THE 2015 STANLEY RACE- FINAL WRAP-UP

The Protest has been Ammended

At the protest hearing, neither the RO nor Primitive Cool were in possession of the phones that sent/received the position text conversation. The RO was unsure of when the texts were sent and Primitive Cool stated that they were sent after the 12:05 sched.

Following the hearing the RO charged the ORCV phone, retrieved the tracker (through which the text was sent) and forwarded to the Protest Committee images of both, including a timestamp on the messages. The timestamps show that the conversation occurred between 08:06 and 08:09 and not after the 12:05 sched.

The Protest Committee have updated the facts found, conclusion but not the decision of the hearing. See below

2015 11 05 ORCV vs Primitive Cool V2

The results as announced and published last weekend were, as always, provisional and subject to protest.
The HF radio environment during the race was certainly challenging at times but the very great majority of boats managed to comply with their positon reporting obligations throughout the race, either directly or through relays from other boats in the fleet. Even though we now have trackers, radio position reports still play a major role in managing the overall safety of our races and it is critical that all boats take them very seriously. The Sailing Instructions are very clear about the mandatory requirement to participate in radio scheds, with possible penalties ranging from percentage increases to a boat’s elapsed time, through ultimately to disqualification depending on the seriousness of the infraction(s) as judged by a protest committee.
Unfortunately, one boat did not satisfactorily participate in the radio scheds as required and the Race Director had no option but to refer the matter to a independent protest committee. The outcome of that protest has been a percentage increase in one boat’s elapsed time and the results have been accordingly adjusted and have now been published as final.

To read the facts found and the result of the protest please click on the link 2015 11 05 ORCV vs Primitive Cool