p. 44
OPINION
GAME CHANGER Peter Valentino says that in the sailing world a sailor will ‘take a penalty or retire’ and if only every citizen followed this rule we’d have a much cleaner society.
Coincidentally, few sailors recently asked me
racing and indeed even ashore during an event.
boats go out racing and when boats get close
a few questions about sportsmanship and
Intrinsically, ours is a self-policing sport, where
and one or more of them break a rule they will
conduct, or rather misconduct; and I’ll start
in most cases when a competitor breaks a rule
promptly take a two-turn penalty (R.44.2).
this article off by quoting a basic principle from
it is expected that a penalty is taken or that the
During what I call high level races like World/
the World Sailing Rules Book. “Competitors
boat retires from the race. Luckily, our standard
Continental Championships or International
in the sport of sailing are governed by a body
penalty is two turns taken in the same direction.
Regattas, it is normal for the organising
of rules that they are expected to follow
It’s not much. At times the sailing instructions
authority to invite an International jury. The
and enforce. A fundamental principle of
dictate a different penalty, or indeed offer an
main reason for this is to ensure that decisions
sportsmanship is that when competitors
option like for instance the offending boat
taken are not subject to appeal; and that the
break a rule they will promptly take a penalty,
would show a particular flag and that would
results remain unchanged.
which may be to retire.”
mean the acceptance of a time penalty; but this goes beyond the scope of this article.
The above, in short, sums up the character of the sport of racing, both whilst afloat and
An international jury is formed of at least 5 people; the majority must hold International
So in reality, in most clubs around the world,
Judge Status and not more than two can
