifiers will be advised of the additional procedures.

'These new prescriptions establish practices that are good for the sport, racing sailors, event organizers and race officials,' said Jobson. 'Many event organizers, from local to the highest level, have been following these practices for years. For those events that may not presently follow these practices, US SAILING is confident that they will be able to do so comfortably.'

Jobson stressed the importance of racing sailors participating on protest committees. 'US SAILING hopes that this common practice will become universal. Racing sailors add a valuable perspective to protest committees, and should be encouraged to volunteer in support of this great sport. The basic principle underlying the racing rules states that competitors are expected to follow and enforce those rules. Serving on a protest committee is one important way in which racing sailors can uphold that principle.'

'Farrah Hall has been resolute in her quest to resolve an issue in the racing rules,' said Jobson. 'Although she lost the opportunity to compete in the 2008 Olympics, her efforts have culminated in a positive outcome for all sailors.'

The changes result from a redress hearing decision in October 2007 at the U.S. Olympic Trials for sailing in the RS:X Windsurfing class, which took place at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, Calif. After the 16th and final race, Hall led the regatta. She was dropped to second place after the redress decision about a collision, neither of which she was involved. As a result of the decision, Hall was not named to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

'The new prescriptions and the procedures that will apply at US SAILING’s qualifying events resulted from a lot of hard work to find common ground. I’m pleased with the result,' said Hall.

Hall (Annapolis, Md.) is a member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics and the highest ranked American women’s windsurfer on the ISAF World Sailing Rankings. She has her sights set on representing the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.


ACTUAL TEXT OF PRESCRIPTIONS, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2010

Prescription to rule 60:

US SAILING prescribes that when redress has been requested or is to be considered, any boat may participate in the hearing provided she makes a written request before the hearing begins. When she does so, the protest committee shall act under rule 60.3(b) to consider redress for her at that hearing.

Prescription to rule 63.2:

US SAILING prescribes that when redress has been requested or is to be considered, the protest committee shall make a reasonable attempt to notify all boats of the time and place of the hearing and the nature of the request or the grounds for considering redress. Before holding the hearing, the committee shall allow reasonable time for boats to make written requests to participate.

Prescription to rule 63.4:

US SAILING prescribes that when practicable:

(a) no person who brings an incident to the attention of the protest committee or who will give evidence at the hearing shall be a member of the protest committee; and

(b) if a boat files a request for redress based on a protest committee decision, her request for redress shall be heard by a new committee that contains no members of the original committee.

Extract from Sail-World's US Newsletter Editorial of 22 February 2009, on this matter:

US Sailing has been taken to task by a high level panel appointed by the US Olympic Committee.

The hearing arose from a series of actions by US Sailing in the de-selection of Farrah Hall and selection of Nancy Rios for the Women's RS:X place in the US Team for the 2008 Olympics.

In this issue (22 Feb 2009, available in the Sail-World newsletter archive) we have published the releases from both US Sailing and Farrah Hall's advisers on the matter.

Essentially the train of events arose from a redress claim following the last race of the Women's RS:X Olympic Trial, when a redress hearing was called to consider an issue raised by Nancy Rios. Normal practice in most countries is to include, or at least invite, all parties who may be affected by the redress hearing and its outcome to attend the hearing, and give evidence if required.

The reason for this practice is simple - as soon as the protest committee makes one decision, it creates a new opportunity for another affected party to request a Hearing under RRS 62. Simply if the parties are not enjoined at the outset, then the hearings can be neverending until, in a extreme situation, the whole fleet has had their turn in the room.

In fact, the late Mary Pera (GBR) quotes an example of a Protest Committee which she was chairing did in fact call the whole fleet into the protest room for a redress hearing, thus removing the potential for numerous hearings and complying with RRS64.2 which obligates a Protest Committee to 'make as fair an arrangement as possible for all boats affected whether or not they asked for redress.'

In this case the Protest Committee failed to include Farrah Hall in the hearing, then made a decision which affected her, and from there on the whole matter unravelled.

In its release, US Sailing claims that the USOC report will affect the way protest hearings are conducted in USA.

That may or may not be the case, and is one for wise heads to decide.

What is required is a simple, practical system for Olympic selection events that complies with the ISAF's Racing Rules along with relevant USOC requirements.

Against this background read the responses of US Sailing and Farrah Hall. We've included the link to the pdf of the USOC Hearing Panel, which is lengthy, and at times, critical of the processes followed by US Sailing, calling them a 'procedural nightmare' and listing five specific points of concern.

US Sailing has been given until 1 July 2009 to report to the Hearing Panel as to how it intends to bring its processes into compliance and to 1 September 2009 to give effect to that compliance.

Ultimately the Panel does have the power to make a recommendation to place a National Governing Body on probation or revoke its recognition by US Olympic Committee.

Hopefully that draconian step will not be necessary.

And from a statement issued on Farah Hall's behalf on 16 April 2008, entitled 'Protest Committee again denies Hall a fair hearing'

A five-man Protest Committee today reaffirmed a decision made last October to remove Olympic boardsailing hopeful Farrah Hall as winner of the Olympic Selection Trials for RS:X Windsurfing. Meeting in Providence last week, the Committee finally considered evidence found by Hall but elected not to alter its decision.

In October last year, Hall, from Annapolis, Md., won the last race of the Olympic Trials in Long Beach, Calif., and the right to represent her country at the sailing Olympics this August in Qingdao, China. Barely an hour later, the event Protest Committee named Nancy Rios of Miami, Fla., as the trials winner after Rios sought redress from a starting line collision in the last race involving a third sailor. Rios, who finished fourth, said the collision damaged her sail and hurt her ability to compete effectively. The decision dropped Hall to second place overall.

'I am disillusioned and bitterly disappointed with the Committee's actions,' Hall said. 'We provided telling photographic evidence and witness testimony from other competitors and observers that showed that Nancy Rios' fourth place finish in the last race was not significantly affected by the collision or by a tear in her sail.

'The jury insisted on holding a one-party hearing on Nancy's request for redress, and then asked me to prove to the same jury at a second hearing the next day that they had made a clear error at their hearing on Nancy's redress request. As my lawyers have noted, people fighting unfair parking tickets receive more legal protection than I have as the winner on the water of the Olympic Trials.'

Farrah Hall intends to pursue her claims with a US Olympic Committee review board to demonstrate that US Sailing's rules do not meet the minimum due process standard guaranteed by the USOC and federal law. She is also pursuing an American Arbitration Association hearing to prove that the Jury decision was clearly wrong.

US Sailing April 15 http://www.ussailing.org/News/2008/rios_hall_second_statement.asp!Statement_on_Hearings